HEALTH NEWS

June 29: In a controversial simple-majority vote Sunday night, the state Assembly approved a Democratic budget proposal that raises taxes on oil production and tobacco products and calls for deep cuts to programs to close most of the $24.3 billion budget shortfall through June 2010.

The state Senate is scheduled to convene today to vote on the 14-bill package, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today vowed to veto the proposal.
"I will veto any majority vote tax increase bill that punishes taxpayers for Sacramento's failure to live within its means," he said in a written statement. "The legislature will have a difficult time explaining to Californians why they are running floor drills the day before our budget deadline. We do not have time for any more floor drills or partial solutions."

But Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Baldwin Vista (Los Angeles County), argued that it's time to get the budget back in balance. "For the governor or anyone to reject these solutions and to exploit the crisis for political gain or to get unrelated reforms or pet projects would really be the moral equivalent of hijacking an ambulance," she said.

By far the most controversial part of the Democratic proposal was the argument that new taxes can be approved with a simple-majority vote if the Legislature lowers other taxes by the same amount. Democrats tried such maneuvering in December when the state faced a $42 billion shortfall, but the governor vetoed that plan as well.

The current plan would lower the state's 18-cent excise tax on gasoline at the pump and impose new taxes on oil production and tobacco products. That bill was passed Sunday night in a 44-30 vote. A separate bill would impose an 18-cent fee on gasoline and use those funds for local transportation projects, alleviating the state's general fund woes. Such a scenario would raise $2.4 billion for the general fund.

The debate in the Assembly lasted late into the night on Sunday, with Republicans charging that approving a tax by simple majority votes is illegal and Democrats arguing such drastic actions are needed to save the state from financial ruin.

"Anyone who votes for this measure is voting to gut the Constitution of the state of California because you find it inconvenient right now," said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine.

Later, William Monning, D-Santa Cruz, countered: "We're sharing the chamber with some who have placed more loyalty in their pledge never to raise taxes than in their oath to protect the health and well-being of the people of California."

Bass' decision to go ahead with the simple majority plan was made Sunday after another round of talks with Schwarzenegger. The majority-vote alternative was considered a last option because any plan passed with a majority vote by the Legislature takes effect 90 days after the governor signs it. Plans passed by a two-thirds majority go into effect immediately.

Immediately after the meeting with the governor, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said he expected there would be a lot of negotiating deep into the night, quipping that it was "shuttle diplomacy." He was back in the governor's office about an hour after the first meeting.

The governor presented Democrats with several "policy-related issues," Steinberg said after the first meeting, although he did not elaborate on what those were.

(Source: San Francisco Chronicle)