In the latest turn of events relevant to California’s move to force out-of-state, online-only retailers to collect and remit to it California sales taxes– an effort that legal experts say is likely unconstitutional– Golden State liberals are pursuing a new legislative scheme to invalidate a referendum that appears headed to the ballot and which would nix the “Amazon Tax.”

From the Sacramento Bee:

A group of California legislators plans to push a new online sales tax bill in a move to thwart tax opponent Amazon.com.

Lawmakers today used a “gut-and-amend” procedure that takes an existing bill and substitutes an online sales tax measure. The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee today.

In late June, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill requiring Amazon and other online retailers to begin collecting sales tax on California transactions. The bill passed on a regular, majority vote. Amazon has refused to collect the tax and launched a referendum to have it overturned.

But Larry Levin, a spokesman for Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Oakland, said the new legislation would be different. It would pass on a two-thirds supermajority and would carry an “urgency” clause. That means it can’t be subject to ballot referendum, Levin said.

Backers of the legislation reportedly believe they can get two-thirds of each chamber to vote for the bill in question.  Skeptics however charge that that will be tough in light of Republican numbers in both chambers, and GOP opposition to the “Amazon Tax” already exhibited during previous legislative battles.

Proponents of the tax increase will need to get the support of three GOP members in the Senate and two in the Assembly to clear the two-thirds majority hurdle.

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In the aftermath of the California legislature passing and Gov. Jerry Brown signing into law an “Amazon Tax,” it looks like taxpayers unhappy about the Golden State’s pursuit of the almost certainly unconstitutional measure may get an opportunity to kill it off.

According to KQED, this week, a formal request for a referendum to overturn the law was filed in Sacramento.  In order to make it on the ballot, backers will have to get something in the range of 500,000 signatures once the petition is cleared by the state’s Attorney General.  One question that will need to be settled is whether the referendum is allowed in view of the fact that the Amazon Tax was included in the budget, but signs point to this being a possibility.

According to Amazon.com Vice President Paul Misener, “This is a referendum on jobs and investment in California.  As Governor Brown has made clear, it is important to directly involve the citizens of California in key issues and we believe that Californians will want to vote to protect small business and keep jobs in the state.”

If placed on the ballot, the referendum could have a good chance of success.

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California lawmakers thought they were targeting Amazon.com, the out-of-state giant, when they voted last week to force Internet retailers to collect sales tax.

It turns out eBay Inc., California’s own golden child of e-commerce, isn’t so thrilled about it, either.

The San Jose online auction company says the legislation would hurt its business model, which relies on thousands of entrepreneurs who sell goods on its site.

The intent may have been to go after Amazon, but “we’re literally caught in the crossfire,” said David London, senior director for state government relations at eBay.

Big Government recently noted that the Texas legislature voted to ram through a California-style tax-hiking “Amazon Tax” bill.

Gov. Rick Perry subsequently vetoed that bill, but Big Government has learned that Texas legislators have renewed their push for policy that is unconstitutional on its face by wrapping their proposal into SB 1, Texas’ fiscal matters bill, which is under consideration by the Texas House.

Texas conservative groups and leaders have been working to get the “Amazon Tax” provisions stripped out of that bill.  However, those efforts appear to have been unsuccessful to-date. As the Dallas Morning News reports, House members are persisting in their pursuit of the tax hike.

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