Word: californiaisms
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...California's system of governance seems designed to thwart any solution its lawmakers propose. With a two-thirds majority required to raise taxes or pass a budget, 40% of public funds earmarked for public schools and no method of overriding voter initiatives, California seems stymied by a complex puzzle that no one can solve...
...California is a state in crisis. Negotiations to resolve its $26.3 billion budget deficit are weeks behind deadline, more than $470 million worth of IOUs are clogging government ledgers and its state bonds are trading at near junk status. It's been a long, slow tumble from the Golden State's glamorous peak in the 1960s--when Governor Pat Brown built an efficient network of freeways and thriving, affordable public universities--to today's insolvent government beset by an unwieldy constitution and decades of mistakes...
...California's crisis winds all the way back to 1978's Proposition 13, which cut property-tax rates 57% and forced the state to rely more heavily on income tax revenue. When Californians were wealthy, the tactic generated a surplus, enabling politicians to cut taxes, pad budgets and bask in their popularity. But when times were lean, the state struggled to pay its bills. Governor Pete Wilson encountered this dilemma in 1991, as did Gray Davis in 2003. Now it's Arnold Schwarzenegger's turn to try to wrestle a highly partisan legislature into slashing enough programs to eliminate...
...California employs a unique combination of representative and direct democracy. A 1933 provision requires a two-thirds majority in both houses to pass a budget, a rule shared only by Rhode Island and Arkansas. Tax increases must pass by the same percentage--a stipulation adopted by just 12 other states. California also uses referendums, recalls and voter initiatives more frequently than any other state. This tangled structure often combines to confound legislators seeking changes that would relieve the state's woes...
...Referendums and initiatives on California's 2008 election ballot...