California Governor Jerry Brown has ended budget negotiations with Republican lawmakers, casting doubt over how the Legislature will close the state’s remaining deficit.

Brown issued a statement on Tuesday, saying he had halted talks after GOP leaders released a list of 53 demands they said had to be met in exchange for their support for a special election.

The Democratic governor and majority Democrats wanted to ask California voters in June to extend temporary tax increases enacted two years ago as part of their solution to close the deficit.

Brown said he supports some of the reforms, but “each and every Republican legislator I’ve spoken to believes that voters should not have this right to vote unless I agree to an ever-changing list of collateral demands.”

Two Republican votes in each house of the Legislature are needed to place the tax ballot measure before voters.

Click here for Governor Brown’s entire statement.

Photo Credit: Sascha Brück, via Wikimedia Commons

• Tag: deficit, Governor Jerry Brown, Negotiations, republicans, State Budget, State Legislature, taxes