Democratic legislative leaders announced Thursday they have bridged minor differences and combined health care proposals that would require employers to spend 7.5 percent of payroll costs on health care.

In the biggest development, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, agreed with Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, to reject Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal that everyone in the state be required to obtain insurance.

"This gives us the entire summer to negotiate whatever aspects of the bill need to be negotiated with the governor and the opportunity to reach out to our Republican colleagues," Núñez said at Capitol news conference.

Schwarzenegger praised the Democrats for advancing the health care debate. Meanwhile, he dismissed an opinion by the non-partisan Legislative Counsel that his plan, which would raise taxes on employers and health care providers, would require a two-thirds votes of the Legislature.

Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislative leaders have insisted the billions of dollars in new levies on employers or health care providers they propose are "fees" and therefore exempt from the two-thirds vote mandate

"I don't get kind of tied up on 'is it a tax, is it a fee,' " Schwarzenegger said. "To me, I look at it as a fee. I stick with that."

But some health care advocates are becoming increasingly concerned neither the governor's nor the Democrats' proposals will pass legal muster without a two-thirds vote, which is unlikely because Republicans uniformly oppose the levies.

At yet another news conference, a coalition of faith-based groups joined the American Cancer Association and American Lung Association in calling for the Legislature to double taxes on tobacco products to provide more money for health care.