California Budget: Let the People Vote

The California Legislature's Republicans should let the people vote on Governor Brown's plan to balance the state budget. Their excuses for not doing so have grown embarrassingly threadbare of late.

In order to balance the anticipated $25 billion shortfall in the state budget, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed that it be done with $12.5 billion in cuts and $12.5 billion in extending taxes that were passed as part of the 2009 budget settlement. Brown needs two Republican votes in each of the state's Senate and Assembly because a legislative initiative requires two-thirds to pass, as does a tax increase according to Proposition 13. Thanks to the passage of Proposition 25 last fall, the Democratic majorities in both houses could pass a budget, but it would have to be all with cuts if the taxes are not extended. Brown promised in his campaign there would be, "No new taxes without voter approval," and he is sticking to that. So why not let the people decide for themselves?

The first excuse Republicans come up with is that, "the people would not support that." They obviously don't believe that themselves, or they would let the vote take place to prove they had the people on their side. They have been reading the California Field Poll taken this month that shows strong majorities in favor of the public vote and in favor of approving Brown's plan. Their stance on this fools no one.

A second excuse Republicans cite to deny the people a voice is that many of them have signed Grover Norquist's national no-tax pledge. They seem to forget the fact that they are elected to solve California's issues, not lock themselves into inflexible positions based on the directives of a Republican operative from Massachusetts. As Governor, even the conservative Republican Ronald Reagan supported and signed the biggest tax increase in California's history up to his tenure, and also agreed to eleven federal tax increases as President.

A third excuse often cited Republican legislators is that they have not had sufficient input into the plans. If their views are unknown it is only because they have not presented them. They have had nearly five months since the election (an election in which they lost every statewide office, 52 of 80 Assembly seats and 25 of 40 Senate seats) to present a plan for the state budget. Yet they have not done so. They talk of cuts in general but lack the courage to specifically state where they would hack another twelve and a half billion from state spending. They are aware that the same Field Poll referenced above shows the people oppose any further reductions in education and favor them only for prisons and courts. There is, of course, no way to come up with that much money from those two programs alone. As the Fresno Bee editorializes of the GOP, "They don't have the courage to support tax extensions. And they don't have the courage to put forth an all-cuts proposal." Instead, they simply say no to any proposed solution, hoping they can then blame someone else when problems go unsolved. They prove themselves bereft of either the vision or the fortitude to lead.