The Big Five is an informal institution of California state government, consisting of the governor, the Assembly speaker, the Assembly minority leader, the Senate president pro tempore, and the Senate minority leader.
Historically, members of the Big Five met in private to negotiate California's state government budget.
These meetings were held under governors George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson, Gray Davis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
As a result, the votes of legislators from the minority party were no longer needed for the legislature to pass a budget, reducing the impact of the minority leaders on budget negotiations.
[2] During budget talks in 2011, five Republican state senators broke with their party and were willing to negotiate with Governor Jerry Brown about placing propositions on the ballot to extend tax increases.