SAN FRANCISCO – California conservatives are up in arms over Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal to spend the state’s entire surplus in the next fiscal year, increasing government outlays at a rate higher than the Democratic governor he ousted.

Mr. Schwarzenegger announced this week that he is proposing a state budget of $97.9 billion for the next fiscal year, an 8.4% increase from the current year. His budget plan calls for the state to spend $6.4 billion more than it takes in next year, with the gap being made up by a surplus the state is presently running.

At a news conference Tuesday, the Republican governor said his two years of wrangling with legislative leaders have disabused him of some of his notions about the ease of reining in spending. “When I ran, I thought it was easier to balance the budget, to be honest with you,” the governor said. “But it’s very, very difficult because you’re not sitting over there alone in the Capitol. You’re making decisions together.”

The budget proposal has many in the governor’s own party comparing him to the Democratic governor, Gray Davis, who was recalled from office in 2003 amid a fiscal crisis.

“It’s what cost Gray Davis his job,” a Republican whip in the state Assembly, Raymond Haynes, told The New York Sun yesterday. “You have the exact same spending pattern. The exact same revenue pattern. We haven’t learned from our mistakes.”

Under Mr. Davis, California’s state revenues boomed, but spending increased even faster. When the dot-com bubble burst, tax receipts slumped and spending kept rising, pushing the state to the brink of default on billions of dollars in bonds.

In his campaign against Mr. Davis in 2003, Mr. Schwarzenegger railed against “spending addicts” in the state government, but critics now accuse him of similar excesses.

“Government money is a very addicting drug and everyone is susceptible to become a spending addict,” Mr. Haynes said. “The governor came in promising to sweep the spending addicts out of Sacramento. Now, he’s gotten a little taste of the drug. He’s trying to chase the dragon.”

Democrats also have blasted Mr. Schwarzenegger’s planned cuts in welfare benefits and freezes in some social programs. Their criticism leads some Republicans to fret that the budget could cost even more. “The Democrats are likely to bid the price up another $3 or $4 billion before all is said and done,” a Republican state senator, Thomas McClintock, said in an interview.

Mr. Schwarzenegger has made clear he was chastened by the results of last November’s special election, when four ballot measures he promoted were defeated, including one that would have increased his powers to control spending.

“All those went down in flames,” a Sacramento-based budget analyst, Anthony Archie, said. “He basically has shifted to the left since then,” said Mr. Archie, who works for a conservative think tank, the Pacific Research Institute.

Mr. Archie noted that aspects of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s recent proposals are designed to appeal to groups he clashed with last year. Teachers unions will benefit from increases of more than 10% in education spending. Trade and construction unions stand to gain from a new infrastructure program and will likely support the governor’s plan to raise the state’s minimum wage to $7.75 from $6.75.

“Instead of seeing the restraint we expected in Arnold, we’re seeing the same old, same old,” Mr. Archie said.

However, a Republican political consultant, Allan Hoffenblum, said Mr. Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal is simply a recognition of political realities in California. “The liberal labor Democrats control both houses of the state Legislature,” he said. “The overwhelming majority of Republicans in both houses have never voted ‘aye’ for a budget and probably never will.”

Mr. Hoffenblum said Mr. Schwarzenegger is operating with an eye toward the re-election campaign he faces this fall, and his fellow Republicans should as well.

“The only way that the Republican Party has any chance of retaining any influence on public policy is by Arnold Schwarzenegger getting reelected,” he said. “His special election proves what happens if the contest turns into Democrat versus Republican. Arnold Schwarzenegger cannot be re-elected as governor of California running as a Republican. His being a Republican has to be not relevant to his re-election.”

The budget plan is the latest rebuff by the governor and former movie star toward Republican loyalists. Earlier this month, he replaced his chief of staff with a Democrat who is a former aide to Mr. Davis, Susan Kennedy. Mr. Schwarzenegger also snubbed a recent meeting of Republican governors, skipping the public sessions and turning out only for fund-raising events that were closed to the press.

Mr. McClintock said there are parallels between the governor and President Bush, who also has presided over record increases in spending after campaigning on a platform of fiscal restraint. “These are not Republican fiscal principles that are being followed at either the federal level or the state level in California. These are decidedly un-Republican principles and I think that needs to be clearly understood,” the state senator said.