Extortion by another name: GOP Leveraging the 2/3 Supermajority Requirement

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

I really, really don't like to agree with Dan Walters. He's quite obtuse, but I suppose that's neither here nor there for the purpose of this particular insight: the GOP has managed to leverage the 2/3 supermajority for the budget requirement to extort other compromises. Compromises for which they don't otherwise have the vote. We talked about this briefly on the Calitics Show with Mark Leno on Wednesday, so maybe Dan was listening to me when he wrote this in today's SacBee:

Initially, trailer bills were just boring bits of legislative ephemera. But politics being what they are, someone eventually noticed that the trailers, drafted and enacted quickly and secretly, made them perfect vehicles for "lowballing" other stuff.

Trailer bills have proliferated, filled with provisions that either have nothing to do with the budget or change it in mysterious ways, and are routinely enacted without any analysis of their effects, much less any opportunity for outside input. They are, moreover, "urgency" bills that take effect immediately upon being signed by the governor.

This year, the Senate Republican caucus is trying to get bills limiting Atty General Jerry Brown's power and to drastically cut back on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). They would have no leverage outside of the budget process to demand these changes, so they use the only process where they have some sort of governable size: the budget.

It is unacceptable that a minority should be attempting to kick and scream their way to overrule the majority's decisions.  It's just one more reason to get rid of the 2/3 requirement.