Comments on: The Prop. 25 bait and switch https://calwatchdog.com/2012/04/27/the-prop-25-bait-and-switch/ Wed, 25 Mar 2015 05:42:52 +0000 hourly 1 By: ExPFCWintergreen https://calwatchdog.com/2012/04/27/the-prop-25-bait-and-switch/#comment-17486 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:14:31 +0000 http://www.calwatchdog.com/?p=28070#comment-17486 It isn’t the judge’s fault. The initiative drafting was the problem. The initiative says, “in any year in which the budget bill is not passed by the Legislature by midnight on June 15, there shall be no appropriation from the current budget or future budget to pay any salary or reimbursement for travel or living expenses for Members of the Legislature”

All Prop. 25 requires is for the Legislature to “pass” a budget by June 15. unless it says so, the initiative can’t be interpreted to put words in there allowing the Controller to make the call on whether the budget that was “passed” was balanced or not. That would be the worst form of judicial activism, especially in California–unlike Congress, which can only do what the US Constitution says it can do, the California legislature can do anything it wants, as long as the state constitution doesn’t prohibit it.

The fault lies in the drafting. Who did the drafting? Why your state Legislature.

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