A sharply divided state Senate took the first step Monday to begin intensive legislative negotiations over remedies for California's worst-ever budget crisis.

Voting along strict party lines, the upper house shipped a shell of a budget bill to the Assembly, which is expected to take it up today.


The move signifies the beginning of a process likely to take place largely behind closed doors this year as lawmakers race toward the start of the new fiscal year with a gaping budget hole to fill and strong partisan disagreements.
"We have a long ways to go before this gap is closed," said Sen. Wes Chesbro, D-Arcata, co-chairman of the two-house committee charged with negotiating a legislative budget compromise.

Beginning as early as Wednesday, officials will follow two tracks to trying to come to an agreement that fills a budget deficit expected to reach between $29 billion and $38 billion in the coming year.

A six-member legislative conference committee -- which usually does the bulk of the work shaping a budget compromise -- is expected to have a smaller role this year.

Instead, sources close to budget negotiations say, party leaders from both houses will meet frequently with Gov. Gray Davis to try to tackle the large sticking points -- such as tax increases and Medi-Cal cuts -- in crafting an agreement.

The meetings of the so-called "Big Five" are expected to be the site of negotiations over Davis' proposal to cut services and raise vehicle, cigarette and upper-level income taxes. The Democratic governor is also seeking to roll over $10 billion of the deficit into future years by selling five-year deficit bonds financed by a half-cent sales tax hike.

Senate Democrats need two Republicans to vote for a final budget bill, while Assembly Democrats need six GOP ayes.

If Monday's vote and swift debate in the Senate is any indication, the gulf between Democrats and Republicans over tax increases is immense.

At the same time, leaders also must address the concerns of some majority-party Democrats who complain that the budget plan cuts too deeply into health and social service programs.

In the Senate, Democrats stripped the preliminary version of the budget bill to get around the two-thirds vote requirement and sent it to the Assembly -- a procedural move that postpones debates over tax increases and other measures that Republicans call objectionable.

Senate Republican leader Jim Brulte called the budget "structurally unsound as far as the eye can see," before 15 GOP senators cast votes against the plan.

He predicted that legislative Republicans will stand firm against tax hikes -- unlike past years, when a few GOP lawmakers have broken ranks and voted in favor of budget deals in exchange for support of pet projects.

Senate President Pro Tem John Burton said negotiations likely will come down to one major piece of the Davis plan.

"We are going to be down to a point of whether or not people would be willing to vote for temporary half-cent sales tax increase," Burton said. "If we don't do that, there's a possibility that the state would find itself (in) some very difficult circumstances, to say the least."