California is broke.

Are extremist Republicans breaking the law as they hold our state budget hostage?

California is broke. The state is printing IOUs -- or what we are calling "Arnoldbucks" -- instead of tax refund checks. Unemployment claims are not being processed. And yesterday, government offices were closed and workers sent home without pay.
This is an unprecedented crisis. Without a budget deal, the state cannot provide the economic recovery that we so desperately need. Democrats have already agreed to a package of new revenues and extremely tough spending cuts.
But that's not enough for these right-wing Republicans. Republicans refuse to vote for a budget, unless Democrats agree to eliminate meal and rest breaks for workers and stop the fight against global warming.
The Republicans are proposing trading votes with Democrats to eliminate bedrock labor and environmental protections.
It may sound like politics as usual, but vote trading is against the law. Section 86 of the California Penal Code explicitly prohibits this kind of horse-trading. But Republicans, whose oath to anti-tax extremists supersedes their oath to the constitution, are ignoring the law. They are using the state's financial crisis to explicitly trade their votes for a budget that would crush the California dream.
And now, a coalition of groups are joining together to call on California Attorney General Jerry Brown and United States Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate, including the California Labor Federation, Sierra Club California, State Building and Construction Trades Council and the Planning and Conservation League.
Time is running out. To stop what the Republicans are doing, we have to take action before it's too late. That's why we're joining our friends in the environmental and labor community to ask Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate Republican legislators for illegal vote trading on our state's budget. Will you join us right now?:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/upholdthelaw
Just two weeks ago Americans watched with relief as George W. Bush left the White House and saw Barack Obama restore the rule of law to our federal government. Unfortunately California Republicans continue to follow Bush's lead by ignoring the law in pursuit of a far-right agenda.

We need to put a stop to Republican lawlessness. Before it's too late.

Thank you for helping to restore the rule of law to California.

Robert Cruickshank, Public Policy Director