Sacramento -- Gov. Gray Davis, who vowed three weeks ago to quickly appoint a commission to help tackle the state's budget problems, has yet to name anyone to the panel, angering some lawmakers who voted for this year's spending plan based on his assurances.

Some Assembly Democrats said they had been told the panel on structural budget reform would be named at the beginning of this month. Davis said in late July that he wanted the commission to come up with recommendations that the Legislature could act on this fall.

"I'm disappointed. In the conversations I had with the governor, he was planning to appoint the members close to when he signed the budget," said Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla, D-Pittsburg.

Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, did not agree to vote for the budget until he received assurances that the governor would name a commission and take action.

"I'm extremely disappointed that we continue to ignore the long-term fiscal problems that face the state," Nation said.

Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio said Thursday that no announcement would come for several more weeks.

"This is more than just a photo-op for the governor," Maviglio said. "He wants this to be a panel that creates meaningful long-term reform."

Davis said last month that he would consider calling a special legislative session to deal with the structural imbalance between revenue and spending, which is expected to leave California with at least an $8 billion shortfall next year.

The call for structural budget reform is not new. Previous commissions and lawmakers have called for basic budgetary changes to avoid deep cuts during bad economic times and binge spending during good times. This year's $38 billion budget deficit once again highlighted problems in the way California takes in and spends money.

Some political observers said they weren't surprised that Davis hadn't appointed members to the panel, noting he is distracted by the Oct. 7 recall election.

"He is fighting for his political life," said Bruce Cain, director of the Institute for Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. "He doesn't have time to be deliberative about these problems. He is so close to political death, it is hard to imagine he has time to think about this."

Davis wants to have the group's recommendations in time to put together his next budget, which he would release in early January if he is still in office. Maviglio said the governor still might call for a special session if recommendations needed immediate legislative approval.

"The governor wants real structural change, and he will be giving them a long leash as to how they get there," he said.

But some lawmakers say a special session is extremely important if anything is going to get done.

"Every day that we fail to deal with this problem, it creates a more serious long-term problem for California," said Nation.

Canciamilla said lawmakers needed time to study the issue away from the politics of the budget.

"If we adjourn in September and don't come back until January, it is in effect throwing all those structural reform issues into the policy discussion as it relates to the budget," he said. "It politicizes the structural changes more than is necessary."

But anything that happens before the recall election is going to be suspect,

said Bill Hauck, president of the California Business Roundtable.

"Anything done now is colored by the recall," he said, "I don't think we have a lack of understanding of the problems, or a lack of ideas on how to fix it. What we have is a lack of political will to implement the changes that need to be made."