Republicans Sabotage California Budget … Again

After a 19-hour lockdown of the State Capitol over the weekend, an exasperated Senate President Don Perata finally told Republicans to come back on Wednesday and write the budget themselves. Absent intervention from the Governor, we’re likely to see an even worse product before it’s all over.

There are two basic reasons why we are now in this mess: (a) an ultra-partisan gerrymander that elected Republicans who are truly insane, and (b) California’s requirement that two-thirds of the legislature must pass the state budget. Only three states don’t require a simple majority to pass a budget (Arkansas and Rhode Island are the other two), and until that changes, Republicans can blackmail the Democratic majority into passing the most draconian budget cuts – leaving local government scrambling for solutions.

California is a deep blue state, where the electorate supports spending more money on education, health and human services – even if it means raising taxes. So it’s no surprise that Democrats have a healthy majority in both the State Assembly (48-32) and the State Senate (25-15), and that Arnold Schwarzenegger was only re-elected after co-opting progressive issues.

Read More