SACRAMENTO - California's budget battles are over for the year, but lawmakers still face decisions on hundreds of bills that could add billions of dollars in spending to state ledgers.

Two committees, one in the Senate, the other in the Assembly, will wade through those measures this week.

The bills range from measures to provide health care for many of the 6 million Californians who lack coverage to more modest proposals to lower infant mortality rates and expand drug treatment programs for minors.

Many of the bills won't make it out of committee. Many of those that do will have their appropriations eliminated or sharply reduced, or will be amended in other ways to make them less costly.

"It's difficult to create new programatic spending, no matter how worthy, when we're struggling with about a $5 billion annual shortfall," said Assemblyman Mark Leno, the San Francisco Democrat who chairs the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Leno's committee will meet Wednesday to deal with about 190 bills that passed the Senate earlier this year with a combined price tag of about $3 billion.

The Senate Appropriations Committee plans to meet Wednesday or Thursday to deal with about 250 Assembly spending bills.

It's a procedure the two committees go through twice a year to try to set priorities and hold down spending, once in the spring to vote on fiscal bills that originate in their houses and again in August to cull appropriation bills from the other house.

The surgery performed by the committees can be extensive, at least in recent years when the state has been hampered by persistent budget deficits.

"It's been several hard budgets in a row," said Sen. Tom Torlakson, the Martinez Democrat who chairs the Senate committee. "The so-called structural deficit is an ongoing, rolling problem that causes a check on spending and lowers expectations of members in terms of what's possible to do."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger temporarily eliminated the state's red ink when he vetoed $703 million in spending before signing a $145.5 billion state budget on Friday. But economists are predicting the state will face another $5 billion revenue shortfall next year.

Earlier this year, the Assembly Appropriations Committee approved about two-thirds of the 600 Assembly fiscal bills then on its agenda but cut the spending they would trigger by 92 percent.

"It's really our job to be thoughtful and conservative in our deliberations," Leno said. "We work with members to amend bills so that we can move them forward, hopefully in a form that may be more likely to garner the governor's signature."

Leaving an appropriation out of a bill or cutting back a program might get it signed into law, but it can leave the author with a hollow victory - at least temporarily.

Leno said he is waiting to get funding for a program he created last year to help corner grocery stores in low-income neighborhoods buy refrigerated display cases for fresh fruits and vegetables.

"You can't find an apple or an orange in many neighborhoods, and if you can find one it's ridiculously expensive and of poor quality," Leno said.

Here are some of the bills on appropriation committee agendas this week:

HEALTH CARE - Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez's bill to require most employers to help pay for employee health insurance is on the Senate committee's agenda. It's one of the few bills that is projected to save the state money by providing employer-financed coverage for many workers who currently rely on government programs or hospital emergency rooms for treatment. Bills by Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, and Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, would make another 300,000 children eligible for the state's health care programs at an annual cost of $300 million.

DRUG TREATMENT - Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, has a bill that would expand drug and alcohol treatment programs for youth at an annual cost of $20 million.

INFANT MORTALITY - Legislation by Assemblywoman Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, would attempt to reduce the infant mortality rate by setting up five-year pilot programs in Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco to reduce the number of very-low-weight babies born to black women.

FOOD - A bill by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, would require chain restaurant menus and menu boards to list the calories, fat, salt and carbohydrates in their standard items. An Assembly analysis predicts it would cost the Department of Public Health $100,000 a year to oversee enforcement of the legislation.

SMOKING - Smoking in a car carrying children could result in a fine of up to $100 under a bill by Sen Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach. The measure would generate some additional state and local revenue, but it also could cost the Department of Motor Vehicles several million dollars to include warnings about the fines in its drivers' handbook and vehicle registration renewal notices, according to an Assembly analysis of the measure.

GREENHOUSE GASES - Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, has a bill that would require the Air Resources Board to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicle fuel. An Assembly analysis puts the cost at $1.5 million over three years to develop the fuel standards and begin enforcing them.

GRADUATION EXAM - A bill by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, would require state school officials to devise alternate graduation requirements for proficient students who can't pass the state high school exit exam. A Senate analysis predicts millions of dollars in costs to implement the bill.

MEXICAN DEPORTATIONS - Another Cedillo bill would create a state fund to pay reparations to Hispanics who were illegally deported to Mexico during the 1930s and create a nine-member board to administer the fund. An Assembly analysis predicts annual costs of about $200,000 for the board and tens of millions of dollars to pay reparations. But the bill wouldn't put any money into the fund. That would have to be provided by future legislation.

On the Net:

http://www.assembly.ca.gov and www.senate.ca.gov