Bipartisan Assembly Group Tackles State Budget Crisis

At least five Republicans and six Democrats in the state Assembly have crossed party lines and joined forces to call for an immediate, comprehensive review of state government as they search for a solution to California’s money troubles by June.

The lawmakers said they are not trying to topple Democratic Assembly Speaker Herb J. Wesson Jr. or Republican minority leader Dave Cox. But their bipartisan alliance injects a new element into what has been a polarized debate in the Legislature, with Democrats insisting on tax hikes and Republicans refusing to consider them.

The lawmakers call themselves “the bipartisan group,” and they have been quietly meeting for several weeks. They said they are bound by frustration. California faces a budget gap over this year and next estimated at $26 billion to $35 billion -- a hole bigger than the entire budget of all but a few states -- yet efforts to trim costs and raise taxes have kept the two parties in conflict over the last several weeks.

Led by Joe Canciamilla, a Democrat from Pittsburg, and Keith Richman, a Republican from Northridge, the lawmakers are expected Monday to publicly call for a new process to figure out how to bring state spending and revenues into line.

“We all recognize how critical it is that we come to some kind of common ground so we can get the budget issue resolved by June 15,” said Assemblyman John Dutra (D-Fremont), who has attended one meeting of the bipartisan group.

Canciamilla and Richman would not comment about the talks.

But Dutra said he is working with the group in part because he was impressed at the meeting he attended by the commitment of other members to crafting a workable solution.

“These people were not worrying about reelections and not worrying about their political careers,” Dutra said. “They worried about the state of California. I think if the people of California would have sat there and observed, they would have been comforted and pleased by the dedication of these members.”

Although many members of both parties have resisted calls to compromise so far, the Legislature’s rules and its party breakdown make it essential for some middle ground to be reached for a budget to be approved.

Work to balance the budget stalled this month. On Feb. 3, the Legislature, led by the Assembly, passed a package of bills that would cut $3.2 billion over the next five months and allow an increase in vehicle registration fees to raise about $4 billion over the next 16 months. The car tax is one of the few ways the Legislature can raise revenue with a simple majority vote and no Republican support.

But despite talks Thursday aimed at dislodging that issue, the Legislature has yet to send the bills to Gov. Gray Davis. The governor has warned that he will veto the package if it is linked to an increase in the vehicle tax. Besides seeking greater cuts, Davis argues that boosting the car tax will alienate Republicans and make it less likely that they will embrace other tax increases to bridge what he projects will be a $23-billion hole in next year’s budget.

Democrats dominate both houses of the Legislature. But California law requires a two-thirds vote to pass a budget. Thus any budget package must win at least two Republican votes in the Senate and six in the Assembly.

Members of the Assembly’s informal bipartisan group said they hope that a new approach will lead to a budget that garners more than enough votes to pass, even if it is rejected by the most extreme anti-tax Republicans and pro-spending Democrats.

Richman, a physician, was one of four Republicans to break from party leadership last July and vote for a $98-billion budget that included $2.4 billion in new taxes.

Participants in the bipartisan talks, who asked not to be named, said they will propose that legislative leaders address the current standoff in part by adjusting the process for debating the budget. The group will propose teaming the Legislature’s policy committees with the budget subcommittees to hold joint hearings on the effectiveness and cost of each state program.

That way, they argued, the least effective state programs can be the first cut and lawmakers can hash out priorities. They also propose a review of tax breaks and exceptions, two areas where the legislative analyst has said that new laws could save the state hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Besides Canciamilla, Richman and Dutra, sources said that those involved include Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel), Patti Berg (D-Eureka), Lou Correa (D-Anaheim), Lynn Daucher (R-Brea), Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach), Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), Robert Pacheco (R-Walnut) and Lois Wolk (D-Davis).

Already, however, there are signs of tensions within the group.

Pacheco said that although he was involved in getting the bipartisan talks going, he will no longer participate.

“I don’t want to usurp the leadership role of Mr. Wesson and Mr. Cox,” he said. Pacheco added, “I won’t vote for new taxes, so I should not be involved in any future discussions.”

Though their approach might strike many Californians as common sense, in the partisan world of the Capitol it carries heavy political risk.

Republicans fear being branded as pro-tax by future opponents, while Democrats don’t want to be labeled as insensitive to the needs of the poor, elderly and abused.

There are more immediate considerations too. The Assembly speaker decides which members get to chair committees or work from spacious corner offices.

And although each lawmaker gets a minimum $264,000 a year to pay for staff, travel, postage, phone bills and other expenses, the Assembly Democratic and Republican caucuses control millions of dollars that they divvy among members to pay for additional staff and office expenses.

Wesson refused to comment Thursday about the bipartisan group, but said he would “gladly” answer questions Monday.

Cox, from Fair Oaks, said he has encouraged his colleagues to discuss the budget with Democrats. “It’s my understanding they have been talking about the need for a process,” Cox said. “I agree.”

He added, however, that he expects Republicans to continue to oppose any proposal for increased taxes.

Wesson, meanwhile, has embraced one of the group’s ideas.

Last month, the Assembly leader, who is based in Culver City, promised to gather policy and budget committees together to scrutinize the effectiveness and costs of every state program. Such hearings will begin next week, Wesson said Thursday.

Republicans welcomed Wesson’s proposal and said it sounded much like their own idea of “zero-based budgeting,” in which state departments must justify all spending each year, rather than build on last year’s funding. “Every year every department ought to be asked to set forth its core values, what it does and how effective it is,” Cox said last month.

In an era of term limits, Canciamilla’s two years in the Assembly make the former Contra Costa County supervisor practically a veteran. He said he has become increasingly frustrated by a process that asks lawmakers to make million-dollar program cuts based on a one- or two-line description.

“Here it gets driven by politics, by how we think it will play in the press or in our district or in the caucus,” Canciamilla said.

Canciamilla has also introduced bills that would require the state to keep a 3% budget reserve and force the governor to submit a budget for two years instead of one year.