Brown win, Prop. 25 passage give Dems new clout

[Lionel Mandrake]

Source: Washington Examiner

By: DON THOMPSON 
Associated Press
11/03/10 8:20 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES — Democrats retained control of both legislative chambers and won a major victory in this week's elections when voters approved Proposition 25, lowering the threshold to pass a state budget from a two-thirds vote to a simple majority.

Only one legislative seat changed hands during Tuesday's vote, even though all 80 Assembly seats and half the 40 Senate seats were up for election.

... it will still require a two-thirds vote to raise taxes, though only a simple 50 percent majority to pass a budget. That leaves Democrats to deal with a new budget deficit estimated at $12 billion without some of the one-time measures that have been used to bridge previous budget gaps.

Read more: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/breaking/democrats-hope-to-get-closer-to-supermajority-106588033.html

---

The news from California is very good indeed.

The Prop. 25 win will make a huge difference next summer, when the budget for the following fiscal year will be passed approximately on time. What a welcome change that will be!

California Democrats actually gained a seat in the state legislature. How's that for bucking the national trend?

[lonestarnot]

1. Hats off to you! Proud of you! So very proud of CA!

Finally a breath!

[maddogesq]

2. Could you throw that goodness in the wind that blows eastward?

Shit, I live in Michigan. We are turning as red as a fire engine. F@%K!

[kestrel91316]

3. Lots of Repuke messes to clean up here though........

[Odin2005]

4. Good for you folks in Cali!

[4lbs]

5. I have a good feeling that CA will have a single-payer system soon.

It is estimated by studies of the main bill for that single-payer plan, CA SB810, that California would save $8 billion in the first year of the plan. More savings would come in following years.

What could $8 billion be used for in CA? Oh, to help with California state college system perhaps. Let me see, there are about 600,000 students in CA's UC and CSU universities (400,000 in CSU and 200,000 in UC system). $8K per year per student comes to $4.8 billion. Pay for students' tuition/fees! The other $3.2 billion could be used for teacher salaries and university improvements. 32 total campuses --- give each one $50 million.

That leaves $1.6 billion. Give that to the lower schools: K-12.

Add with about $2 billion more in federal dollars for CA's K-12 public school system via legislation passed by the Obama administration and Congress over the past two years, and hopefully places like the L.A. school district which is facing a $650 million budget shortfall can overcome that.

[Merlot]

6. From your post to the gov's desk!

The bill has already been written. As soon as arnie's gone we'll see if Brown signs off, which I expect he would.

[Psephos]

10. "What could $8 billion be used for in CA?"

Perhaps a downpayment on the $12 billion state budget deficit?

[BlueCaliDem]

13. SB 810 "California OneCare" is ready to be signed by our new Governor

It has passed the Senate last February, but the Dems wisely held back from presenting it to the Schwarzenegger who would've definitely vetoed it as he'd vetoed another single payer earlier.

Gavin Newsom, Mayor and now Lt Governor-elect, presided over San Francisco, the only major city that's in the black because of single payer.

California will get single payer soon!

[BlueCaliDem]

14. Link to and Overview of SB810 California OneCare

and what it's all about.

What services are covered?

Under SB 810, the following services are provided: medical, dental, vision, prescription drugs, mental health, immunizations, laboratory and diagnostic services, surgical and recuperative care, alcohol and drug rehab, ambulance services, transportation to and from doctor or hospital, adult day care, translation and interpretation, chiropractic, acupuncture, case management, dialysis, podiatry, preventative care, hospice, blood products, in-home care, and up to 100 days of skilled nursing.

http://californiaonecare.org/about-2/sb-810-overview/

[FrenchieCat]

7. I love my State!

[onestepforward]

8. Good job, California!

Congratulations to everyone who made it happen!
:toast:

[defendandprotect]

9. Good luck, California ... you were first to feel wrath of Reagan....

and right wing politics --

Wasn't Nixon fairly briskly after you out there?

And ENRON .... Yikes!!

This looks like good news for you all -- !!

:)

[PufPuf23]

11. I am glad for my home state and current residence, California,

My candidates all won at all levels; missed on 2 State propositions.

But the USA is a painful political trainwreck.

Jerry Brown, "Governor Moonbeam" of yore, is a good adminstrator and wise. He will make better a bad situation with less faux fan fare than just about any Democrat. Jerry Brown does incrementalism, not theatrics (paid Kabuki in DC and media).

He would have been a good POTUS.

Let us not continue to bash "hippies", educated baby boomers, and minorities you neo-liberal assholes. California has some promise and is a rare bright point in Fall 2010 Democratic Party politics.

edit for spelling

[ProudDad]

12. Way to go, California...!

Finally, the worst part of Prop 13 is GONE!!!

Now, ON TO SINGLE-PAYER!!!

[laughingliberal]

15. K & R nt

[No Elephants]

16. I guess I don't understand. The legislature is freer to pass a budget, but not freer to raise $$

to finance the budget. Is this likely to lead to anything but an even larger deficiit with no real way to pay it down, ever?

"will still require a two-thirds vote to raise taxes, though only a simple 50 percent majority to pass a budget"

[BanTheGOP]

17. We should see court action on this

And the courts will definitely start itemizing, such as health care, environmental protection, and education. They will be allowed to be funded by simple majority. This should be covered by a Wealth tax: that's tax not just on income, but established wealth. Millionaires and billionaires should see hefty cuts to their net worth within a couple of years.

[No Elephants]

18. On what legal basis will courts override voters on a ballot initiative?

Wouldn't it have to be a provision in the federal or state Constitution?

Btw, I see we have very similar names. ;)

[BanTheGOP]

22. US HOUSE RULE OF ORDER

The Rule of Order is the method. While the specifics differ between the House and Senate, it states that members can make their own rules. Of course, it also is dependent upon the courts to whether the rules can be allowed to stand or not.

My point is that there ARE no real rules, RIGHT NOW. So we use the Lame Duck session to put through our needed proposals. JUST AS IMPORTANTLY, we need to instill progressive judges in the postions in the federal vacancies. Once this is done, we revert congress back to normal prior to the 112th. Now, if THOSE criminal bastards try something then we can use OUR judges to block them, as we will have relatively complete control of the federal judiciary at that point.

That is the basis for my Lame Duck strategy. And President Obama being out of the country is BRILLIANT at this time, as well, because more attention will be given to his trip and we can get some needed laws passed under the Tea Party radar.

[Lionel Mandrake]

19. This editorial may shed some light.

Prop. 25 changes everything

California voters have given the majority party the power to adopt a state budget on a majority vote. But in passing Prop. 26, they have stripped the same lawmakers of one of their chief budget-balancing tools.

LA Times, November 4, 2010

... California's persistent fiscal mess is based less on poor budget decisions in Sacramento than it is on the inability to make a decision of any kind. At the heart of the problem has been the two-thirds supermajority requirement, imposed by voters in three stages. First, during the Depression, voters decided that no budget could be passed in a slow-growth year without the approval of two-thirds of the members of each house of the Legislature. Then, in the 1960s, the two-thirds requirement was extended to include all budgets in all years. Then, in 1978 as part of Proposition 13, it was applied to all tax increases as well. Proposition 25 undoes the two-thirds requirement only on budgets. It remains in place on taxes and, in fact, is now, under Proposition 26, extended to fees.

Now, like every other state in the nation but two, California will be able to adopt a budget on a majority vote (as long as that budget doesn't include any tax or fee hikes). It's an important step up from deadlock and stasis, and holds the prospect of returning the Legislature to a measure of accountability that it has too long eluded.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-props-20101104,0,1141841.story

[KamaAina]

20. Not only that, we can't even raise fees any more

without the dreaded two-thirds majority, thanks to Prop 26.

And the budget balancing act -- with the emphasis on "act" -- relied heavily on additional federal money coming in to the state. There goes that brilliant plan...

[Gormy Cuss]

21. Welcome to legislating by Props.

The vote was in favor of Prop. 25 but there's no way of telling how many voters were voting to stop the legislators' pay if the budget isn't passed on time, as opposed to the voters who understood that the supermajority rule was at fault, not lackadaisical legislators. Most of the Prop. 25 ads that I saw focused on the pay issue.