$28 billion challenge

Noreen Evans was inspired to became an attorney by Atticus Finch, the principled southern lawyer played by Gregory Peck in the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird."

She was drawn into local politics by Fountain Grove Parkway's intrusion into her former east Santa Rosa neighborhood.

And in most of her eight years on the Santa Rosa City Council, Evans took a pencil to the municipal budget, trimming millions of dollars.

None of it prepared Evans, 53, for the chore she faces as the new chairwoman of the Assembly Budget Committee, responsible for a recession-wounded state budget that is $28 billion in the red, a thousand times greater than Santa Rosa's worst financial woes.

It's a high-profile, high-powered job, rewarding Evans, a Democrat grounded in environmental politics, for her leadership the past four years in the Legislature.

Her new province as a budget architect covers nearly every element of state government -- from schools to prisons to health care -- and the hair-trigger issue of the day: proposing new taxes in the midst of an economic crisis.

With pressure mounting for a budget solution, Evans is caught in the nasty impasse between Sacramento Democrats and Republicans as public distaste for the Legislature is now greater than its unhappiness with President George W. Bush.

Lawmakers face a Jan. 14 deadline to come up with the budget solution, and Evans, a trial lawyer, relishes her role.

"I look at this as an opportunity," Evans said during a lunch break last week while sitting at her desk on the sixth floor of the Capitol office building. The Chinese symbols for crisis also mean opportunity, she noted philosophically over a takeout green salad.

On a practical level, Evans said: "I need more caffeine."

Fighting champion

She and her aides were still unpacking from their move into the budget committee office, which comes with a 12-member staff, second only to Assembly Speaker Karen Bass' in size.

Paintings of vineyards hang on the walls, reflecting her district, which covers Napa County and slices of Sonoma and Solano counties.

On the wall behind her desk hangs a pair of red Everlast boxing gloves, along with a plaque from a mobile homeowners' group hailing Evans as "a fighting champion for affordable housing."

In the "Mockingbird" movie, Atticus Finch defended a black man accused of murder in the segregated South. "I made my children watch it," Evans said.

She advocates better care for foster children and improved citizen access to the courts. Evans' voting record earned top marks from groups backing conservation, consumer protection, seniors and civil rights.

She's frustrated by the state's cash crunch, which has barred implementation of any new program that costs money. "That hasn't changed since the day I got here," Evans said.

Tempers strained

But Evans, who headed the Democratic Caucus last session, has made the most of a California lawmaker's term-limited lifespan, which is three terms -- or six years -- in the Assembly. Starting her final term, Evans has a front-row seat on the Assembly floor and a prestigious committee post.

It comes, however, with tempers strained and California pushed to the brink of financial meltdown over a $103 billion general fund budget hemorrhaging red ink.

Brian Sobel, a Petaluma political consultant, said that if anyone can forge a solution, it might be Evans. Smart and diplomatic, she also knows how state budget decisions can trickle down to cities and counties.

"I want to say my confidence is renewed," said Sobel, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for the Assembly in 1994.

"She is certainly in the top tier," said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, a nonpartisan policy analysis group. Evans' committee must sweat the details of any spending plan. "She needs to know how it all fits together," Ross said.

There is a "smorgasbord of possibilities" for achieving a balanced budget, Ross said, but "there are no new ideas."

Collective inability

The standoff has continued with Republicans' steadfast refusal to accept new taxes. Democrats, the governor and the legislative analyst say taxes and spending cuts are necessary, but three GOP votes in the Assembly and two in the Senate are needed to get the required two-thirds approval of a budget and tax hike.

Faced with mounting challenges on education, prisons, retirement and health care, as well as the budget, lawmakers have "a collective inability to solve problems," Sobel said.

Only 21 percent of voters approve of the Legislature's performance, according to a Public Policy Institute of California survey released last week. Bush's approval rating in eight polls last month averaged 27 percent.

A Field Poll in September gave lawmakers a 15 percent approval rating, 8 points below the previous nadir in the last quarter-century.

There's a reason for the Republicans' budget intransigence, said Jack Pitney, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and a former Republican Party policy analyst.

"This is their only chance to influence public policy," Pitney said. "Outside of the budget process, they are essentially powerless." The GOP holdout for an "all-cuts" budget solution is based on their core principle of small government, he said.

Evans said the Republicans are seeking leverage on some issues, including relief for employers on overtime, workday hours and lunch break regulations.

"It makes sense," she said. "But it's undemocratic."

Democrats are considering a ballot measure to change the requirement of two-thirds approval for budget and tax issues to either 55 percent or a simple majority. "Something has to change," Evans said.

Pitney said that would be a "very tough sell," portrayed by opponents as a prelude to raising taxes.

He and Sobel believe that redistricting offers a better way out by creating more competitive legislative districts and more willingness to compromise. "It might create a crucial number of moderates on both sides," Pitney said.

"Grit their teeth"

Evans is counting on an open, honest parlay with Republicans to find common ground. "That's the only way I know how to negotiate a deal," she said, referring to her 20 years of resolving disputes as an attorney.

Evans believes some combination of vehicle license fees and income, sales and other tax hikes will prevail. "Something everybody can grit their teeth and agree on," she said.

The daughter of a Marine Corps drill instructor, Evans was born in San Diego and raised in the East Bay. She received a bachelor's degree in government from California State University, Sacramento, and in 1981 earned a a law degree from University of the Pacific and settled in Santa Rosa the following year.

A mother of three children ages 17 to 23, Evans is divorced and lives in a home built in 1897 in the junior college neighborhood.

A full plate

Fountain Grove Parkway's construction prompted her interest in local politics, starting with her appointment to the Santa Rosa Planning Commission. She won a seat on the City Council in 1996, representing the neighborhood/environmental faction that opposed the pro-business establishment.

She served on the council with Pat Wiggins, who won the 7th District Assembly race in 1998. When Wiggins was termed out in 2004, she asked Evans to run for that post, while Wiggins moved up to the 2nd District Senate seat.

The musical chairs by Santa Rosa Democratic women politicians can't continue indefinitely, as Evans will be termed out of the Assembly in 2010 while Wiggins could remain in the Senate until 2014.

But Evans, who had dinner with Bass and briefed new lawmakers on the budget process last week, has a full plate for the next two years.

"It's not all doom and gloom," she said. "In my office, we say we can either laugh or cry. We choose to laugh."

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.