Gov. Brown Wants June Special Election On State Budget
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)- In an exclusive interview with KCBS, Governor Jerry Brown rejected a new idea floated by some GOP legislators: let California voters consider tax cuts, as well as tax increase extensions. Instead, the governor wants a special election in June to focus solely on his plan to balance the budget.
KCBS' Doug Sovern Reports:
After the governor's State of the State speech, some Republican lawmakers said they'd be willing to go along with Governor Brown and call for a special election, if they could put their own parallel tax cut proposals on the ballot, along with his plan to extend three expiring tax increases. They say voters should have the choice, but Governor Brown said they can forget about it.
"There's a bit of flim flam out there when people say, 'Hey, we've got a 30 percent gap, let me make it worse by making it a 40 percent gap!' A further tax cut would take us down that road I think," said Brown.
The governor said he wants voters to decide whether to extend taxes to patch about half the $25 billion hole in the budget, not lower taxes to make that hole even bigger.
"That's a cut. That's about a $10 billion cut, and now they want to add on another $10 billion so that we have $20 billion? So instead of cutting the universities we're going to have to get a loan from them," said Brown.
KCBS and Chronicle Insider Phil Matier says Governor Brown's request for a June special election could be a vote-by-mail situation:
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