Senators Stage Lockdown in Bid to Approve Budget

A defiant state Senate met late into Thursday night, threatening to stay locked down until dawn in a last-ditch effort to do its part to pass a budget by the start of the fiscal year today.

The sudden session, which began in late afternoon, surprised the Capitol. The Assembly had adjourned without acting on the budget. And Senate Leader Don Perata (D-Oakland) had said members could go home for the holiday weekend while legislative leaders negotiated a final agreement with the governor.

But rebellious Democratic senators refused to leave.

“There was not one person that wanted to go home,” said Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles). “We are saying, ‘Finish it. It can be done.’ We just think it is the wrong message to leave on a holiday weekend when the budget isn’t done.”

Their effort was unsuccessful on an initial Thursday night roll call. Republicans continued to withhold the two votes needed for the Senate to pass a spending plan, and the measure failed 25 to 13. A state budget requires passage by both houses of the Legislature and the governor’s signature.

Democrats held the session as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger left Sacramento for Los Angeles, where he will attend today’s inauguration ceremonies for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Several of the legislators who stayed said they, too, had planned to leave for the event but stayed at the Capitol to show they were willing to make sacrifices to pass a budget.

The Democrats had already yielded to most of the governor’s demands on the budget, abandoning plans to fight for new taxes and $3 billion they say is owed to schools. In their $116.6-billion budget, the Democrats have also agreed to accelerate the repayment of a $1.2-billion loan taken from local governments, as the governor has demanded.

Budget talks had stalled since the governor brought some new issues into them last week. He has used the talks to try to extract Democratic support for new powers to cut any government programs he chooses if the budget falls out of balance at midyear. The governor helped place an initiative that would provide him with such powers on the November special election ballot, but it is polling poorly with voters.

Now he is trying to forge a deal with Democrats to place a compromise measure -- one with bipartisan support -- alongside it on the ballot. But Democrats say the budget must be done first, and on Thursday the governor dropped the demand that the new powers be part of a budget deal.

Administration spokesman Rob Stutzman said progress was already being made at the negotiating table and Thursday’s Senate session did not bring the state any closer to a budget. He suggested the only good it did lawmakers was allow them to collect an extra day’s worth of the payments they receive to cover personal expenses while the Legislature is in session.

“We are not real sure what the point of the theatrics were, other than to possibly let them collect per diem for Friday by staying until after midnight,” he said.

Many Democratic senators, however, said the Thursday night session was needed to maintain pressure on the governor to keep his word.

As they settled in for the evening, they had several videos to keep them entertained, including the 1977 documentary about the bodybuilder who would become governor, “Pumping Iron.” Some brought books. Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) had “Center of Winter,” a novel about a family struggling to cope with mental illness and suicide. Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey) read “Public Utilities Fortnightly.”

In the Republican lounge, some legislators watched the television show “Reno 911,” a comedy about a corrupt and incompetent police force.

Some lawmakers said they regretted not going to a black-tie dinner in Los Angeles on Thursday night in honor of Villaraigosa, and that they were unlikely to attend the mayoral inauguration. Romero lamented that her ball gown had been out and ready to go; in fact, she displayed the golden-brown dress on the Senate floor. Many Assembly members were already hobnobbing at the L.A. gala.

By the time senators had cast their first vote, they had dined on pesto chicken and fruit salad. Breakfast had been ordered for Friday morning. The debate leading up to the vote was brief.

Although Perata had earlier advised his colleagues to head home and leave final negotiations to him, he said he was happy to continue working.

“We have given and we have given and we have given,” Perata said. “We are doing our job. I am proud to be here so that anyone in California knows that if the fiscal deadline passes, it is not because we didn’t try to do our best, literally, into the eleventh hour.”

Republicans called the night a waste of time. They said good progress was being made on the budget, an agreement was near and there was no reason to keep everyone on the Senate floor before final details had been worked out.

“Our members are concerned we are not making better use of our time,” Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman of Irvine said before the floor debate. He described the session as “not a positive movement.”

His remarks on the floor were more conciliatory.

“You guys have come a long ways,” he said. We have come a long ways.... This particular budget does not make it. But I am optimistic we will have a budget. We will have it in a timely fashion.”

Hours later, as the clock ticked toward midnight, senators launched a second round of debating.