SACRAMENTO (AP) - California Democrats and some government-reform groups are hoping Californians will vote to dump the requirement for a two-thirds vote to pass budget bills.

      A Berkeley lawmaker is pushing a constitutional amendment that would require only a simple majority be required to approve budgets.

      The bill by Sen. Loni Hancock -- a Democrat who chairs the Senate Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments Committee -- comes after the Legislature's monthslong effort to wipe out the state's deficit.

      The two-thirds vote requirements have made California's budget negotiations drawn-out affairs almost annually.

      Lawmakers have missed the June 15 constitutional deadline to approve a budget in 28 of the last 32 years.
     
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