Solving the budget stalemate is simple enough, Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines said in a visit to The Bee’s Capitol Bureau Tuesday. Democrats have to capitulate to GOP demands for the 8-hour work day, meal breaks, looser environmental regulations, permanent budget cuts and a stiff spending cap, among other things.
Then, and only then, will Republicans come to the table to discuss — but not necessarily agree to — new taxes.
“We think you have to do these reforms first, cuts first and make sure that you’re doing an economic package …

California legislators are expected to vote late today on a $17 billion package of tax increases and program cuts pushed by Democrats to help bridge the state’s massive budget gap. Republicans were quick to criticize the proposal, however, saying it would not win GOP votes and does nothing to stimulate the economy or provide hope for the unemployed.   “It’s not what Californians need,” said Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines. For every $1 in tax increases, there would be $1 in state cuts, say Democrats who have released a summary …

As the Legislature’s latest attempt to fix the state’s fiscal mess ended once again in a bout of partisan sniping and no visible progress, something surprising happened: Hints began to emerge of the possible contours of a compromise.
All year, Republicans have refused to consider raising taxes, without which Democrats and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger insist the state’s massive deficit $28 billion through mid-2010 can’t possibly be closed. At least a handful of GOP votes are needed because California law requires a two-thirds supermajority to raise taxes.
That opposition continued when the …

California legislators are expected to vote late today on a $17 billion package of tax increases and program cuts pushed by Democrats to help bridge the state’s massive budget gap.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Schwarznegger met Friday to try to reach some accord on how to bridge the state’s ever-growing budget gap but concluded the morning meeting without a deal. One of the ideas under discussion was reportedly a tripling of the vehicle license fee (VLF) in return for more spending cuts. Gov. Schwarzenegger’s first act of governor in 2003 was to repeal a big hike in the unpopular VLF. At the time, rescinding the car tax meant a loss of about $4 billion to the state budget.
So the …