The only perceptible movement Monday in the Capitol's long-stalled budget debate came on the fifth floor – Democrat Nicole Parra was booted from her office for bucking her party during a vote Sunday night.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass sent Parra packing not to smaller Capitol digs – the usual reprimand for rebellious members – but out of the building entirely. She landed across the street in a legislative office building on N Street where no other lawmakers are quartered.

Parra, from Hanford in Kings County, has vowed not to vote for the state budget unless lawmakers also agree to put a water bond on the Nov. 4 ballot – a priority for farmers in her district who have long pushed for new dams.

On Sunday, she kept her pledge and was the only Democrat present who abstained on a Democratic budget proposal that never was expected to pass. The budget bill requires a supermajority and failed because no Republicans voted yes.

Hours later, on Monday morning, Parra's staff already was packing up.

"I knew that I would be punished some way, somehow," Parra said. But she said her Central Valley constituents should be disgusted at the way she was disciplined.

"I represent the same amount of people the speaker represents," she said. "Why should my constituents, because I'm fighting for them, not have access to me in my office in the Capitol building?"

Parra also said leaders have refused to put her bills up for a vote.

Bass, D-Los Angeles, declined to comment, calling Parra's move an "internal caucus matter." Other Democrats said Parra was taking the state "hostage" with her water demand.

"It's outrageous that any member, Democrat or Republican, of this Legislature, would force the children and the elderly and the disabled people of California to continue to suffer without a budget because of the narrow interests of their own district," said Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been pushing a $9.3 billion bond for water supply and conservation. But water talks have taken a back seat to the budget, now 50 days late. Without Parra's vote, it will take seven, not six, Assembly GOP votes to pass a budget, assuming all other Democrats vote yes.

Parra conveyed her water demand to Bass in a letter in late July and reasserted it publicly at a recent Capitol water rally.

She has won three Assembly elections by appealing to Republicans in the south Valley district, one of the few districts in the state where one party does not dominate.

But she also has relied on campaign contributions from the California Democratic Party and other Democratic lawmakers – a fact that her colleagues aren't letting her forget.

"We have spent millions of dollars ensuring that Nicole comes back three times in a row," said Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka. "The way it's done here is that if you are in the majority party, and you are a Democrat, you vote on the budget."

While it was the newly minted speaker's first public display of party discipline, it's not unprecedented for leaders to move members to smaller offices to assert their will.

But the last time a lawmaker ended up across the street was nearly three decades ago, when then-Democratic Assemblyman Walter Ingalls of Riverside left the Capitol building after a run-in with his leaders, according to Jon Waldie, Assembly chief administrative officer.

Two years ago Assemblyman Juan Arambula, D-Fresno, got into trouble with leaders when he did not vote on a public works bond package because it did not include money for dams. Then-speaker Fabian Núñez sent Arambula packing into the smallest office in the Capitol, known as the "doghouse." Arambula declined to comment on Parra's situation, but said water and budget talks should not be linked.

Indeed, it seemed the only lawmakers coming to Parra's defense were Republicans.

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, who currently resides in the doghouse, said Speaker Bass is "beyond frustrated on the budget" and "is trying to exert her influence and power in a way that I think makes her look, actually, out of control."

Call E.J. Schultz, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5541.