Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez said Wednesday that he has no intention of sidestepping Republicans by trying to place a tax-extension measure on the June ballot by a simple majority vote of the Legislature.

Pérez downplayed a legislative counsel's opinion, sought by Senate Republican leader Bob Dutton, that indicated such a measure could be placed before voters without the support of GOP lawmakers, under narrow circumstances.

"No," Pérez said flatly when asked if he is entertaining such a plan for the tax measure proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown to raise $11 billion for the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2012.

"There is not a single legal analysis that I think holds any water that says we could legitimately put this question before voters on a simple majority vote," Pérez told the Sacramento Press Club.

Pérez said voters have made it clear that they want the Legislature bound by a two-thirds vote requirement on tax or fee issues.

"I know that Senator Dutton has suggested that there's a way for us to do this as a simple majority effort. Had I proposed it, the Republicans would have been up in arms, saying that I was trying to thwart the will of the public," Pérez said.

The Assembly speaker accused Republicans of "trying to abdicate their responsibility as elected officials" by suggesting that Democrats could decide the issue without Republican support.

Jann Taber, Dutton's spokeswoman, said that Dutton simply requested a legal opinion.

"Republicans continue to be engaged in the budget process, to ensure that the state gets the spending reductions and reforms necessary to fix the chronic budget crisis and put Californians back to work, Taber said.

Each party apparently is wary of the other playing politics on the issue, however. Taber said last week that if Democrats "are courting us for votes, they're looking for political cover."

Legislative counsel said lawmakers can place tax proposals on the ballot with a majority vote if the measures alter but are consistent with the "scope or effect" of statutory tax initiatives already passed by voters. Those circumstances don't appear to exist with Brown's proposal to extend income, sales and vehicle taxes.

Pérez said there is "room for optimism" that two Republican votes apiece can be obtained in the Senate and Assembly to qualify the tax extension on a two-thirds vote.

"I know that a majority of them don't want to run the state into the ground, and they don't want to put us in a situation where we make devastating decisions that undermine the economic recovery of the state," he said.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Call Jim Sanders, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5538.

• Read more articles by Jim Sanders