For some California lawmakers – mainly Democrats – voting 'no' is just not an option
Call them the California lawmakers who can't say "no."
Two Assembly members – Democrats Wilmer Amina Carter of Rialto and Mike Davis of Los Angeles – hadn't voted "no" on a single measure during a floor vote this year as of Sept. 2, despite 1,450 opportunities to do so.
Another 14 legislators, including Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, logged "no" floor votes fewer than five times in the same period. All were Democrats.
Pérez nixed measures three times; Steinberg, four. Senators had 1,312 shots at a vote.
It's no secret that Democrats rarely vote "no" on the floor. They control the Legislature and its committees, they control what comes up for a vote, and they usually let only the bills that they like come to a vote.
Plus, many votes pass judgment on measures that would draw little objection – resolutions honoring fallen officers, bills renaming bridges and the like.
Most Democrats do occasionally break with their party to vote "no" on the floor, but for some of them, you were more likely to see rain in Death Valley.
<;MX| >WORTH REPEATING
"I never thought I would be in a profession bloodier than trauma surgery."
ASSEMBLYWOMAN LINDA HALDERMAN, R-Fresno, at left, a first-year legislator who's also a doctor, watching the bill triage on the last day of the session
<;MX| ><;MX| >TODAY AT THE CAPITOL
Here's a new date to mark on the calendar: Oct. 9. It's the last day Gov. Jerry Brown can say "yea" or "nay" on the bills on his desk. Assemblyman Gil Cedillo joins students at 11 a.m. on the Capitol's north steps to urge him to sign Assembly Bill 131, the second half of the Dream Act affecting undocumented immigrant students.
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