Suit Seeks Access to Budget Reports

A Republican assemblyman sued the Davis administration this week over hiding documents that could help lawmakers who are struggling to close a record budget gap.

Assemblyman Keith Richman of Northridge asked Sacramento County Superior Court on Tuesday to require the release of documents detailing how the leaders of state agencies propose to slash spending by 20%.

In August, as the scope of California’s vast budget shortfall was becoming clear, the Department of Finance asked all state agencies to list ways to shrink costs by 20% without crimping essential services.

That information, Richman said, deserves to be seen by legislators struggling to close a projected budget shortfall of as much as $30 billion -- more than one-fourth of the entire general fund -- over the next year and a half.

“Not only do we have the responsibility of crafting and passing a budget, we have responsibility for legislative oversight of the executive branch,” Richman said. “If we don’t have the information from the various departments and agencies on what they believe are the best opportunities for spending reductions, then how can we make those decisions?”

Richman filed the lawsuit with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. The complaint accuses Finance Director Tim Gage of violating the California Public Records Act by refusing to release the cost-cutting plans of various state agencies.

In an October letter to Richman, Gage argued that secrecy better serves the public.

“Production of these documents would discourage candid discussion and inhibit the free flow of ideas within the department as well as between the department and the governor’s office,” Gage wrote.

Richman said he is willing to wait to see the documents until after Jan. 10, when Gov. Gray Davis is scheduled to propose a 2003-04 budget.

“I understand that the governor very well may want to keep that information confidential while he and his staff are going through the deliberative process,” he said, “but once that is done, all of that information should be available to the Legislature.”

Finance department spokeswoman Anita Gore said Gage had yet to see the lawsuit. But the documents should remain confidential even after Davis proposes budget cuts, she said.

“The same argument holds,” Gore said. “They are part of the process.

“Even though the process is over, they’re still confidential documents,” she said.

Richman was a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed last summer seeking to force the Davis administration to make public dozens of long-term electricity contracts signed by the state at a cost of tens of billions of dollars.