BAKERSFIELD -- Local employees of the state sounded off Thursday night on the proposal to pay state workers the federal minimum wage.

"I was thinking I'm going to go homeless," Christina Dominguez, a medical transcriber for the department of Corrections, said when she heard about the proposal.

There are several thousand state employees working in Kern County. Most of them work in corrections or with CalTrans, and are expecting to feel the pinch unless legislators can agree on a budget.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to defer wages for 200,000 state employees -- paying them federal minimum wage until lawmakers reach a budget deal.

A spokesman for the governor, Aaron McLear, said it's one of several options Schwarzenegger is considering as California faces a cash shortfall.

The governor is contemplating signing an executive order next week that would pay state workers the federal minimum of $6.55 an hour. That amount is $1.45 an hour less than California's minimum wage.

Employees would receive their full salary retroactively once a budget is signed.

The union that represents nearly half the affected workers, Service Employees International Union, said it already is seeking legal advice to block the action.