Schwarzenegger opposes majority-vote budget plan

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As the budget stalemate dragged through its fourth week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday he opposed giving lawmakers the power to pass a budget with a simple-majority vote.

The governor said he opposed any proposal to make it easier to raise taxes or fees. ‘I even don’t believe in doing the budget’ by majority vote, he said. Schwarzenegger said lowering the vote threshold would ensure ‘one party will make all the decisions’ in Sacramento.

Voters will have a chance to vote on such a plan in November. Proposition 25 would change the state’s two-thirds budget requirement to a simple majority but maintain a 67% threshold to raise taxes. The measure is backed by labor unions and other Democratic groups, and opposed by the state Chamber of Commerce.

The measure is also the subject of George Skelton’s Monday column.

Schwarzenegger’s comments were met with disappointment but not surprise by Yes on 25 spokesman Richard Stapler. ‘When real reform stares somebody straight in the eye,’ he said, ‘this is the reaction that we get.’

Schwarzenegger made his comments before the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce on Monday.

-- Anthony York in Sacramento