I’ll admit it, I’m something of a cynic. I was always worried about the budget process and whether we would get the 2 votes necessary for the supermajority. I pretty much knew that the Republicans wouldn’t put straight taxes as an option, but maybe, just maybe, they would consider some sort of deal for an election.
Well, time’s up on that:
Gov. Jerry Brown announced this afternoon he halted negotiations with legislative Republicans over a deal to place taxes on the ballot to help resolve California’s remaining $15.4 billion deficit.
A June election appears to be off the table entirely. Brown is no longer pursuing a two-thirds vote for a June tax election, while Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, told reporters he will not pursue a majority-vote option, either.
“Yesterday, I stopped the discussions that I had been conducting with various members of the Republican party regarding our state’s massive deficit,” Brown said in a statement this afternoon. “The budget plan that I put forth is balanced between deep cuts and extensions of currently existing taxes and I believe it is in the best interest of California. Under our constitution, however, two Republicans from the Assembly and two from the Senate must agree before this matter can be put to the people.”(SacBee)
The Governor also sent a letter to Republican Senate Leader Bob Dutton asking him to “get working” on something, and to pair his reform requests down to spending cap, pension reform, and “regulatory reform.” You can view the letter here. But in the end, I struggle to see how anything gets done at this point without signatures. It is just unfortunate that now we’re going to have to wait to get that done.
This is truly a bad day for California, and a sad statement for our government.
I have been searching in vain the text of the California Constitution for where it says that a super-majority is necessary for the legislature to put a ballot initiative on the ballot.
(Yes, I understand that a 2/3rds vote is necessary for the legislature to raise taxes in any way, via Prop 13 et al, but I can find nothing that says anything about a 2/3rds vote being necessary to put a ballot initiative about raising taxes on the ballot.)
I’ve been trying to locate something for a while now, on and off for days.
Anyone out there able to cite chapter and verse?
Thanks.
Since the goal of the Republicans is to destroy government, and benefit their corporate masters, there is no incentive for them to agree with any budget proposal. Indeed, their incentives are to delay and obstruct.
The budget is the symptom, but really what we’re talking about is the political system. Republicans and Democrats live is such different worlds that they cannot see a way to solve this horrible budget crisis.
I wish there was some event that we could draw a straight line from and get to this crisis, but there are several contributing factors.
Civility matters. When politicians paint the world in primary colors and ascribe nothing but evil intent and results from their opponents, it’s damned difficult to then work with them to solve some of the hardest problems in the nation.
Moderate Republicans are gone. There are no more moderate Republicans. The last few moderates were drummed out of the party about a decade ago. Two things have happened. First, the GOP registration is down to about 30%. Second, the remaining party treats moderation like a social disease. Those who might have voted with the Democrats on putting the tax extension on the ballot are now gone.
There are more, but these are two. It’s a sad day.
Maybe some Get Equal type protests in front of Republican legislator district offices would be a good idea. Imagine all the students of UC Riverside marching to Dutton’s district office in Riverside demanding change, or 10,000+ students marching to his other office in Rancho Cuccamonga.
Governor Brown’s solution was rational and fair, but Californian voters were not supporting Wisconsin-esque type policies.
I find my Democratic Party legislators too liberal and I find my adjacent Republican Party legislators too fringetastic too.
Yes, I am one of those unicorns, the moderate to progressive Republican. 😛
So What happens now ?
Do the Demcorats have to cut the additional $Billions that would have come from the extend3ed taxes ?
Will Brown ask for bonds to tide us over ?
What cuts will have to be made ?
Does Brown have the votes to get rid of Redevelopment Agencies ? Democrats had better get serious about THAT
If we have to cut, it will be brutal
What about Special election ?
Can they happen any time ?
During the Summer would be harder because people (students) would be out of school and on vacation
Would a Fall election be better ?
My daughters are both in college
Will they have to raise tuition in state colleges ??
Time to get to worik !!!