Originally posted by: HelloDeli
The car tax was passed in Wilson's administration.. I'm pretty sure.. anyway the full impact of the law was reduced because of the surplus a few years back.. it is not or was not illegal.
The State Controller is responsible for making determinations relative to the Car Tax trigger. (Davis and Westly opined that a phantom bureaucrat could pull the trigger)
The Car Tax cannot be raised unless the State runs out of cash. (not when the state realizes a deficit, as asserted by Davis and Westly)
The State Controller must evaluate the fiscal situation each month at the time the DMV sends its notification of VLF receipts and offsets applied, and make a determination as to whether there are sufficient funds to fully or partially restore the offsets. (Davis and Westly did not address this issue)
Yes, it was illegal.
The above that you posted is really a quote from an article so I'll help you out and post the link..
link to your quote This it seems is the state Republican Caucus..
But, this disagrees with it..
"Lawyers for Gov. Gray Davis and state Controller Steve Westly announced an agreement Monday that ended a weeks-long impasse over midyear budget cuts and could lead to a tripling of the annual vehicle license fee -- without a vote of the Legislature or the public.
In a joint legal opinion, the chief counsels for Westly and Davis' Department of Finance concluded that a shortage of state cash can trigger an automatic increase in the fees.
The 10-page legal memo does not spell out exactly when, or if, the fee will be increased, and it largely shields the two elected Democrats from the politically prickly task of raising it.
But it provided the assurance that Assembly Democrats were seeking to approve about $3 billion in midyear budget cuts three months after the governor had requested them.
"I feel comfortable in saying that the conditions are such that the trigger can be pulled, and given the situation that we are in, I believe that in fact it will be pulled," said Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Culver City."
Link to my quote