California GOP Issues Wish List Of Budget Demands
SACRAMENTO (CBS / AP) -- Democratic leaders in the state Legislature said Friday they were growing frustrated after weeks of failed budget negotiations and might seek a way to reach a deal without Republicans, who submitted a comprehensive wish list of more than 50 demands to the governor's office.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, warned that he could schedule a vote soon to force GOP lawmakers to make a decision but would not give up on a deal as long as Gov. Jerry Brown wants to keep negotiating.
Senate Minority Leader Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, released details of the GOP's request list Friday night, saying that after weeks of being called the party of "no," Republicans now "are accused of being the party of 'too much yes'" by asking for too much.
Their requests include comprehensive rollbacks of public employee pensions, reducing California's environmental regulations and changing the hiring and firing process for schoolteachers.
Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, dismissed the list of Republican demands as moving further away from what Democrats can accept. Gil Duran, a spokesman for Brown, said the governor was "eminently reasonable" and was looking it over.
Brown needs two Republican votes in each house of the state Legislature to approve his proposal for a special election to give voters a chance to extend temporary tax increases enacted two years ago.
If talks reach an impasse, Democrats could try to approve the special election on a simple majority vote, a move that would almost certainly be challenged in court because legislative ballot measures require a two-thirds vote.
Democrats, who have a majority in both houses, also could introduce an all-cuts budget that would take away billions of dollars more from schools or try to qualify an independent initiative on the tax extensions for a special election this November.
"We will quickly have to decide whether or not to pursue solutions that do not require Republican votes," Perez, D-Los Angeles, said after leaving Brown's office.
This week, Brown signed bills that reduced California's deficit from $26.6 billion to about $15.4 billion through a mix of spending cuts and fund shifts. Republicans and Democrats disagree over how to close the remaining shortfall; Republicans have not presented an alternate plan.
Republicans are seeking rollbacks of public employee pensions, a cap on state spending in future budgets and business-friendly regulatory changes in exchange for supporting Brown's plan for a special election on a five-year extension of hikes in the personal income, sales and vehicle taxes that are scheduled to expire this year. The GOP wish list said Republicans wanted to limit the tax extensions to only 18 months.
Dutton and Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, vice chairman of the Senate budget committee, who met with Brown on Friday, released details of their requests Friday night after Steinberg and Brown repeatedly complained that GOP lawmakers had not been specific about what they were willing to trade for their votes on a special election.
"Today he (Brown) was presented with a thorough outline, which reiterates our priorities, including: getting our state back on track by reining in runaway spending; controlling unsustainable public employee pensions; getting people back to work; protecting and improving our state's public education system; and making critical adjustments to the governor's flawed budget," Dutton and Huff said in a joint statement released by Huff's office.
Their demands include requiring asking voters to approve a spending cap and pension reform along with the tax extensions.
Democrats need two GOP votes in each chamber of the state Legislature to approve a special election.
Duran also characterized the requests as excessive after months of budget talks that had yet to yield serious progress.
"Obviously you can't expect to ram through a complete agenda across a broad spectrum of issues as the minority party when all the governor's asking for is to let the people vote," he said Friday.
Steinberg asked members to be on call through the weekend in case a deal was reached. Republicans criticized him for leaving Sacramento on Friday to attend a Democratic fundraiser at the Torrey Pines golf course near San Diego.
Sen. Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, one of several Republicans who had previously been negotiating with Brown, was attending a GOP fundraiser at Pebble Beach.
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