Republicans in the California legislature are pretty close to irrelevant. Now that California Democrats have a supermajority of the legislature, they can overcome the state’s two-thirds vote requirement to raise taxes all by themselves and there is nothing that Republicans can do to stop them. The GOP’s top goal in CA should be getting back to over a third of the seats in the legislature so that Democrats cannot raise taxes at will. However, Republicans in Sacramento are doing all they can to show that California Republicans have no purpose and that neither party will look out for taxpayers.

Recently, the California Senate passed a $2.3 billion tax hike in the form of SB 11 – legislation that would extend sun-setting taxes of $8 in smog abatement, $18 for vehicle registrations, $10 on boat registrations, and $0.75 per tire on consumers annually until the year 2024. The last thing the Golden State economy needs is further tax increases. To the dismay of thousands of constituents, four GOP state senators broke their Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a commitment to their constituents to oppose any and all efforts to raise taxes, in voting for SB 11. In fact, as Cal Watchdog pointed out, nobody in the Senate stood up for the heavily-burdened taxpayers of California:

The Senate Republican Caucus’ own analysis identified the bill as “the continuation of billions of dollars of vehicle registration fees and tire taxes for eight years.” Yet not a single Senator, Republican or Democrat, spoke against the bill.

The following senators broke their promise to constituents:

Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff of Brea

Senator Bill Emmerson of Redlands

Senator Jean Fuller of Bakersfield

Senator Mimi Walters of Irvine

Americans for Tax Reform will be monitoring the status of SB 11 as it moves into the Assembly and informing constituents how their representative votes on this tax increase.