As the California state budget impasse dragged on for months, several Democratic legislators called for an end to the two-thirds vote requirement for a spending plan. They want to take the idea to the ballot. Jenny O'Mara reports.
State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass has brought up the two thirds' vote requirement several times during this lengthy budget season.
Bass: And I really think that what we have been through over the last eighty days raises the fundamental issue of California being like 47 other states in the union and having a simple majority to pass a budget...
Reducing the requirement has been tried before-in 2004 voters rejected a plan to enact budgets with a 55-percent vote of the legislature. Karen Bass says she wants to try for a change perhaps in a special election-which could be called next year to approve reforms included in the new budget. Tracy Westen with the L.A. based Center for Governmental Studies agrees the two-thirds requirement should go. He says a vote soon after this budget impasse may give the idea's supporters a shot.
Westen: "But having seen the longest delay in adopting a budget in California history and a lot of attention focused on this, this might be the best time to do it."
When asked about changing the two-thirds vote requirement Governor Schwarzenegger said what should be examined is consequences for the legislature for budget delays.
