Democrats get supermajority in Legislature Marisa Lagos Updated 9:28 a.m., Wednesday, November 7, 20

[nadinbrzezinski]

(11-07) 09:25 PST SACRAMENTO -- California Democrats appear to have picked up a supermajority in both houses of the state Legislature Tuesday night, a surprise outcome that gives the party the ability to unilaterally raise taxes and leaves Republicans essentially irrelevant in Sacramento.

Democrats were long expected to gain a two-thirds advantage in the Senate, but Assembly Speaker John Pérez had downplayed expectations that the party could win a supermajority in the lower house. The party's apparent capture of 54 seats in the 80-member Assembly and 27 in the 40-member Senate would mark the first time in nearly 80 years that one party controlled two-thirds of both houses, according to Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg.

While several legislative races in swing districts are still close - including an Assembly race in the Central Valley and another in Orange County - both Pérez and Steinberg said Wednesday that they are confident Democrats' slim leads will hold

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Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Democrats-get-supermajority-in-Legislature-4015861.php#ixzz2BZXg5OPS

Suffice it to say republicans are irrelevant in Cali

[still_one]

1. Perhaps it was a message from us in California to the republicans that they have done enough damage

[BanTheGOP]

2. And we must ensure they NEVER have any chance to come back, including changing the Constitution

With a complete shutout of EVERY republican from any leadership position in the state, we should go on a blitz, starting with the following:

1. The new legislature should start one Day One by eliminating Proposition 13, and increasing property tax rates to fair numbers. This should be done boldly and with great fanfare to show the people we mean business.

2. We must consider changing the Constitution at the legislative level as EARLY as possible. Now that we have our supermajority, we can bypass the initiative process and create a living, breathing Constitution that is based on international justice, not that based upon a centuries-old, white males-only document, particularly with regard to economic, social, and environmental justice. Once this occurs, we will have the foundation for providing a blueprint for the rest of the United States to follow, and to ensure that the rich in our country do not, EVER, become richer than they deserve.

3. We MUST FAST-TRACK legislation that HEAVILY PENALIZES any existing business from relocating out of state. We must make it not worth their while to do so. This includes making sure our legal representatives prevent the business traitors from corporate malfeasance or manipulation. This will be the BIGGEST THREAT in the coming months. I don't know if retro-activity will work in the courts, but I would go so far as to backtrack any company's exodus from California and to tax it.

This is a start. There is plenty more that can, and will be done. Ultimately, this is the elimination of all republicanist/capitalist policies.

[demosincebirth]

6. Not eliminate prop 13, but to remove commercial property under it's protection. Many seniors, who

own their home, but are on fixed income will not be able to pay property taxes at the current rates. They would lose their homes. When homes under prop 13 are sold, they lose their exemption. Commercial properties under prop 13 are not, usually, sold, they are trandfered from family member to family member. This is what I was told.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. You are correct

The driver for prop 13 was older citizens losing homes.

[BanTheGOP]

10. We need to remove it, simultaneously replacing it with a legislative act

I agree with your context, and certainly there will be riders that will mandate that seniors and other similarly situated individuals are protected. That said, we need that symbolic destruction on the bitter legacy that was ironically passed over Jerry Brown's vociferous opposition the first time. That is my point.

[upaloopa]

3. All thanks to Prop 187. Thanks Pete

[jody]

5. Great! CA Democrats can finally implement changes to solve budget deficits, cure many infrastructure

problems, begin to pay down its existing debt, bail out cities already bankrupt, and rescue cities threatened with bankruptcy.

[arcane1]

8. Would we now be able to pass marriage equality?

Or does that have to wait until the prop-8 stuff is out of the way?

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Single payor as well

And they could, even if this is going before the SCOTUS.