By the time the Legislature wound up a couple of weeks of intense committee hearings Thursday and left town for an 11-day spring break, the atmosphere had soured. Three Democratic senators facing criminal charges had been suspended thereby erasing the upper house’s supermajority and dooming some of the most ambitious measures.
The California Chamber of Commerce, which annually singles out the highest-profile anti-business bills and labels them “job killers,” scored a number of victories without firing a shot. Eight tax-increase measures on the 26-bill list that required two-thirds votes stalled out with the demise of the Senate’s supermajority, giving the chamber and other business interests a head start on their annual wrangle with liberal groups.
That demise, moreover, restores a modicum of influence for minority Republicans on other measures requiring two-thirds votes – such as a water bond for the November ballot, or Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal for a rainy-day fund to soak up the surging revenue that many of his fellow Democrats would prefer to spend.
The conflict between Brown and liberals over whether to ramp up health and welfare spending and launch pricey new programs such as “transitional kindergarten” looms as the year’s biggest uncertainty.
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