California Assembly Committee Votes Down Open Budget Talks

SACRAMENTO (CBS / AP) -- A committee that oversees spending in the California Assembly has voted against considering a lawmaker's proposal to approve Assembly budgets in public.

The Assembly Rules Committee voted 6-5 Monday not to take up a resolution by Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Portantino this year.

Portantino's proposal requires the committee to set lawmakers' budgets more equitably and consider them in a public meeting. Officials would also be required to publish quarterly spending updates.

Republicans on the committee and one Democrat supported Portantino's resolution on Monday.

A feud between the La Canada-Flintridge lawmaker and Assembly Speaker John Perez, a fellow Democrat, has erupted into a debate about the Legislature's public records policy.

Committee chairwoman Nancy Skinner, a Democrat from Berkeley, said a task force she is heading will review the law by January.

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