Coalition Seeks Voice in Budget Solution : Spending: The community groups say the public has been shut out of the Legislature’s decision-making process. They want to ensure that the poor do not lose services.

One day into the state’s latest budget stalemate, a coalition of labor, religious, law enforcement and community groups gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday to deliver this message: better a late budget than a bad one.

The groups, including the League of Women Voters, complained that lawmakers have shut out the public and narrowed the debate. In refusing to consider raising taxes, other than possibly extending a state sales tax surcharge that is scheduled to expire June 30, the Legislature has assured that the state’s poorest residents will suffer a loss of services, they said.

As an alternative, the coalition suggested closing tax loopholes or raising taxes on the affluent.

Members acknowledged that they face an uphill battle but hope to use any delay to horn in on a process that historically has been an insiders’ game.

Robyn Prud’homme-Bauer, president of the League of Women Voters of California, said she was sad that the Legislature had missed its June 15 constitutional deadline for passing a budget. But she said she saw a silver lining in the delay.

“We’ve got an opportunity here to put forward our message,” she said. “Let’s be sure not to sacrifice investment in California’s people and economy for an expedient and practical solution.”

The coalition proposed raising taxes on the top 5% of wage earners, closing corporate and special interest tax loopholes and extending the state’s temporary half-cent sales tax surcharge until the state no longer has a budget deficit.

It appears, however, that there is little support in the Legislature for a broad-based tax increase or even for closing loopholes. With the pressure on to avoid another long stalemate like last year’s 63-day deadlock, even lawmakers who believe higher taxes would be wise are reluctant to press an issue they know will meet widespread resistance.

Democratic state Sen. Tom Hayden of Santa Monica is one exception. The lone Senate Democrat to vote against the budget Tuesday night, Hayden said he thinks lawmakers should pay more attention to what is in the budget and less to when it is adopted. He favors eliminating narrow tax breaks to increase funding for higher education.

“I wasn’t sent here to compromise for the sake of keeping the machinery of state afloat,” Hayden said as the Senate debated the measure. “I think we ought not do irreversible damage to the future to be on time tonight.”

Neither Hayden nor those who demonstrated Wednesday appeared to have much effect on the budget conference committee, which reconvened Wednesday. The panel did not address any fundamental changes in its proposal but sought instead to make its proposed $1.3-billion property tax shift palatable by deciding how to allocate the loss among cities, counties and special districts.

Assemblyman John Vasconcellos of Santa Clara, the committee’s Democratic chairman, spent much of the day meeting with law enforcement and local government officials and Republican and Democratic lawmakers in an effort to reach an agreement.

Elsewhere in the Capitol, Republican Assemblyman Bernie Richter of Chico and Democratic Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg of Sacramento teamed up to propose a state constitutional amendment aimed at getting the state budget done on time.

The measure would require a balanced budget but allow the spending plan to be passed by a simple majority in each house of the Legislature, rather than the two-thirds vote required now.

If a budget was not passed by June 30, legislators would lose their salaries and living expenses and be fined $100 per day. Once a budget was adopted, the governor could declare an emergency if revenues fell short and propose reductions that would go into effect unless overruled by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.

Other than the change from two-thirds to simple majority, similar provisions were in a ballot initiative sponsored last year by Gov. Wilson. Proposition 165 was defeated by the voters.