News

Gov. Brown released a video – see below – in which he says there will be a budget vote this week. As a prior post noted, June 15 (Wednesday) is the generally-neglected constitutional deadline for the legislature to pass a budget. Exactly what a budget vote might mean is uncertain. Pieces of the budget have already been voted. More could be voted without an entire package being passed by June 15. In principle, legislators will not be paid after June 15, not even retroactively, for each day without a budget. But exactly how that will operate in practice is also…

You are not supposed to want to know how sausages are made. The making of the state budget sausage – as a prior post noted – is supposed to happen in the legislature by June 15. For any kind of tax extension or tax-related ballot measure, a 2/3 vote is needed which means a few GOP legislators must go along. Public sector unions have been pushing Gov. Brown to abandon the idea of a vote on tax extensions although they have not explained how he is supposed to get a 2/3 vote for his tax extensions. But they have said…