The California Legislature is about as spendthrift a legislature as one can find anywhere in the country. State revenues and expenditures continue to hit record levels, with Governor Brown’s budget proposal for the coming fiscal year calling for over $131 billion in General Fund spending, compared to $91 billion in General Fund spending for 2012-13. Yet for all this growth in revenues and even a projected surplus, the Legislature never gets around to prioritizing the basics. The addiction to doling out money left and right never seems to apply to things like the water, flood protection or parks.