Budget May Soften Cuts in Welfare : Finance: More aid is sought for L.A. County as final deal on a state spending plan eludes lawmakers and governor. Senate OKs bill to boost minimum wage next year.

With California drifting into its 25th day without a budget, Gov. Pete Wilson and lawmakers agreed to soften welfare cuts, but a final deal continued to elude them Monday.

Los Angeles-area lawmakers pressed for more aid to financially strapped Los Angeles County, and state Senate Democrats made several demands related to the budget, including giving tax credits to low-income working families with children and spending more on public schools.

In another budget-related move, aimed at encouraging people to get off welfare, the Senate approved legislation by Sen. Hilda Solis (D-El Monte) to increase the minimum wage to $5 an hour next year and $5.75 in 1997. Minimum wage is currently $4.25 an hour.

The minimum-wage increase would take effect only if welfare cuts now being contemplated win legislative approval. Solis’ measure cleared the upper house on a 22-15 vote, but has little support among Republicans and probably would not have Wilson’s backing. The proposal now goes to the Assembly.

The constitutional deadline for approving California’s budget passed July 1, the start of the 1995-1996 fiscal year. Wilson spent much of the past weekend negotiating with the five legislative leaders over details of his $56-billion spending plan, and was scheduled to resume those talks Monday night.

But although Wilson and the leaders may be nearing a final package, the budget still must go to the full Legislature, where a two-thirds vote is required for passage. Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer warned that antiabortion legislators could derail any budget accord.

The budget contains about $40 million for state-funded Medi-Cal abortions for poor women--long a sticking point, particularly with many Republicans in both houses.

“It could cause a train wreck,” Lockyer said of the prospect that antiabortion lawmakers will balk at supporting the spending plan. “The state shuts down if the religious-right legislators decide to make abortion the budget issue. . . . There will not be a compromise on this issue.”

In the Assembly, where 54 votes are needed to pass the budget, Assemblyman Bruce Thompson (R-Fallbrook), an antiabortion legislator, said 18 members have pledged not to support a spending plan that contains money for abortions.

In the Senate, where the budget needs 27 votes, Sen. Ray Haynes (R-Riverside), another antiabortion lawmaker, estimated that 10 senators would not vote to spend state money on abortions.

Democrats control 21 seats in the 40-seat Senate, but several of them also are unhappy about various aspects of budget, including proposed cuts in aid to disabled people and mothers and children on welfare.

Lockyer, speaking of the potential political quagmire, said: “If there are 10 [antiabortion votes], there won’t be a budget. . . . There are not 20 Democrats voting for this budget.”

Among budget developments Monday:

* The latest welfare proposal of Wilson and the legislative leaders would leave a family of three in high-cost regions, including Los Angeles and Orange counties, with monthly grants of $559 a month, down from the current $595.

In lower-cost areas, including the Inland Empire, welfare payments would fall to $539 a month for a mother with two children.

* Payments for people who are aged, blind and disabled would fall to $583 a month from the current $614 in higher-rent areas. In lower-rent areas, the grants would be cut to $555 a month. Lockyer said Senate Democrats intend to continue seeking smaller cuts in welfare and aid to disabled people.

“We’re struggling and trying to bring the number down,” said Senate GOP Leader Ken Maddy, one of the budget negotiators. “There is a reality. There is no money around anywhere.”

* In a bit of budget legerdemain, officials working on the state spending plan reduced the anticipated increase in the number of children who will be attending public schools in the coming year from 2% to 1.5%.

Since schools get money based on the number of students attending classes, the lowered estimate has freed $129 million, which will be used to soften the welfare cuts. If enrollment turns out higher, the state would make up the difference with separate legislation next year.

* Democratic lawmakers and public school advocates continue to press the Wilson Administration to spend an additional $800 million on public schools, which stand to receive more than $26 billion in the current budget.

* Los Angeles-area Democrats continued to seek concessions to help Los Angeles County with its $1.2-billion budget deficit.

“I couldn’t support a budget that doesn’t include major help for L.A. County,” said Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles).

He and Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman (D-North Hollywood) have taken the lead in the Los Angeles County negotiations. As part of a deal, Villaraigosa and Friedman are seeking to give the county Board of Supervisors authority to raise sales taxes by half a cent, and later put the increase to a vote of the electorate.

Lobbyists for other county governments are pressing for relief from various state-imposed mandates. Under the counties’ proposals, they would be permitted to spend less on the care of the severely mentally disabled, on health care for indigents and on libraries.