When the game doesn't go your way, just change the rules

In Nevada, new taxes can only be passed when 2/3 of the legislature vote for the measure. However, the governor didn't like this because it is almost impossible to pass new taxes so he sued saying the state constitution guaranteed funding for education took precedence over the 2/3 voting requirement for new taxes. Never mind both are part of the constitution, one part is more important then the other.

The Nevada Supreme Court agreed saying the 2/3 majority was only a procedure while the funding for education was a basic requirement.

Personally this logic escapes me as both are procedural in nature (government will fund education and government can only raise taxes with a 2/3 majority).

However, since the court ruled that a state constitution isn’t the highest law in the state, but the court is, California is looking at this and seeing if they can set aside the current 2/3 majority to pass new taxes or a budget.

The current budget deadlock has happened because a new budget must pass the legislature by a vote of 2/3 and no new taxes can be imposed without a 2/3 majority. Since the Republicans hold just over 1/3 of the seats in the Assembly, and they say NO NEW TAXES, and the Democrats say they must have new taxes, there is an impasse.

So now there is a new movement afoot to change the constitution so new taxes and a new budget can be passed with only a 55% majority instead of the current 2/3 majority. At least this process is putting it to a vote of the people of California, but it would still be scary if it passed. Look at recent history. Under Prop 13, local bond issues could only be passed with a 60% majority vote and therefore most didn’t pass and we saved ourselves a lot of debt. However, a few years ago, the rules were changed to allow bond measures to pass for schools with only a 55% majority. Now it is much easier to pass bond measures and the debt of the districts (and the property taxes that pay for these bonds) is going up.

An opinion piece in the Eureka Times says lowering the voting requirement of budgets and taxes from 2/3 to 55% is not a good idea because while it may help the democrats in the short term, it may make life hard for them in the long term. While that may be true, I’m personally more worried about our lives becoming harder because the tax burden can be raised too easily by those who want to spend our money without thinking what it could do to our state’s economy.