Republican gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman said Friday that California is on the verge of a “negative tipping point” and that the state’s next governor must create jobs or risk sending California over the edge.

“We have to put jobs first,” Whitman said during a speech to the California Chamber of Commerce during its fall retreat at the Westin Verasa in Napa.

“If we don’t create a fundamental change in job creation, there’s no way out of this,” she said.

Whitman, former president and CEO of eBay, told the crowd of about 100 people that California must ease up on taxation, regulation and bureaucracy in order for businesses in the state to thrive.

“It’s very hard to get things done in California if you’re a small business,” Whitman said, charging that California’s regulations are perhaps the most draconian in the country.

“What I learned at eBay that is important to this governor’s race is the importance of small business,” Whitman said. “I also saw how government can get in the way of small business.”

To solve this, California must streamline regulations or risk sending employers elsewhere, Whitman said.

Environmental regulations, in particular, should not supersede economic interests, she said. Whitman has called for a moratorium on Assembly Bill 32, meant to bring California’s greenhouse gas emissions down to 1990 levels.

“I think we have to restore some balance between the environmentalists and creating jobs,” Whitman said. While laudable, AB 32, “puts California at a competitive disadvantage,” she argued.

In addition, California must lower taxes, Whitman said.

“Tax rates are actually hurting the development of small businesses,” she said. “Without more employers, we will not have more employees.”

Whitman said the state should implement a sales tax exemption for manufacturers on the equipment they buy. California should also offer a tax credit for research and development, she said; and give a marginal tax rate decrease to middle income Californians, including a number of small business owners.

Strategies such as these would help Napa Valley as much as the rest of the state, she said.

In an interview, Whitman said Napa Valley’s wine industry is “very representative of small businesses in the state of California.”

She said the industry would benefit from lower taxes and streamlined regulations. Perhaps most importantly, the wine industry needs the economy as a whole to turn around, she said.

“People are pulling back on their discretionary spending, and many people consider wine discretionary spending,” Whitman said. “Until we put people back to work … they’re not going to buy that extra bottle of wine for dinner.”

Whitman said she favors a guest worker program for the agriculture industry that would allow workers from Mexico and elsewhere to “come up and pick grapes and go home.” This would be a way to crack down on illegal immigration without hurting agriculture, she said.

While her No. 1 issue is jobs, Whitman said in her speech that the state must also rein in spending and do a better job of educating kids.

“We have a spending problem of epic proportions,” she said.

Whitman said California should eliminate 40,000 state jobs, consolidate departments and use technology to deliver services at a lower cost.

She also said schools should be more accountable at the local level, and that good teachers should get raises while bad teachers are thrown out.

Whitman touched quickly on the issue of same-sex marriage, stating that she supports civil unions but not gay marriage. But “while the social issues are important,” Whitman said, “most voters are focused on other issues.”

She also addressed the issue of state-mandated affordable housing during an interview with the Register. The requirements have long been a source of political distress in the agricultural Napa County.

“I don’t think it’s the state’s job to tell Napa how much affordable housing they need to have,” Whitman said. “Philosophically, I want to push down responsibility and accountability to the local level.”

Other Republican candidates in the 2010 gubernatorial race include former congressman Tom Campbell and Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. Poizner is scheduled to visit Napa next week.

Democratic candidate and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom bowed out of the race on Friday, leaving Attorney General Jerry Brown — who has not officially declared his candidacy — as the only major Democratic candidate in the race.