| Back in December, the Legislature passed a revenue measure that would have raised about $18 Billion. It was ultimately vetoed by Arnold in a fit of pique because he didn't get all the business concessions he wanted. That the changes would have helped save a bucket o' cash in interest payments seemed a minor matter to the Governator. The Republicans promptly sued to block the measure as a violation of the 2/3 rules on taxes, but we never got an opinion from the court as the case was rendered moot by the veto.
Flash forward to this week. The Legislative Counsel released an opinion, though non-binding on any court that might happen upon the case, that says the majority vote package was legal:
The March 9 opinion from Legislative Counsel Diane Boyer-Vine, addressed to Gov. Schwarzenegger, reaffirms a 2003 opinion by her office that finds a bill that raises one tax and lowers another by an equal or greater amount only needs simple majority votes in each legislative house.
"We think that a tax bill is not subject to the two-thirds vote requirement if the cumulative effect of the 'changes in state taxes' ... when considered in their entirety would be neutral or would produce a net decrease in state tax revenues," her March 9 opinion states. (Capitol Weekly 4/2/09)
This might serve a valuable purpose were we to a) get a Democratic Governor or b) get Arnold over the proverbial barrel far enough so that he would sign it. If you recall, Sen. Abel "Me, Me, Me" Maldonado got the gas tax increases cut out of the package when it was ultimately passed, resulting in a loss to the state coffers in the billions range. In theory, we could try again with a similar, though perhaps not quite as large, package to move an environmentally friendly revenue measure.
With luck, we won't need to raise any revenue for this fiscal year. However, it is looking like we might need oh, about $8 billion for the 2009-2010 FY, and the way the polling is looking on the special election, that might not help either. We need to pursue creative solutions to our revenue problem, and this might be one of them. |
