Conferees Reject Most Cuts by Wilson : Budget: Governor’s proposed education and health reductions are turned down in committee sessions.

The Assembly and Senate return to session today in search of a solution to the state’s budget crisis after a holiday weekend during which legislative committees plowed through Gov. Pete Wilson’s list of proposed budget cuts and rejected most of them.

Wilson’s $40.1-billion general fund proposal, based primarily on cutting about $2 billion from the public schools and $2 billion from health and welfare programs, appeared to have little support in a two-house conference committee that convened for an unusual weekend session Sunday night, five days into the new fiscal year.

A key part of the governor’s education proposal--to block 110,000 4-year-olds from entering kindergarten on schedule in the fall--was rejected unanimously, lacking even the support of the two Republicans on the six-member conference committee.

The committee also turned away Wilson’s proposal to eliminate a dozen educational programs for which schools receive special funds, including programs for the gifted, the poor and students with reading problems. Wilson wanted to continue to give extra money to the same schools that get it now, but he would have cut the supplemental funds by 20% and also allowed the schools to spend the money any way they decided.

Together, the kindergarten and categorical program proposals accounted for $760 million of Wilson’s plan to cut education funding.

The committee showed similar distaste for Wilson’s health and welfare proposals, which cut about $700 million beyond the $1.4 billion that the Democratic-dominated conference committee was willing to take from those programs.

Sen. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), chairman of a Senate subcommittee that reviewed Wilson’s proposals, said many ideas could lead to higher state costs in the long run. He noted that Wilson wants a deep reduction in the program that provides in-home services to the elderly, which is intended to help them stay out of nursing homes.

Other proposals, such as lengthening the waiting list for services to the developmentally disabled, would postpone obligations that the state would have to pay eventually, Thompson said.

“A lot of it is smoke and mirrors,” he said.

Democrats have proposed cuts in health, education, welfare and prisons but want to use a number of onetime measures--such as delaying a payment to the state pension fund--to bridge the gap between their plan and the governor’s.

Democrats also are backing a proposal to save $309 million by eliminating more than a dozen agencies and commissions that have long been considered sacred cows in state government.

The proposal, by Sen. Daniel E. Boatwright (D-Concord), would wipe out the Fair Employment and Housing Agency, the California Arts Council, the Commission on the Status of Women, and the Little Hoover Commission, which studies the efficiency of state government operations.

The World Trade Commission and the Commission for Economic Development also would be eliminated.

Democrats also proposed:

* Eliminating the state’s $7.4-million annual support for the California Museum of Science and Industry.

* Reducing by 50%--or as much as $10 million--the budget of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

* Cutting 30%--$6 million--from state support for the Military Department, which runs the California National Guard. Most of the Guard’s budget comes from federal funds.

Boatwright also proposed eliminating general fund support to the Department of General Services--the state’s housekeeping agency--and have the department pay for itself by billing each agency that it serves. A companion proposal would allow state agencies to purchase services from outside contractors rather than the General Services Department.

“These are nonessential services,” Boatwright said of his long list of proposed cuts. “The people of California’s health and safety are not affected by these cuts.”

Boatwright’s list also included some shots at Wilson, such as a proposal to eliminate the governor’s Office of Planning and Research and cut by 25% the budget for the Department of Finance, which develops the governor’s spending plan.

Although these proposed reductions might be set aside, they will serve as debating points for the Democrats in the meantime.