Republicans have made clear, however, that relaxing the environmental and labor laws would put them in more of a mood to compromise. That position has drawn a sharp rebuke from Democrats and activists.
"Using a fiscal crisis to delay and roll back protections for Californians is just wrong," said Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach).
Sierra Club lobbyist Bill Magavern called the GOP lawmakers "a dwindling minority trying to exploit the limited leverage they have."
Environmentalists are particularly outraged by the Republican call for a delay in the curbs on greenhouse emissions.
The global warming measure is one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proudest accomplishments. It has landed the governor, himself a Republican, on the covers of magazines around the world.
State officials are drafting rules for implementing the emissions caps, which are scheduled to take effect in January 2010. GOP legislators say complying with the rules will be costly for businesses at a time when they already are reeling from the poor economy and higher oil prices.
They want the governor to exercise a provision in the law that allows him to postpone implementation by declaring that it would cause the state "significant economic harm."
"We've got a major downturn in the economy," said Dave Cogdill of Modesto, leader of the state Senate's Republicans. "We're trying to convince the governor to give us more time on this."
Republicans are making the same case for new rules requiring retrofitting of diesel engines on trucks, tractors and heavy construction equipment. The engines are a leading source of pollution and have been singled out by scientists as a cause of thousands of premature deaths and hospital admissions for respiratory problems in California each year.
Supporters of the laws say that the sickness they will prevent and the boost they will give to "green" technologies promise to be far more helpful to California's economy than a delay in their implementation.
Schwarzenegger has said through aides that he does not wish to postpone environmental regulations and won't let the budget situation sidetrack his long-term goals. But he also says nothing is off the table.
"We have open doors where everything is on the table," Schwarzenegger said in a speech last month to the California Peace Officers Assn. "I don't want to go and say to anything, 'No.' "
