Buried Lede: A way around the 2/3 barrier?
From Wikipedia:
Verb: to bury the lede: (idiomatic, US, journalism) To begin a story with details of secondary importance to the reader while postponing more essential points or facts.
As prior posts have noted, thanks to the voter last November, a state budget – but not a tax or fee increase – can be passed by a simple majority of the legislature. The strategy for Brown appears to be to present a no-tax Budget from Hell, pass it, and then put a proposition on the ballot by June to extend the tax increases of Feb. 2009 that are due to expire. If such a prop gets on the ballot, voters can pass it by a simple majority (although they rejected that option in May 2009). The fly in the ointment was that getting a prop on the ballot by June cannot be done by signatures because of the timing. It can only be done by the legislature – which would normally require a 2/3 vote, i.e., Republican cooperation which likely is not forthcoming.
An article in today’s Sacramento Bee contains an intriguing hint of a way to get a prop on the ballot by simple majority:
For their part, Republican leaders have speculated that Brown could put his measure before voters by amending an existing initiative, which would require a simple majority vote. They have asked for a legislative counsel opinion on the issue.
Otherwise, Brown would need a two-thirds approval, which would mean persuading at least two Republican Assembly members and two GOP senators as well as every Democratic legislator to support his plan.
This item is buried in the article. If an election is called, there would be unrelated props on the ballot since anything that qualifies goes on the next available ballot. There is a constitutional provision that says ballot initiatives are supposed to be on a single subject. Whether legislative action can override that – or, indeed, the validity of the entire strategy – is not discussed in the article.
The article itself is at http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/09/3310513/legislators-left-and-right-dislike.html
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