SACRAMENTO, CA - California seems determined to prove that budgetary sinkholes constitute an opportunity to make bad government worse.

Estimates of the budget deficit range as high as $35 billion, easily the worst in California history. That means there is no money for new spending projects, a reality that has not stopped proposals for a massive system of government health care. Backer Sheila Kuehl, a former television actress and Santa Monica Democrat, bills this as "single payer," neglecting to mention it would cost every Californian a lot of money and leave them with fewer alternatives.

A statewide system of pre-school, another bad idea, would also be hugely expensive. That has not stopped Dede Alpert, San Diego Democrat, from her quest to add it to the budget.

Massive deficits are a time for belt-tightening but the government of California continues to bulk up the rolls of state employees, adding 2,300 jobs in February by one count. And tough times have not stopped state officials from handing out lavish pay increases. In state government, the rich get richer.

More than a third of the 220 administrators, consultants, and other top staffers who earn at least $70,000, and have been on the Assembly payroll for at least one year, have received raises. The highest, a hefty 47.6 percent, went to Glenn C. Tapio, legislative director to Assemblyman John Dutra, a Fremont Democrat. Mr. Tapio's salary was boosted from $52,416 to $77,412.

On the other hand, Penny Stanley, Mr. Dutra's chief of staff, had to be content with a miserly increase of 25 percent, from $101,256 to $126,252. The state has also been paying a consultant $8,000 a month to advise the Assembly speaker Herb Wesson on "rodeo and racetrack issues." And while keeping government bloated, the state has made it more difficult for those who seek to save taxpayers' money.

SB 1419, by Sen. Richard Alarcon, prevents public school districts and community colleges from contracting out for services such as bus transportation and cafeteria meals. This ensures that these services will cost the highest possible figure. That will be bad for taxpayers but good for unions, who have more favors headed their way.

Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe has proposed a law allowing teacher unions to use public schools for political organizing, political lobbying, and political campaigning. Also on the education front, Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza, chairwoman of the Assembly Budget Committee, wants schools to be inspected for how well their teachers demonstrate "cultural competency," code for political correctness in the classroom. It might be wise to assess first their competency, or lack thereof, in the teaching of math, reading, and writing.

The worst budget deficit in state history demands the serious attention of legislators, who have nevertheless found time for trivia. Assemblyman Paul Koretz is on a crusade to end the declawing of cats while Assemblywoman Ellen Corbett attempts to outlaw selling of "unweaned birds." Those who are out of work, and those feeling the pinch from the state's punitive income tax, may be forgiven for believing that these issues lack urgency.

Meanwhile, deficits of $35 billion, while formidable, have no power in themselves to focus legislative energy, cultivate fiscal responsibility, or decrease the number of bad ideas. Bad ideas always have consequences and those will be evident soon enough.

K. Lloyd Billingsley is editorial director of the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco. He can be reached via email at klbillingsley@pacificresearch.org.