SACRAMENTO, Calif (AP) - Republican governors and legislators across the nation, facing big budget deficits and soft economic conditions, have reluctantly turned to tax hikes to solve their problems. But not in California.

In the Golden State, where Democrats rule, a staunch minority of Republican lawmakers have held up adoption of the state budget for three weeks by refusing to accept any new taxes.

Their stand is in stark contrast to other parts of the country, even in places where conservative anti-tax values are much more influential - like Alabama, Utah and Idaho.

Sen. Jim Brulte, the Republican leader in the California Senate, said his GOP colleagues don't believe raising taxes will actually close the deficit.

"Give a Democrat some money and he will spend it," said Brulte, of Rancho Cucamonga.

Although his party holds just 15 of 40 seats in the Senate and 32 of 80 Assembly seats, California Republicans have had enough influence to delay the budget and push negotiations in the direction of a budget with no tax increases.

Brulte argues that Democratic leaders - including Gov. Gray Davis - are responsible for replacing a $12 billion surplus three years ago with a near-$40 billion deficit.

But 12 other states with Republican governors or Republican-dominated Legislatures have passed tax packages this year to close budget gaps.

In New York, the Republican Senate and the Democratic Assembly overrode Republican Gov. George Pataki to raise income and sales taxes by $2.5 billion. Ohio's Republican-dominated Legislature approved $3 billion in tax increases over the next two years and Republican Gov. Bob Taft has said he will sign it.

And Nevada's Gov. Kenny Guinn, also a Republican, went to the state Supreme Court and won a historic court ruling earlier this month aimed at getting the Legislature to approve more than $800 million in new taxes.

Although GOP lawmakers are very much in the minority here, California is one of just three states that require the budget to be passed by a two-thirds majority, and the Republicans have more than enough votes to hold up the process as long as they want.

Frustrated Democrats say Republicans have ulterior motives - most notably to create difficulties for Davis as they proceed with a recall campaign against him.

But there are other factors that set California's GOP lawmakers apart, said political science professor Raphael Sonenshein of California State University at Fullerton in Orange County.

Republicans have been pushed so far into the political background in California that holding up passage of the budget is one of few things left they can do to make a stand, he said.

"The Republicans are hanging on by the two-thirds majority," said Sonenshein. "It's the only power they have anymore."

A Democratic sweep last fall gave them control for the first time in more than a century not only of the Legislature and the governor's office but also every other statewide office.

Another barrier to compromise in California is the fact that the GOP's representatives in Sacramento have become more conservative, said Bob Larkin, a former chairman of the GOP's moderate wing called the California Congress of Republicans.

He points out that a redistricting deal struck two years ago gives both parties safe seats for years to come, which means the only real contests come during the primaries - a scenario that tends to favor candidates who embrace the core values of the party.

"Most of them can't afford to lose their jobs," Larkin said. "So they can't vote for things past the next election. It's a perfect storm for radicals of either party to take control."

Wes Chesbro, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate's budget committee, said the unwillingness of Republicans to compromise shows how conservative its members in Sacramento have become.

"It's indicative of the degree to which the anti-tax ideology has gained control of the Republican caucus," he said.

Paul Kelley, a Republican county supervisor in heavily Democratic Sonoma County, said California Republicans are not that different from the rest of the nation. "We're just tired of the runaway spending," he said. "You don't reward bad policies."