(TNS) - This would be a first for California: state government buying insurance to protect itself against overspending its budget.

But before you start pelting the politicians and screaming fiscal irresponsibility, know that the budget-busting would be for fighting wildfires.

That puts it in an entirely different category from, say, controversial spending to help immigrants who are here illegally, or trying to register voters at the notoriously jammed DMV.

No sane person is going to gripe about overspending tax dollars to douse a deadly wildfire.

But it does amount to a sucker punch for state budgeters, who might be forced to grab money from other state programs to pay for the firefighting. Fortunately in recent years the robust California economy has been producing state revenue surpluses. So, little problem.

Another recession is a certainty, however. And so seemingly is something else: devastating wildfires worsened by climate change.

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