Last night in LA, I moderated a panel with State Controller John Chiang, Barclays Capital managing director Peter J. Taylor (a public finance expert), and New America senior scholar Mark Paul on California's cash crunch. A report on what was said is here. One message: even if the tentative deal that legislators and the governor appear to have reached in the last 24 hours won't end the cash crunch. The state still has serious cash flow problems, said Chiang, comparing a state with a budget deal to an unemployed person who has suddenly found a job and income -- but still has to deal with the debts and bills he delayed paying while he was unemployed.

I have an essay in this Sunday's Los Angeles Times books section that re-reads classic journalism of California (Hinton Helper's "Land of Gold," Lincoln Steffens' autobiography, and especially Carey McWilliams' "California: The Great Exception") in the context of the state's budget deficit and cash crisis. The conclusion: California is often on the edge of fiscal cliff. In fact, our perilous finances -- and unstable governing system -- help define who we are as a people and a state.

Sunday in the Sacramento Bee, I wrote about my idea for reforming California's direct democracy. The piece is here. It's part of a weekly feature called "The Conversation." Please contribute your own thoughts on the idea. At root, the idea is to make it easier to qualify referenda -- ballot measures to block an act of the legislature -- for the ballot, and make it harder to qualify and pass initiatives. The idea is to make initiatives, which are common, rare, and to make referenda, which are rare, more common.

Be sure to read not just my piece but the three pieces the Bee solicited to respond to it. The one from Rick Hasen, a prominent election lawyer, details the most common objection from reformers. They don't like the initiative process, but they see it as the only way to enact their reforms. My view is that very little political reform takes place by initiative. In fact, reform has usually been set back by initiative (I don't consider term limits progress--it certainly didn't improve the quality of governance in my state). Please let me know what you think.

For all the complaints about California's initiative process, there have been few serious proposals for improving it. New America is hosting an event Tuesday (October 14) in Sacramento, Blockbuster Democracy (a familiar and catchy name, don't you think?), to give several folks -- your blogger among them -- a chance to offer possible solutions. Full details of the event are here. (That link also includes space to sign up to attend the event). u

The event kicks off at 9:30 a.m. at the California State Association of Counties conference center, 1020 11th Street, 2nd floor. I'll be speaking first, offering a detailed proposal I'm calling, "More Referenda, Fewer Initiatives." After that, you'll hear from Bob Stern of the Center for Governmental Studies, which earlier this year released an exhaustive study of direct democracy in California. Other panelists are Rick Jacobs of the Courage Campaign; Anthony Rubenstein, managing partner of SinoTransPacific Ventures and chairman of Californians for Clean Energy, sponsor of Proposition 87 in 2006; and my New America colleague Mark Paul, senior scholar, who will discuss the impact of initiatives on California's troubled finances. Lunch is provided, and there will be time during lunch for lots of questions from the audience. Hope you'll be able to join us. It should be worth your while.

If you live in Southern California, you can hear me moderate a panel on local land use referenda tonight, June 1, at 9 p.m. on KPCC (89.3 FM).