Update: at bottom of post
The California budget plan has finally passed the legislature. The final Republican holdout, State Senator Able Maldonado, exacted certain concessions from the Democrats in exchange for his vote.
Two of the concessions were rather minor: Maldonado got the Dems to agree to remove a 12-cent increase in the gas tax, filling that gap with federal stimulus dollars. He also got the Dems to agree to a plan whereby legislative incomes will be frozen in times of deficit spending.
The significant concession the Republican won is a proposal to have open primaries in the State. The legislature has agreed to put the issue to the voters, who will decide whether the most populous state in the union, with the most electoral votes, will move to an open primary system.
Democratsinitially said Maldonado's call for "open" primaries, in which voters could cross party lines and candidates of all parties would compete in the same primary, followed by a runoff of the top two vote-getters, was too substantial to be pushed through in a budget deal.
But after Maldonado let the Dems sit on the budget for a few days, they apparently got a little to fidgety, and gave in:
Modeled on election rules in Washington state, the change -- if approved by California's voters next year -- would undermine the influence of political parties. It was unpopular with Democrats, but their leaders pressed them to accept it as the price of ending the political logjam.
"My caucus understands we have to do some things we don't like," said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles).
Now it's up to the voters. The Republicans have been trying for years to push through plans that would break the current Democratic hold on the State's electoral votes and legislature. After all, if you can't beat the Democrats fair and square in an election, might as well just change the election rules!
The saving grace is that the voters can reject the proposed changes, which could have serious ramifications for Democrats in California if they are approved.
Update: Some in the comments are wondering about how an open primary could be bad for Democrats in the state. CAbluedog explains in the comments below:
It could lead to bizarre results where the minority party "wins" the primary and its two candidates move to the general.
Assume a district that votes 65% Democratic and 35% GOP, with five Dems and two Reeps. The two Republicans get 18% and 17%, and "win" over the five Dems who get 15%, 14%, etc. Not saying that's the way it will play out, but it could.
The other likelihood is a variation of the Lieberman race. Say two Dems make the runoff, with the progressive clearly garnering more votes than the DINO. The Reeps in turn throw their support to the DINO, and the combination of their support and his faction of the Dems is enough to win. This is the scenario that the "goo-goos" want actually, that independents and minority party voters will choose the "lesser of two evils" come election day. I don't know about your area, but in my AD the likely result would replace a solidly progressive, pro-labor Dem with a DINO who was pro-developer, pro-Walmart.