Last-minute objections from Assemblyman Jared Huffman and Sen. Mark Leno have prompted state Treasurer Bill Lockyer to put on hold plans for issuing bonds to pay for the expansion of death row at San Quentin State Prison.

"I think there is a very good chance that we have prevented any attempt by this administration to jam this project through," said Huffman, D-San Rafael.

Huffman and Leno, D-San Francisco, sent a letter to Lockyer on Wednesday asserting that sale of the bonds would be illegal until resolution of litigation challenging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto of budget language on conditions for financing of the project.

"Because of the legal issues raised by the letter, we downsized our bond sale to basically take financing for the San Quentin condemned inmate complex out of the sale," Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for the treasurer, said Thursday.

The state bond sale, which began Wednesday at $1.34 billion, has now been reduced to $750 million, Dresslar said. Even though the expansion is estimated to cost $356 million, the state was hoping to raise $590 million in case that estimate proved to be low.

"We just didn't have time to adequately address the legal questions raised by the letter, so we decided we're not going to sell any bonds for that particular project," Dresslar said.

H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the governor, said sale of the bonds for the prison expansion will go forward when the legal issues have been resolved.

"This isn't an issue of not ever; it's simply an issue of not right now," Palmer said.

Huffman disagrees.

"What all of this means, if you put it together, is that the issue is going to be resolved by the next administration," Huffman said. "And I think that is good news."

Huffman and Leno added the language that Schwarzenegger vetoed to one of the more than 30 bills that legislators approved in July as part of a deal to erase the state's $26 billion deficit.

The language prohibited issuance of bonds until the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation determined that it could lawfully double-cell condemned inmates; federal court litigation on prison overcrowding currently before a three-judge panel was resolved; and the correction department completed California Environmental Quality Act analyses for any modifications to the project.

Huffman said the governor had no authority to use the line-item veto on policy language.

"It is unprecedented and undoubtedly an inappropriate use of the line-item veto authority," Huffman said. "It's just a matter of time before the courts validate that."

Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg filed a lawsuit Aug. 10 contending the governor had unconstitutionally vetoed various line items in the budget bills, including the San Quentin legislation.

Palmer said that legally, only items of appropriation could be put in the budget document; therefore, anything in the document could be removed using the line-item veto. Palmer said the governor's right to a line-item veto has been upheld by courts in the past.

"We have every expectation that this legal challenge will have a similar disposition," Palmer said.