Already a budget impasse

All sides have ideas on how to handle the $19.1 billion deficit: The governor proposes to slash and burn, Assembly Democrats are pushing a sleight-of-hand maneuver to raise oil taxes, and Senate Democrats want to shift some programs to the counties. None of these approaches is getting much traction, which means that Sacramento is a long way off from cutting a budget deal. From Dan Walters:

It's a three-way stalemate, with the new fiscal year due to begin next week and with state Controller John Chiang warning that the state will run out of cash this summer if a new budget is not in place. Nothing will happen until Democrats in both houses are in sync on whether to borrow or tax their way out of this year's version of the chronic deficit. But even if they do - and they appear to be very far apart - it would be merely a step, and not a particularly big one, on the budget road. They could put a budget up for floor votes, but they would still need to get some votes from Republicans, who have said anything that depends on higher taxes, or even extending some temporary taxes due to expire next year, is dead on arrival.