For the 13th time in the last 16 years, the state of California has failed to have a budget in place by the beginning of the fiscal year.

That's pathetic enough for a state that takes pride in its cutting-edge image, both culturally and politically. It's downright disgraceful to see California lurch toward bankruptcy because Democratic and Republican lawmakers are too busy waging political warfare to compromise on the spending cuts and tax increases required to resolve a $38 billion deficit.

This page has stressed the need for fiscal structural reform to include a revamped tax structure, a constitutional spending cap and a sweeping realignment between Sacramento and local governments. The current bickering over the budget underscores the need for a couple of political reforms as well.

First, California's experiment with term limits has been a bust. Lawmakers no sooner get to Sacramento before they are looking for somewhere else to land once they are termed-out. This shortsighted reform has strengthed the power of legislative staff and special interest groups, while eroding the institutional memory that enables the Legislature to function effectively.

Second, the scandalous manner in which both major political parties joined to create safe legislative districts for themselves has intensified the corrosive partisanship that prevents a budget compromise. With nearly all elections being decided in the primaries now, candidates have become increasingly doctrinaire in their beliefs. Which means that party leaders like Sen. Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, can make good on their threats to go after lawmakers who stray from the party's line.

No wonder there are so many political hard-liners in Sacramento. Or that veteran Senate President Pro Tempore John Burton, D-San Francisco, says that he's never seen such a partisan divide. Democratic zealots see a long stalemate as a chance to discredit Republicans, while their GOP counterparts envision a furious public flaying of Gov. Gray Davis and the Democrats.

Term limits and a rigged reapportionment scheme may not have created California's budget crisis. But they have made it far more difficult to resolve it, and far more dangerous for the millions of innocent bystanders who will suffer from the state's impending fiscal crash.