Prop 25, 26: Majority Rules; Minority shouldn't have veto

I am going YES! on Prop 25 and NO! on Prop 26.

Prop 25 would change the legislative vote requirement to pass a budget from two-thirds to a simple majority. This should help resolve the habitual gridlock every year in passing a budget. Now, the minority party (i.e. Republican) hold the budget hostage. The majority party spends all the time figuring out how to buy a few votes from the other side. Deals are cut, horses are traded, taxes are cut, new spending written in to serve some special interest, and the people lose.

Prop 25 will not help balance the budget. It will not help create new revenues. It will not stop politicization of state budgeting. But it will probably help us take a step in the right direction.

There is legitimate concern that Prop 25 effectively hands control to the Democratic party in California's budget process. That may be true. But at least we'll know who is responsible for a bad budget.

The opponents also allege (and this is controversial) that Prop 25, despite what it claims in BOLD, will allow for new taxes to be passed with only a simple majority. Mm, so what?

Prop 26 on the other hand is clearly a special interest scheme. "It would raise the vote threshold to two-thirds in the Legislature for any fee that benefits the public but does not directly pay for a service the payer receives. (One example: the fees charged to companies that deal with hazardous waste, which help pay to clean up all toxic sites.) Local lawmakers would have to get two-thirds voter approval for such a fee, an unnecessary impingement."

So let's try making passing a budget bill easier, and see how things go. YES! on 25. And let's not make the gridlock worse: NO! on Prop 26.