Legislative leaders said Sunday they have a compromise deal on an 11-week-late state budget that calls for no tax increases, no borrowing from local governments or other state special funds – and which makes no one happy.

Emerging from a weekend meeting in the office of Senate GOP leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto, the quartet declined to give specific details of their compromise plan, saying they wanted to talk to their respective caucuses first.

But they did say the plan closes part of the $15.2 billion gap in the $103.4 billion budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 with $9 billion in spending cuts.

The rest of the gap will be patched through closing tax loopholes and "accelerated revenue collections," an accounting term for collecting some one-time revenue in this fiscal year rather than the next.

They also said it contains some changes of the budget process that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had demanded, including beefing up a rainy day reserve fund and giving the governor limited authority to make midyear budget cuts.

It envisions a ballot measure that would ask voters to allow modernization of the state lottery and borrow money for next year's budget that would be repaid from future lottery revenue.

"I believe we are 99.9 percent there," said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles. "Each of us has to talk to our respective caucuses, but we look forward to having a vote on the budget tomorrow (Monday)."

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, upped Bass by one-tenth, saying he was "100 percent sure that there is a deal here."

Perata also said that representatives of the governor were privy to the deal, and that he was confident the governor would find it acceptable. Schwarzenegger has warned he would veto any budget that relied on borrowing or lacked structural reforms.

The governor's press secretary, Aaron McLear, said administration officials were analyzing the proposal, "but have concerns that budget reform may not be strong enough."

Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines of Clovis nevertheless predicted that "the agreement as it stands today should get us a budget and allow us to move forward."

It would also let legislators move out of Sacramento. The regular session ended at the end of August, but the lack of a budget has kept lawmakers here. Assuming the governor likes the deal, the compromise will allow legislators to send 873 bills to Schwarzenegger's desk.

The governor had vowed to veto any legislation sent to him before a budget, and lawmakers have countered by simply holding onto the measures.

It would also make moot a threat by Schwarzenegger to reduce salaries of about 180,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage until a budget is passed.

State Controller John Chiang ignored the governor's executive order, and the issue is currently before a federal court.

While the leaders refused to discuss details, they did say that one of the tax loopholes it would close involves limiting how much of an operating loss that a business can claim as a tax deduction. The legislative analyst estimated earlier this year that limiting the deduction to 50 percent would raise about $330 million in new revenues.

They also gave one example of "revenue accelerations," which can be construed as a form of borrowing from future budgets. Perata said that funds from a state tax amnesty program – in which taxpayers facing liens or tax bills can pay up without facing penalties – would be collected in this fiscal year rather than next.

All four leaders used the word "compromise" in describing the deal, and in fact the broad outlines of the deal indicate all the players can claim wins and losses:

• Democrats prevented further cuts to close the deficit, but failed to increase revenue through a tax hike, and apparently have had to give the governor some of the changes he wanted but they didn't support.

• Republicans failed to get deeper cuts in social services they wanted and had to give up a proposal to borrow money from funds that feed local government and transportation programs. But they headed off any direct tax increases.

• The governor got some of the changes in the budget process he sought, but was unable to sway a single Republican to vote for the "compromise" budget he proposed, which included a temporary sales tax hike.

"It's certainly not the budget any of us would have selected if it had been purely up to us," Cogdill said. "But again, we think it's a compromise that makes sense, all things considered."

The delay on the budget, which shattered old records for legislative tardiness, has meant that billions of dollars in state money has been withheld from medical care providers, community colleges, private vendors who do business with the state, and others.

In recent days, some acute care centers around the state have said they were out of money they borrowed to keep their doors open, and would have to close in a matter of days if a budget weren't approved.

"It was time to end this," said Perata. "I wish it could have ended differently.

"I think the state is still going to have to face some very severe problems."

Call Steve Wiegand, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 321-1076.