Brown spent about an hour with the budget committee comprised of Assembly and Senate members.  He even took questions.  He used the time to urge members of both parties to get out of their comfort zones - and pushed Republicans to put his plan to extend tax increases on the ballot:

"When you folks say no, no vote, no plan, no, that's not American.  It's not acceptable and it's not loyalty to California." 

Despite the serious topic, there were a lot of laughs.  Brown, who was once a Jesuit Seminarian, joked about the no-tax pledge that most Republicans have taken:

"I took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience but I was able to get a dispensation to get out of them. Now, it took the pope to do that, but I want you to know, we can set up a process that we can dispense people from pledges."