We're too big to fail!
Seriously though, the laws regarding budgets here are a bit different. For example, just to pass a budget requires a
super-majority, which is two thirds of the Assembly; this was set into place to prevent a mere majority to dominate state spending. The result has meant a lot of back room deals and pork. The second issue is the ballot initiatives, which allow voters to circumvent the Legislature entirely to enact laws--another means to avoid self-serving Legislators (odd how distrustful many Californians once were of politicians, including the politicians who wrote the current state Constitution!).
I'm never going to be a huge fan of taxes, but if you want to run a state there has to be adequate means of revenue. Our roads are the worst in the country. Our public schools are, I think, 44th in the nation. Our prison guards, Werewolf, belong to a union that wields great power in Sacramento; a starting Correctional Officer can, with overtime, make six figures. Our prisoners are not living the good life because they are warehoused at 2 to 3 times capacity--so bad that a special administrator was brought in by the Federal courts because conditions were so poor.
What we'll probably see within a year is a Constitutional Convention. That is going to be a six-ring circus.
