California hoist with own petard on Porkulus spending

In today’s Someone Left The Irony On Department, we have the failed state of California and its desperate need to use federal Porkulus money getting tripped up by the very bureaucracy that has caused the Golden State to teeter into bankruptcy.  California can’t start dozens of stimulus-funded construction projects because the myriad agencies that have to approve such efforts don’t have the resources to review the paperwork:

Dozens of construction projects funded with federal stimulus money are being delayed in California because the office that oversees historic preservation is overwhelmed with applications, the state’s stimulus watchdog said Monday. …

The state Office of Historic Preservation, an entity of the National Park Service that is an administrative unit of the state Department of Parks and Recreation, is just one of many agencies that must sign off on construction projects before they can begin.

For example, if an alternative energy company is proposing a solar project, the office must make sure the land does not include Native-American artifacts. Similarly, modifying a building that is a registered historic landmark cannot undermine its architecturally significant features.

Chick said many of the delayed projects are small, such as installing a new heating and air conditioning unit. Others are larger infrastructure projects, from a Highway 101 bypass in Mendocino County to rehabilitation of the Pasadena Civic Center, according to lists provided by the inspector general’s office.

At stake is $12 billion in project funding, money the state desperately needs in its financial extremity.  It won’t balance the budget — these are ot the block grants that allowed California to pretend for another year that it didn’t need to change its ways — but the money would allow the state to avoid paying for its own infrastructure improvements, and will employ some people for short periods of time, putting a dent in benefits expenditures.  California needs that and the income-tax revenue more than most other states as it looks at yet another budget gap running into the tens of billions of dollars.

Consider this … karma.  California has the problems it does because of an overly-regulated business climate and top-heavy bureaucracies that throw mountains of red tape at its citizens.  If the state has this much trouble getting permits and approvals for its own projects, just imagine what private industry business have to do to make use of their own property.  Actually, one does not have to imagine it at all.  Just take a look at what has happened to California’s economy as legislators engross themselves in critical issues like creating a new regulatory environment for cow tails in the middle of an economic and budgetary crisis.

Maybe California should think about dismantling its regulatory regime.  Not only would that mean more efficient processing of Porkulus projects, but it would also have a salutary effect on actually stimulating the state economy.  That way, California wouldn’t need to beg the rest of the nation for charity.

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