All told, the Democratic budget plan would reduce the deficit by $5.3 billion, but most savings would come in the next fiscal year starting in July.

California loses $7 in uncollected tax money for every $1 of payroll savings it gains from furloughing 5,600 Franchise Tax Board employees, according to a state Senate report released on Friday.

The Office of Oversight and Outcomes also found that $41.5 million in budget cuts at the Board of Equalization, which hasn't furloughed its employees, translated into estimated collection losses of $264 million.

Finally, Los Angeles' inability, thus far, to perform the fiscal surgery that the situation demands indicates that were the two-thirds vote requirement on the state budget to be repealed, as it should be, the Legislature's Democrats would find themselves stuck with solving the state budget deficit by themselves, unable to blame Republicans for their dilemma.

The emergency session, declared by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the State of the State address, gives the Legislature 45 days to pass legislation aimed at addressing the state's fiscal woes. Under Proposition 58, failure to approve such legislation would result in a freeze on action on non-budget bills.

That means you can expect to see no shortage of budget- and job-related bills working their way through committees and floor votes this week.

State Controller John Chiang reported Wednesday that California collected $1.28 billion more in January tax revenues than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger projected in his current budget plan, although Chiang warned that the "state cannot be lulled into a false sense of