Editorial Board | Santa Cruz Sentinel | Apr. 18, 2010
Tax Day, April 15, has passed, and with it the Tea Party protests. Now California legislators have to hope tax revenues keep increasing and that the state's budget deficit can be bridged without an insurrection of angry voters.
This year's state budget process, though, probably will be another pitched partisan battle, since hoped-for reforms are still in the distance. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to unveil a revised budget plan in mid-May.
Democrats -- led by Assembly Speaker John A. Perez of Los Angeles and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento -- are pushing a November ballot measure that would allow future budgets to be passed by a majority vote, rather than the two thirds needed now.
California is one of only three states in the nation requiring a two-thirds vote to pass a budget. Democrats have until May 11 to collect enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.