Evans blasts Republican lawmakers for boycotting state budget hearing

<p>State Sen. Noreen Evans blasted her Republican colleagues Thursday for boycotting a Senate hearing on California's budget.</p><p>The Santa Rosa Democrat released a statement in which she referred to the boycott as a “public tantrum.”</p><p>“Most of the Senate Republicans have not voted on a budget for years, if ever,” she said. </p><p>Evans said that now that the Legislature can adopt a budget on a majority vote, Republicans “can no longer hold the budget hostage.”</p><p>The Senate Republican Caucus released its own statement in which it accused Democrats of a return to the days of back-room deals and “secret budgeting.”</p><p>“At a time when Californians are looking at major policy changes that will impact public services in education, health and social services and criminal justice, it is not enough to simply answer the problem of less transparency with 'Trust us,'” the statement read.</p><p>The chairman of the budget committee, Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, whose district includes southern Sonoma County, said he expects lawmakers to begin voting on the budget Friday. Without passage of a budget Friday, legislators' pay will be docked.</p><p>— Derek Moore</p>