Mark Paul, a scholar for the New America Foundation, which sponsored Tuesday's discussion, noted that since 1998 California voters have approved $108 billion in general obligation bonds.

"Californians want, and so they borrow," Paul said. "There is an unwillingness to actually pay for things with taxes or user fees."

Paul proposes that the "something for nothing" mentality be staunched with a requirement that every ballot proposition that involves spending be forced "to pay for itself with either new revenue or offsetting spending cuts." LINK