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After election, what’s next in California?

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Times reporter Evan Halper will join city editor Shelby Grad in a Google+ hangout at 2 p.m. to discuss the passage of Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax measure and the likely Democratic supermajorities in the Assembly and Senate.

From Halper and The Times’ Anthony York’s story Thursday:

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The supermajorities would mark a dramatic shift in Sacramento’s balance of power, where GOP legislators have aggressively used their ability to block state budget plans and prevent revenue increases to scale back the scope of state government.

Coupled with the approval of Brown’s tax plan, Proposition 30, the Democrats now have not only the power but also the money to break free of the deficit that has paralyzed state government for years.

The pressure on Democrats to restore funding for the many services slashed to balance the budget in recent years will be intense.

Already, activists are pressing lawmakers to pump new money into such programs as college scholarships, dental care for the needy and, of course, public schools.

But the first move Brown and legislative leaders made Wednesday was to reassure voters that they would show restraint.

They promised there would be no frenzy of tax hikes.

‘Voters have trusted the elected representatives, maybe even trusted me to some extent, and now we’ve got to meet that trust,’ Brown said at a Wednesday news conference in the Capitol. ‘We’ve got to make sure over the next few years that we pay our bills, we invest in the right programs, but we don’t go on any spending binges.’

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Still, lawmakers can appear to hold the line on revenue generation without actually doing so.

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