Reporting from Sacramento — As California government continued its grinding downshift toward insolvency, lawmakers appeared to be settling in for an overnight stay at the Capitol as they spent a fourth afternoon searching for the last vote needed to span the state budget gap.
The state Senate remained deadlocked after hours of debate, still searching for the last Republican vote to achieve the two-thirds majority it needs to approve more than $14 billion in higher taxes. The majority Democrats say the tax hikes are needed to balance the budget. A vote scheduled for Tuesday morning was pushed back throughout the day.
With Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) vowing to keep lawmakers locked in the Capitol until the crisis is resolved, legislative staffers and lawmakers carted in sleeping bags and suitcases, anticipating a rerun of Saturday's overnight session.
Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) brought a bottle of cologne. Republican Sen. Sam Aanestad, an oral surgeon from Grass Valley, passed out toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste. Cots were delivered by the state Office of Emergency Services.
"I think this could go for two days," said Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana). "I've been locked down for 30 hours, and it's not pretty. . . . You've got to sleep in your suit."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who rarely leaves his horseshoe-shaped office suite in the Capitol's east wing to hobnob with rank-and-file lawmakers, by late afternoon was planning to trudge upstairs to the beehive of legislative offices to try to persuade a fellow Republican to cross the aisle and vote to approve the budget.
The governor and Democrats hope that Sen. Dave Cox of Fair Oaks or Sen. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria will join Senate minority leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto and Sen. Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield, to help push the budget through.
"It's a huge responsibility, and it's people's careers on the line," Schwarzenegger told The Times, alluding to threats by conservative bloggers and talk-radio hosts of political retaliation against Republicans who vote to raise taxes. "But I think in the end they know they have to make a decision what's best for the state."
Their Republican colleagues say what's best for California is no new taxes.
The plan supported by Democrats and Schwarzenegger, a moderate Republican, includes a 1 cent increase in the sales tax, would add 12 cents a gallon to the gas tax and would also boost vehicle license fees and the personal income tax.
"We need to stop treating the taxpayers across California like a personal ATM," Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) said during debate on the Senate floor.
Added Sen. Jeff Denham (R-Atwater): "This budget is not fair and balanced."
eric.bailey@latimes.com
Times staff writer Michael Rothfeld contributed to this report.
