Right On Daily Blog

Want the Democrats to have unfettered access to your wallet? Vote yes on 25 – I know the deceptive ads are talking about how you can “screw the man” if you vote yes. That “man” would be you. Prop 25 would effectively end Prop 13 in California — Consider the following:

LEGISLATORS WON’T FORFEIT A DIME UNDER PROP 25!

Prop 25 Actually Rewards Legislators for Passing Sham Budgets

The Legislators behind Prop 25 are lying to the voters! They won’t forfeit a dime under Prop 25.  In fact, Prop 25 actually rewards them for passing sham budgets, AND makes it easier for them to increase their own tax-free expense accounts.

Would all the Sacramento politicians supporting Prop 25 be doing so if it actually threatened their pay?

Recent polling shows a concerning level of support for Prop. 25 among Republican voters, in part, because they are so angry and frustrated with the Democrat-controlled state Legislature that they want to believe it will hold legislators accountable. They are being fooled!

The Democrats and public employee unions that have put $10 million behind Prop 25 are lying that it will punish legislators if they don’t pass a budget on time.

Prop. 25 doesn’t do anything to ensure that a budget is signed! Prop. 25 would only require the legislature to pass a budget – no matter how gimmick-filled and out-of-balance it may be – with a majority vote, to keep their taxpayer funded pay and perks flowing. After that happens, it could be months and months until a real budget is signed by the governor!

Even Mac Taylor, the legislature’s non-partisan analyst, said the punish-the-legislators provisions of Prop. 25 “can be very easily circumvented by just passing some budget by June 15 even if it is not signed by the governor.”

Republican voters need to know that Prop. 25 is the ultimate Democrat-Union power play. And if Jerry Brown wins there’ll be nothing to stop them from increasing taxes, pensions and enacting their extreme agenda for California…and doing so with a majority vote.

Remember what happened the last time Democrats and the Unions controlled Sacramento? They created the budget crisis we’re in now!

Prop 25 is a power grab by the Liberal Spending Lobby and public employee unions to usher in Majority-Vote Tax increases.

The authors of this put in a no-budget-no-pay feature designed to fool angry voters in to supporting this measure… but even the no-pay feature is a fraud.

All the legislature has to do is submit a “budget” of any sort to the Governor and the no-pay feature is out the window.

The no on 25 ad is a hard hitting feature that basically tells you that if Prop 25 passes – the state legislature can give themselves pay and benefit raises with inpugnity.

It starts with a feature that suggests an assemblymember and a state senator inbibing on the taxpayer dime talking about how Prop 25 passing will give them more booze to drink and fun to have at our expense.

The ad goes on to state that if Prop 25 passes that the state legislature will be able to pass income taxes, car taxes and property taxes on a simple majority. (in so many words)

The No on 25 campaign is expecting that the Yes on 25 folks will counter-attack furiously, so the No on 25 campaign prepared a brief that explains the basis of their attack against Prop 25. I have highlighted some of it here…

Senate President pro Tem Steinberg and Assembly Speaker Perez recently authored a letter stating that, “Passage of Proposition 25 is a top priority for Senate and Assembly leadership

By using the phrase notwithstanding any other provision of law or this Constitution, this new section explicitly controls any other provisions of the Constitution that contains a different requirement.  Accordingly, Proposition 25 would allow the Legislature to simply combine an increase in legislator per diem and an appropriation into a single legislative bill and the entire measure could be adopted by a simple majority vote.  Therefore, the statement that Proposition 25 makes it easier for politicians to raise their own tax-free expense accounts is accurate

And the Coup d’etat… (ABX3 3 is the bill that implemented the largest tax increase in state history and required 2/3 to pass in Feb 2009)

Were Proposition 25 to become law, stand-alone tax measures would still require a two-thirds vote.  But if the Legislature combined a tax increase with an appropriation in the same legislative bill which ABX3 3 clearly demonstrates it may do, the entire bill could be adopted by a simple majority vote because, under Proposition 25, bills that provide for appropriations can be adopted by a single majority vote.

The bottom line is that ABX3 3 – the bill that doubled the car tax, raised the income tax rates .4% each, and jacked the state base sales tax rate to 8.25% (The highest in the nation) would be able to be passed with a simple majority due to the line: “Notwithstanding any other provision of the law or this Constitution, the budget bill and other bills providing for appropriations related to the budget bill may be passed in each house by rollcall vote entered in the journal, a majority of the members concurring, to take effect immediately upon being signed by the Governor or upon a date specified in the legislation. (Emphasis added.)

That’s why Steinberg and Perez have made Prop 25 their number one priority.

P.S. – Prop 25 also effectively bans referrenda – so the legislature would be able to pass bills and we could do nothing about them.