PERSPECTIVE ON THE GOP : Writing a Contract With California : A Republican task force is proposing an agenda to solve the problems that usually don’t make it to the Assembly floor.

Do political parties really mean anything in this state? Do they exist merely to elect like-minded members or to promote good public policy? If the California Republican Caucus has its way, the party will be the driving force of leadership on policy in 1996.

The lack of meaningful changes to some of our more burdensome or counterproductive laws is hardly an indication that individual elected officials aren’t committed to improving life and business in California. To the contrary, we all come to Sacramento eager to pursue an agenda specific to the needs of our constituents. Many of these district-motivated proposals benefit the state as a whole, thus garnering sufficient votes for passage.

Ironically, however, it is the most widespread and basic problems--transcending district and partisan lines--that seem to stall in policy committees. For example, Republicans and Democrats alike talk of the need for less rather than more regulations on businesses, yet our laws and taxes continue to be more burdensome than those of other states and the federal government. Similarly, members of both parties talk of the need for welfare and education reform and more laws that recognize the needs of victims rather than those of criminals. Unfortunately, policies dealing with these critical matters rarely garner enough votes to get beyond their first committee hearing.

Granted, the complex issues facing California warrant a difference of opinion. The urgency and severity of those issues, however, also warrant solutions. Thus Assembly Republicans have created a task force to formulate a priority legislative agenda for 1996. While the partisan nature of the task force implies a political rather than policy motivation, the opposite is true.

As with any legislative agenda, successful passage of meaningful reforms will depend on an initial and strong bloc of support. Whether that comes from the Republican or Democratic side of the aisle is irrelevant to most people. They merely want responsible and real solutions to obvious problems. Since the whole purpose of our policy task force is to identify and pursue solutions to continuing problems, it should garner support from both Republicans and Democrats who are serious about accomplishing something for the people of California.

While the legislative agenda is not yet completed, initial input from Republican caucus members and their constituents indicates the highest priorities are regulatory, tax, legal, education and welfare reform. Our policy agenda should be final in January, after which we plan to move the proposals quickly to committee and the Assembly floor. The task force will be committed to achieving Assembly passage of these proposals as a down payment on additional and necessary reforms during the 1996 legislative session.

The genesis of the agenda was not to create a barometer to distinguish Democrats from Republicans but rather a measure of accountability for elected officials. Merely acknowledging important issues is not enough. We must commit to resolving them.

The public is starved for rational reforms to our welfare system, responsible changes to a burdensome education code and good jobs made possible by a reasonable business climate. Thus a focused, clearly defined policy agenda will provide all elected officials a way to really respond to constituents. Equally important, it will provide our constituents an opportunity to judge us not just on our positions on issues of importance to them, but also on our ability to actually get things done.