IF CALIFORNIA WOULD like to get some temporary relief from its massive budget deficit, it should consider the sale of state-owned land worth several billion dollars.

Lawmakers in both parties are moving ahead on plans to sell unneeded state properties. They hope to get a bit of fiscal relief and avoid at least some of the most painful spending cuts that will be needed to balance the next state budget.

Often state departments are reluctant to sell unused properties because the proceeds do not come back to those departments. However, if the departments were allowed to use property sales to make up for budget cuts, there would be a greater incentive for selling.

The key to success in land sales is to effectively determine if the property is truly not needed or is an unaffordable extravagance.

No asset that serves a worthy public purpose, such as the UC research station on Moorea Island, should be sold.

It also should be understood by lawmakers that revenues from property sales are a one-time only source of money.

That means the funds should be used for one-time expenses or to buy some time to create long-term structural reforms to the state's spending and revenue-raising policies.

Short-term sources of revenues cannot be a substitute for real long-term budget reforms.


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