Wilson Lobbies Republican Lawmakers on Tax Plan : Budget: Governor says he’s optimistic, but comes away empty-handed. Some GOP votes are needed for passage.

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. —  Gov. Pete Wilson went to the mountain Friday, not in search of wisdom but to impart some of his own to his fellow Republicans in the state Assembly.

Wilson, fresh from proposing $6.7 billion in new taxes as part of his plan to close a $12.6-billion budget gap, visited the GOP lawmakers as they plotted fiscal strategy at a rustic retreat in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

He came away voicing optimism but empty-handed, having failed to secure any solid commitments from the faction that in recent times has included the Legislature’s strongest opponents of new taxes.

Wilson’s plan proposes raising the sales tax by 1 1/4 cents and extending it to cover phone calls, bottled water, candy and most newspapers--a move that would cost the average Californian $151 during the next year. The plan, which also includes $4.8 billion in spending cuts and some bookkeeping adjustments, already has attracted praise from key Democrats in the Assembly and Senate and the cautious endorsement of the Senate Republican leader.

The governor’s budget cannot win legislative passage without the votes of at least six Assembly Republicans.

Emerging from their meeting with Wilson in Empire Mine State Historic Park, GOP leaders in the lower house suggested that Wilson propose deeper spending cuts before considering a tax hike.

“This is a user-friendly plan for Democrats,” said Assemblyman William P. Baker of Danville, the Assembly Republicans’ top fiscal strategist. “I’m waiting to see a plan that is friendly to taxpayers.”

Despite the criticism, Wilson emerged from the session hopeful that his proposal will be approved.

“I think we have the leverage to bring about the passage of real reform,” he said. “I am very pleased.”

One advantage the governor enjoys is that a central part of the plan--which shifts $2.3 billion in health and welfare programs to the counties along with new taxes to pay for the services--appears to be acceptable to county supervisors, who have been quick to criticize the budget blueprints of past governors and legislatures.

In fact, Wilson’s proposal went beyond the most optimistic hopes of the County Supervisors Assn. of California, which had said it would support a proposal that would have required each county’s board of supervisors to raise the sales tax and take the political heat.

Under Wilson’s plan, the Legislature would raise the tax and hand the money over to the counties along with a batch of mental health, public health and welfare programs to run. Counties also would have discretion to seek voter approval for an additional half-cent increase in the sales tax.

“The Administration seems committed to the idea that they are not going to just pass off their burdens onto the counties,” said Dan Wall, a lobbyist for the supervisors association. “They are truly hoping to restructure these services; it’s not just a budget-balancing dodge. In the past, it’s been ‘Here’s a program, you figure out how you’re going to fund it.’ ”

But county supervisors, while influential, will not be voting in the Senate and Assembly chambers when Wilson’s plan is voted on this spring or summer.

Early reaction indicates that Wilson will have little trouble in the Senate, where his plan has been praised by key Democrats, who could supply 24 of the 27 votes required for the two-thirds majority needed to pass the budget.

Senate Republican Leader Ken Maddy of Fresno also said he supports the proposal despite reservations he has about a provision that would eliminate some income tax deductions for more affluent taxpayers.

But the Wilson Administration may have its work cut out for it in the Assembly. Democratic Speaker Willie Brown of San Francisco, in a radio address prepared Friday and to be aired today, complimented Wilson but said he will suggest changes.

Brown has scheduled a special meeting Wednesday of the full Assembly to consider Wilson’s proposal. Democrats are expected to suggest that at least part of the sales tax hike be replaced with higher income taxes on the wealthy, and that Wilson’s proposal to cut school funding and reduce welfare grants be modified.

Wilson’s position was being widely interpreted in the Capitol as non-negotiable, but his press secretary, Bill Livingstone, said Friday that the governor had stopped short of asserting that his new plan was off limits to bargaining. After conferring with Wilson, Livingstone said that the governor’s latest proposal was not offered as a negotiating ploy, but as a serious solution to the budget deficit.

Even if all Democrats in the Assembly voted with Wilson, the governor would need to coax six or eight Republicans to his side, depending on which party captures the two Democratic-leaning seats that are vacant.

Eight of the 32 Assembly Republicans are part of a group of “Proposition 13 babies” who were elected in 1978, when the state’s tax-cutting fervor was at its peak and voters passed the landmark property tax reduction measure.

Among this group is Republican Leader Ross Johnson of La Habra, who said he was disappointed in Wilson’s heavy reliance on taxes to balance his proposed budget. Instead, Johnson said, Wilson should look more closely at cutting the size of government.

“The members of our caucus believe government takes in more than enough money to meet the legitimate needs of the people,” Johnson said. “We are among some of the most taxed people on the planet already. The first emphasis should be, let’s make government more efficient, effective, responsive, to the needs of the average citizen.”

But Wilson and Administration insiders seem to believe that by the time the vote is held, half a dozen or so GOP Assembly members can be persuaded to back the plan.

Wilson’s trip to Grass Valley, where he met with Republicans in a lodge surrounded by manicured lawns and pine trees, apparently was just the first of several sessions he is prepared to hold with the Assembly Republicans. He also intends to go public with a campaign asking voters to urge their legislators to support him--although it remains to be seen if any politician can create a groundswell of support for higher taxes.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” said Otto Bos, Wilson’s director of communications and public affairs. “We hope we have like-minded members of the Legislature. I think there are enough people there who care enough to get the state back on its feet.”

Daniel M. Weintraub reported from Sacramento, Jerry Gillam from Grass Valley.