Assembly GOP Yacht Caucus Rejects Closure of Yacht Tax Loophole, but a Few Senate Republicans Stage a Mutiny and Throw their Lea

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Moments before cutting billions of dollars to California’s most vulnerable citizens, the Assembly Republican "Yacht Caucus" today voted against an effort to close the yacht tax loophole in an effort to narrow the state’s $14 billion budget gap. 
 
Some 20 Assembly Republicans voted against closing the loophole, which would increase state revenues by $5 million in 2007-08 and $21 million in 2008-09 and each year thereafter.
 
They included Assemblymembers Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia; Joel Anderson, R-La Mesa; John Benoit, R-Palm Desert; Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto; Mike Duvall, R-Brea; Ted Gaines, R-Roseville; Martin Garrick, R-Carlsbad;  Guy Houston, R-San Ramon; Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar; Kevin Jeffries, R-Riverside; Rick Keene, R-Chico; Doug LaMalfa, R-Biggs; Bill Maze, R-Visalia; George Plescia, R-San Diego; Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster; Jim Silva, R-Huntington Beach; Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita; Audra Strickland, R-Camarillo; Mike Villines, R-Fresno; Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Niguel.
 
Seven other Republicans "took a walk" on the bill by failing to vote, helping to defeat the Assembly measure. They were Assemblymembers: Paul Cook, R-Yucaipa; Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands; Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield; Alan Nakanishi, R-Lodi; Roger Niello, R-Sacramento; Todd Spitzer, R-Orange; and Van Tran, R-Costa Mesa.

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