Noreen Evans

SANTA ROSA - A North San Francisco Bay Assemblywoman spared little time during a Sunday radio address in laying blame for the long overdue California budget at the feet of state Republicans lawmakers.

Noreen Evans, (D-Santa Rosa) and chairwoman of the Assembly's Budget Committee said in the Democratic Response to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's weekly radio address that Republican insistence on a ‘cut and borrow' position and to not even consider a sales tax hike has moved them from the world of policy advocacy to obstructionism.

Here is the core of Evans' remarks on Sunday:

After three hours of debate over its merits, the state Assembly Budget Committee killed on a party-line vote Friday a Republican proposal to put both a spending cap and rainy-day fund budget reforms into future state budgets.

Such reforms would go before voters in November, provided a state budget for 2008-09 could be completed and approved within the next few days.

Budget Chairman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) said after the 13-10 vote against the bill - with all "aye" votes cast by Republicans and all "nay" votes cast by Democrats - that the measure's merits deserve reconsideration at a later date.

State Democratic legislators have taken to YouTube as a wedge to break the logjam over a new state budget.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly members John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) and Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) have released a six-minute video on the popular web site, criticizing Republicans for refusing to consider any revenue increases as a way to solve a budget deficit estimated at more than $15 billion.