Steve Westly and Fred Keeley on Constitutional Reform

Steve Westley, the former Controller, and Fred Keeley, the County Treasurer of the County of Santa Cruz, offer the open primary initiative (Prop. 14 on the June ballot) and a new budget reform initiative being prepared for the November ballot, as the key to California constitutional reform, in this piece from the Los Angeles Times.

The New York Times On The Open Primary Bill

Yesterday's New York Times carried this article on the "open primary" measure that will be put on the June, 2010 ballot, thanks to Senator Maldonado. For those interested in following this issue in more detail, there is lots of info on Rick Hasen's Election Law blog, which is referenced in the links portion of this web site.

Reports On The Budget Deal

Today the Legislature finally passed a budget, with the minimum necessary two-thirds vote. The New York Times (here) suggests that California will be a harbinger for other states (although only two have a two-thirds requirement to enact a budget); the story from the Sacramento Bee is here; the Los Angeles Times (here) canvasses proposals for reform (noting that two initiatives to change the two-thirds requirement to approve a budget and raise taxes are already circulating); and the San Francisco Chronicle (here) focuses on the "open primary" amendment championed by Governor Schwarzenegger and apparently exacted by Senate Maldonado as part of the price for his approval of the budget. (One of the initiatives that would eliminate the two-thirds requirements was discussed here some time ago.)

ps. Here is an interesting column from the Los Angeles Times by Steven Hill on the "open primary" championed by Senator Maldonado. Hill is director of the Political Reform Program at the New America Foundation and the author of "10 Steps to Repair American Democracy."