With most of Sacramento seemingly focused on Gov. Gray Davis' recall, a much more pressing problem looms. Sunday is the constitutional deadline for the state Legislature to pass a budget. Despite considerable pressure, lawmakers have plugged their ears with [text missing].
The damage to the state is immeasurable. If legislators miss their deadline, cities, counties, grade schools, universities and junior colleges are handcuffed. They can't hire employees because they don't know how much their funding will be cut by the state. While it's business as usual in Sacramento - legislators still drive around in their sport utility vehicles and draw their salaries and per diem payments - it's gridlock everywhere else.
The state Constitution says legislators must have a budget passed by June 15, and that the governor must have a budget signed by July 1. Those dates are routinely ignored. If all state employees, including state legislators and their staffers, didn't get paid for every day the Legislature is late on the budget, we'd bet the stalemate would vanish. As it is now, there's no urgency.

Last week, in fact, legislators seemed to grow farther apart on the budget rather than closer. Legislators hope private meetings this week between the so-called "Big Five" - Davis, and the Assembly and Senate leaders of the two political parties - will get something accomplished. Don't count on it. The sides are so far apart ideologically, they might as well hold budget talks while sitting on opposite rims of the Grand Canyon.

Republicans don't want to raise taxes. Democrats don't want to cut spending. Unfortunately, the two sides haven't ventured far from those starting points, which is why a budget agreement seems a long way off.

There's suspicion that legislators might pass a cowardly budget that defers most of the tough questions to next year, similar to what they've done the past two years. That will only make a bad problem worse.

Legislators know what needs to be done. We're $38 billion in debt. Start slashing. Democrats should listen to the Republicans' demands on workers' compensation reform, and maybe in return the Republicans can give a little on new taxes.

This crisis won't be solved without a lot of compromises. It won't be easy.

Unfortunately, the Legislature seems content to do the easiest thing of all - ignore the problem and hope it will go away.