Freshman GOP Assemblyman Cameron Smyth just dropped us some comments on the budget, which we present below:
I have really enjoyed keeping up with the Senate debate on the budget this weekend, but I wanted to offer the perspective of a Republican Assemblymember who did oppose this year’s spending plan. As the FlashReport readers are now well aware, early Friday morning (4:15AM) the Assembly concluded several weeks of discussion and passed out our version of the state budget, which is now held up in the Senate until Wednesday. Although nine of my Assembly Republican colleagues voted in favor of the plan, I simply could not. I believe our leadership negotiated a solid deal, considering our minority status, and included many supportable provisions.
However after consulting with more senior members of the caucus and theState Senators with whom I share areas of representation, too many uncertainties existed for me to "go up" on the budget.
I did meanwhile support several of the "trailer bills" voted on that nightwhich included funding for education, transportation, public safety, and atax incentive package (SB 98). I was most excited to see tax breaks for research and development, the film industry, jet fuel, and ultra clear marine fuel. Unfortunately none of these provisions are included in the actual budget and must be taken up in a separate vote. If the language of SB98 was included in the actual budget I believe many more Republican members,including myself, may have been willing to support it.
But after reading the comments from Senator Perata and the Speaker, I am concerned that these tax breaks may have been nothing more than a ploy to generate the Republican votes necessary to pass the budget. As evidence,Senator Perata is refusing to even take up SB 98 for a vote and circulated a letter prior to the Assembly vote voicing his strong opposition (based onthe flawed theory that tax breaks will cause a decrease in state revenue,but that is a discussion for another day). Also I heard several Democrats comment that they only supported the tax breaks because the Senate would never pass them out. But most disconcerting to me are the comments from the Speaker in the July 21st Los Angeles Daily News where he is quoted as saying that, "he was not surprised by Perata’s action, and that he had simply agreed to the tax package as a sign of commitment to Republicans to work on the issue later this year."
Those words are very disheartening to me and should alarm all my fellow Republican Assemblymembers who supported SB 98 as well as the budget. Iguess we will find out how committed the Democrats are when we return to session…