The California budget process is broken. The budget cycle is dysfunctional and shortsighted, and partisan politics get in the way of working toward the common good for the state.

But change is afoot.

That was the message of California Forward at a Camarillo gathering Thursday of local politicians, community organizers, business leaders and activist groups. The group is drumming up support around the state for restructuring California's budget.

"How do we create a new government system for California?" asked James Mayer, executive director of the bipartisan, nonprofit government- reform advocacy group.

The group's latest project is to redesign the budget to look at long-term, not year-to-year, goals; keep spending in line with revenue; and avoid using one-time funds for ongoing projects.

Mayer said California Forward wants to have a new plan on the desks of the governor and legislators by the end of the year on how to make the budget sustainable over time.

The budget is chronically late, and this year saw the longest delay ever in passing the budget — 85 days late. That fact, compounded by a financial crisis that is shaking economic foundations around the world, means it is the best time to get people behind revamping the system, Mayer said.

"Yes, the crisis is getting worse, but it's been coming for a long time," he said.

Ken Hall, a fiscal policy adviser with the group, rattled through statistics and polls that show people want change. He said the state recently got a D+ from a nonpartisan group evaluating how it deals with money. A poll shows that 78 percent of people think the budget process is a big problem. By 2011, he said, the state's expenditures will outpace revenue by $13 billion a year.

"Our one-year state budget doesn't work," he said. "It doesn't look at long-term issues."

The plan the group is hoping to give legislators would revise the budget process by developing one that looks two years ahead instead of one. It would ban borrowing to cover expenditures and prohibit using one-time funds to pay for ongoing programs.

Another problem, Hall said, is relying on volatile revenues. He pointed to the budget proposed in 1999 that relied on money coming in from the dot-com boom.

But the next year, when the bubble burst, the revenue wasn't there to support the programs outlined in the budget. The group's plan would factor in rises and dips in the revenue stream so that the budget wouldn't face similar problems, Hall said.

The more than 20 local representatives on hand Thursday seemed to agree that change was needed in Sacramento.

Ventura City banker and Councilman Ed Summers said when the state doesn't pass its budget on time, local governments suffer because they don't know how much money they'll have to fund projects.

"I think the biggest challenges we have is consistency in the budget process and knowing what the city can count on," he said. "You can see that frustration in all levels" of government.

Bill Buratto, president of the Ventura County Economic Development Association, said with the current economic crisis, the time is ripe for change on the budget and other issues in Sacramento.

"It creates an opportunity to make systemic changes," he said. "The issue will be, do people really want change."

What he is hearing from the business community, he said, is "Sacramento is broken."