Looks like we need a state initiative that says benefit increases for public employees have to be submitted to the voters. Those types of measures seem to be the only chance for an effective check on government bloat these days.
We need a Consitutional Amendmend to the state, that will roll back and cap state expenditures and taxation to about $60 Billion a year. Thereafter it can only rise by the rate of inflation, plus a mulitiple to account for population (If the population goes down, so does the spending).
To not have a Constitutional Amendment is to invite these disasters again in the future, assuming we can get out of this one with our pants on.