- Share on WeChat
-
Sen. Tony Strickland blasted Democrats in June 2011 for not committing the recently discovered $6.6 billion additional state tax revenues to public safety and education. Public safety and education groups are the two in the state claiming to be hit the hardest with cuts. Strickland said it does not appear the money was spent wisely.
“Democrats would like to claim that this budget is about public safety and education,” Strickland said. “Let’s be clear: You can make no mistake that this budget is not about protecting public safety or education. If you extend these taxes, it’s going to mean more people out of work at a time when people can least afford it. If you vote for this, it will actually be a full year of tax increases even if people in September vote it down.”
In 2011, Republicans blocked the passage of a tax bill requiring a two-thirds vote (AB X1 18).
Immediately following the failed tax vote, Sen. President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg brought up a bill (SB 1X 23) that housed his local taxation bill (SB 653) and would allow local governments to bring local tax opportunities to a vote.
“I believe that it is another club to use over Republicans and our constituencies, saying, if you don’t do this bridge tax, if you don’t raise the taxes of people that have already said no, then we are going to have all these different taxes,” said Republican Sen. Bob Huff.
However Steinberg and other Democrats said they planned to allow local governments to fund their own public programs, especially if Republicans and voters rejected the tax extensions in 2011. Senate Bill 653 was a bargaining tool to get Republicans to go along with Jerry Brown’s tax extensions.
Under SB 653, local governments could pass local taxes increases on not just goods and services, but also on income taxes. In the course of the 2011 session, Democrats said they would create a local car tax, additional business taxes, property taxes and many different excise taxes on cigarettes, liquor, soda and even locally sold medical marijuana.
Huff is a sponsor of Senate Bill 719 which would require each state department and agency to publish a website that provides details on expenditures in a searchable format. He says, "Transparency is an essential component of democracy and allows taxpayers to hold public officials accountable for their actions. More public scrutiny will help reduce impropriety in dealing with taxpayer dollars - be it perceived or real."
Capitol Weekly, California's major weekly periodical covering the state legislature, publishes an annual legislative scorecard to pin down the political or ideological leanings of every member of the legislature based on how they voted on an assortment of bills in the most recent legislative session. The 2009 scores were based on votes on 19 bills, but did not include how legislators voted on the Proposition 1A (2009). On the scorecard, "100" is a perfect liberal score and "0" is a perfect conservative score.
On the 2009 Capitol Weekly legislative scorecard, Huff ranked as a 9.
