Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher's request to be replaced for today's Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee, which will vote on a controversial tax proposal, has been granted by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez.
Fletcher, who recently left the Republican Party and registered as an independent, will be replaced at today's meeting by Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine.
By missing today's Revenue and Tax Committee, Fletcher will not cast a vote on hotly contested legislation, Assembly Bill 1500, designed to raise $1 billion for college scholarships by altering tax law affecting out-of-state corporations that do business in California.
Democrats support Pérez's tax proposal while Republicans oppose it, calling it a tax increase. Fletcher's vote conceivably could have won or lost him votes in his current race for mayor of San Diego, where primary ballots will be cast next month.
Last year, Fletcher was one of two Republicans voting for another proposal that would have changed the same tax law. That measure died in the Senate.
Fletcher, in his request to the speaker's office, said the absence was due to personal business in his district, said John Vigna, Perez's spokesman. Fletcher waived the $142 he was due to receive in per diem today.
Fletcher had scheduled a San Diego press conference today at which City Council President Tony Young was endorsing Fletcher's education plan for the city.
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