In a departure from legislative Democrats' longtime insistence that the state must raise taxes to ease its budget woes, the Assembly's new Democratic leader said Thursday that his agenda does not include tax hikes.

The message from voters in the fall recall election, he said, has prompted him and others to rethink their rigidity on the issue.

"For my folks, this election was a wake-up call to look at things differently," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez in a breakfast interview with The Bee Capitol Bureau. "The new Democratic agenda is one that doesn't necessarily call for raising taxes."

He said lawmakers must make deep cuts and seek other solutions - such as trying to wring more money from the federal government - before they call for tax hikes.

"People need to see the cuts, they need to see cuts that are real. They need to feel the pain before you can move forward with any other types of alternatives that bring in new revenues," said Núñez, who assumed his new leadership post this week.

As of Thursday, however, the Assembly Democratic Caucus had not agreed on any of the midyear program cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Some Assembly Democrats said they still believe tax hikes are necessary to prevent devastating cuts to state services.

"My personal point of view is that we can't solve this problem without raising taxes of some sort," said Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Alameda.

Chan is sponsoring a bill that would add two new income tax brackets for the state's top earners. Twenty-four Assembly Democrats have signed on as co-authors of the bill.

Meanwhile, Assembly Democrats say they are willing to endorse about $1 billion in midyear actions, such as loans and shifts that do not include new program cuts.

"We are going to take the first crack at it," Núñez said. "Is this a baby step? Yes. Are you going to see blood ... ? I don't think you are going to see blood."

Schwarzenegger in November asked the Legislature to make a series of midyear budget changes aimed at saving $1.9 billion to help close the state's multibillion-dollar budget gap.

Assembly Democrats say they are willing to embrace only some of those changes, including rubber-stamping a $475 million loan to the state from local governments.

Democrats, who held a Tuesday caucus on budget matters, also plan to support letting the GOP governor use his executive authority to make some unilateral cuts to state appropriations - which would trim about $150 million.

But Democrats already have rejected some of Schwarzenegger's other proposed cuts - such as reducing by 10 percent the rate that the state pays to Medi-Cal providers. That cut already was in question because a U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction in December blocking a previously approved 5 percent rate cut from taking effect.

Democrats also say they will not make any immediate cuts that would affect transportation programs or in-home services for the disabled.

"We recognize that there are going to be significant cuts when it comes to the budget, but those cuts ought to be made under the framework of an overall budget approach," said Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento.

And even the governor ultimately may conclude tax increases are necessary, Núñez said.

"There may come a point where we may have to go to the voters and say, 'Look, there's no other way to get beyond this point,' " he said. "Who knows, Governor Schwarzenegger may go to the voters in June or August or May and say, 'We are facing such a bad financial crisis in this state that we may need new revenues.' That may happen."