SACRAMENTO — Democratic legislators, some receiving the news with a sense of remorse and others with a shrug, were told Monday that the overdue state budget and their work schedule in Sacramento will prevent them from attending the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Twenty-five had been scheduled to serve as California delegates, including Assembly Speaker Karen Bass of Los Angeles and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata of Oakland.

Both houses held legislative sessions Monday and have scheduled further sessions throughout the week.

"I have no plans to attend the convention," Bass said. "I would love to be there this week, but my first order of business is to finish the work we have here."

Bass was an early and prominent supporter of Barack Obama. As the only African-American woman in the nation to lead a state legislative body, she would have had a visible role at the convention.

Another California politician with an even more visible political convention role — Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is scheduled to speak at the GOP convention's opening night Monday — said last week that he will not attend the Minneapolis convention unless the budget crisis has been resolved.

Bass said she would not order fellow legislative Democrats not to attend, and at least four attended the California delegation's breakfast meeting Monday in Denver. Two — state Sens. Alex Padillo of Los Angeles and Dean Florez of Shasta — returned to Sacramento in time for a 4 p.m. Senate floor session.

Ventura County's two Democrats in the Assembly said Bass' decision to conduct business this week was the right move.

"You can't go to Colorado if you don't have a budget," said Assemblyman Pedro Nava of Santa Barbara. "It just doesn't make sense to me."

"I think we should be here completing our work," said Assemblywoman Julia Brownley of Santa Monica. "If it takes the rest of the week and the weekend, so be it."

Brownley and Nava said they had not planned to go to Denver even if a budget agreement had been reached before the convention began.

In a briefing with reporters, Bass said she remains hopeful that the budget stalemate will be resolved soon, but had no promising news to report.

Assembly Republican leader "Mike Villines and I have been talking," she said. "He would very much like to settle the budget."

She noted that Villines has been clear that Republicans will not support a tax increase and she has been clear that she will not agree to a budget that closes a $15.2 billion shortfall exclusively with spending cuts.

Republican leaders have suggested that the state access additional revenue by borrowing from special funds designated for transportation and local governments.

Bass said she does not believe that borrowing is a good idea, and she hopes that Republicans will agree to revenue increases that could be classified as "closing tax loopholes" rather than tax increases.

Schwarzenegger last week proposed what he called a "compromise" budget plan that includes a temporary 1-cent increase in the sales tax and reforms designed to build a rainy-day budget reserve as a means to avoid future budget crises during economic downturns.