As Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Los Angeles, now concedes, the Legislature will not meet its constitutional deadline of today to get a budget to Gov. Gray Davis. What’s more, a spending plan may not even be approved by Aug. 31, when the state will run out of money and may start issuing IOUs to pay its workers and vendors.

A similar budget stalemate took place a decade ago when then-Gov. Pete Wilson and the Democratic-controlled Legislature didn’t reach a deal until early September. The deficit they resolved was less than half of the current shortfall, which ranges from $38 billion to $40 billion. Factor in a nasty effort to recall Davis, and a complete meltdown in Sacramento appears imminent.

California’s unprecedented budget crisis requires responsible behavior on both sides of the aisle. Instead, both sides seem more concerned with scoring political points than in seeking consensus to close the massive deficit and, more important, achieve the structural reforms that can help prevent future fiscal crises.

The rancor is typified in Senate President Pro Tempore John Burton’s storming out of a meeting of key legislative leaders with Davis last week. The volatile San Francisco Democrat could be heard shouting before bolting from the governor’s office.

Before that, Senate Minority Leader Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, threatened to squash the political career of any GOP lawmaker who supports a tax increase to help close the deficit. Brulte’s threat shut down back-channel budget talks between moderate Republicans and Democrats looking to break the impasse.

While the political rancor roils Sacramento, several Wall Street bankers already have stated their reluctance to lend the state $10.7 billion without a separate revenue stream dedicated to the repayment. That’s worrisome because the loan, which is about the only thing Republican and Democratic lawmakers can agree upon, hinges on a temporary sales tax increase. And the GOP leadership adamantly opposes any tax hike.

Assembly Speaker Wesson is no Willie Brown, who specialized in getting things done. And Davis, who is temperamentally unsuited to dealing with crises, seems transfixed by the prospect of being recalled by an increasingly disgusted electorate.

Voters vigorously oppose deep spending cuts and steep tax increases. Their disapproval will only deepen the longer the budget crisis persists. Which is reason enough for both sides to stop shouting and start dealing.