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http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030818.asp#4

A Reality Check: As the Cato Institute’s Chris Edwards, Stephen Moore and Phil Kerpen documented earlier this year in their report, “States Face Fiscal Crunch after 1990s Spending Surge,” California’s government has collected plenty of tax money and its “budget gap was caused by a remarkable run-up in state spending in the late 1990s under Gov. Gray Davis. Spending doubled between FY94 and FY01 from $39 billion to $78 billion. California’s general fund expenditures jumped 15 percent in FY2000 and then another 17 percent in FY01. Thus, in just two years spending increased by one-third.”

The Cato trio added: “Although general fund spending jumped almost $12 billion in FY01, FY02 spending was reduced only by just over $1 billion. As in other states, newspaper headlines in California make fiscal restraint sound draconian. A recent Los Angeles Times story declared ‘Wrenching Changes Likely with Budget Cuts,’ but the ‘wrenching’ changes listed included such items as the first university fee increase since 1994, small increases in admission charges for state parks, deferral of some transportation projects, and a modest tightening in eligibility for the state’s low-income health program. Those are hardly wrenching changes in sprawling state government.”

An accompanying table laid out how California state government spending skyrocketed by 108 percent between 1990 and 2001 while the benchmark for inflation plus population growth increased by a comparatively modest 57 percent.