If you think California Republicans can at least be counted on to vote against tax hikes, the Legislature just proved you wrong.
On Wednesday, the California Senate approved Assembly Bill 1768, legislation granting an exemption from the state sales tax limit in Contra Costa and Los Angeles Counties. Both counties have measures pending before voters asking for increases to their sales taxes this June.
The vote in the Senate was 29 to 8, with Republican Megan Dahle joining the Democrats in aiding fiscally irresponsible counties in hiking their already high sales taxes.
What was more surprising, and much more annoying, than the Senate’s approval of the bill was the vote a week earlier in the California Assembly. Because the bill would take effect immediately, and is therefore what’s called an urgency item, the bill required 54 votes for passage in the Assembly.
On May 18, the bill was approved with 55 votes in favor, 15 against and 10 not voting. Among those voting in favor were Republicans Juan Alanis, Stan Ellis, Greg Wallis, Jeff Gonzalez and Republican leader Heath Flora. Rising in support and actually speaking about the bill was Jeff Gonzalez of the 36th Assembly District.
I later asked Gonzalez to elaborate on his support for the bill to help Democrat-run counties raise taxes and how he squared that with being a Republican.
I got a lengthy response defending local tax increases from the Republican, but here’s the point that matters: “My vote on AB 1768 was about giving power to the voters. This legislation does not impose a tax statewide, it simply allows local communities to decide for themselves whether they want to support healthcare funding through a local sales tax measure. If voters in a community believe this is the best way to protect healthcare access, then that decision should be made by the people, not politicians in Sacramento.”
What’s probably funniest about this response is that he basically said what Democratic Senator and longtime union boss Maria Elena Durazo said a week later on the Senate floor in urging passage of the bill: “Let the people vote. Let’s not fear the outcome. Let’s respect the local voters in Los Angeles County and Contra Costa County and, give them the right, to not only vote, but to count their vote. They’re the ones who should determine these issues. AB 1768 does not raise taxes. … AB 1768 does not raise taxes. It’s giving the voters the authority to determine what they want to do.”
Now, of course Durazo supports higher taxes and making it easier for higher taxes. She’s a Democrat and a proponent of every costly union mandate one can imagine. And of course Durazo, who is all but guaranteed to be elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in June, wants to enter office with a nice new revenue stream.
But what’s Gonzalez’s excuse? His appeal to local control on taxation is quite the slippery slope. Appeals to local control on these matters are but a Trojan horse for rolling back state-mandated taxpayer protections. If he can’t figure out that this same argument he made can be, has been and will be used to justify rollbacks on every taxpayer protection in the state, he shouldn’t be in the California Legislature.
Of course, it’s not all on Gonzalez, a freshman lawmaker who takes a superficial approach to legislation. Other Republicans joined him and not only helped push the bill across the finish line, but helped Democratic Assemblymembers stay on the sidelines and not vote.
Democratic Assemblymembers Joaquin Arambula, Jasmeet Bains, Juan Carrillo, Jacqui Irwin, Alex Lee, Darshana Patel, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio and Pilar Schiavo all got to take a pass on the vote because some very confused and unprincipled Republicans decided to help the Democrats help their fellow Democrats in Contra Costa and Los Angeles Counties raise taxes.
Instead of forcing the Democrats on the sidelines to decide whether to help facilitate higher taxes in Contra Costa and Los Angeles Counties, those Republicans ditched taxpayer interests and decided to be the useful idiots of the supermajority.
If this is the new direction of the California Republican superminority, it raises the question: What’s the point of voting for Republicans? Republicans in the Legislature have a simple set of responsibilities, and among those is protecting taxpayers. The Republican bloc in the Legislature is abysmal as it is, the last thing it needs is a Tax Hike Caucus.
Sal Rodriguez can be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com