Opinion: On-time-budget act moves California forward
By Marty Hittelman
California has been the birthplace of so much that is new and better for our country and the world – technology, social change, culture and political thought. But California’s budget process is holding us back. We are locked in an antiquated and deadly trap, the Legislature’s two-thirds vote requirement to pass a state budget. This is why we need Proposition 25, the On Time Budget Act.
Prop. 25 would do two simple things:
Proposition 25 would break the annual budget deadlock by allowing a majority of legislators to approve a budget. It would leave the two-thirds vote requirement to raise taxes unchanged.
Prop. 25 also would hold legislators accountable by preventing them from collecting their pay and benefits for every day the state budget is late – income they can’t recover later when they do pass the budget.
Marty Hittelman is the president of the California Federation of Teachers.