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*** 1998 Pocket Directory of the California Legislature ***

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They met for 19 hours over three days last weekend, met again Monday for three hours and plan new meetings Wednesday. But thus far, nothing has been settled, no breakthroughs have been reached. Even the rank-and-file members of the party caucuses in each house have little idea of what accords - if any - the leaders have reached on the critical issues, such as welfare, education, raises for state employees, prison construction and the payback of a $1.4 billion raid on public pension funds that lawmakers used to balance an earlier budget. The secrecy stems from the leaders' belief that premature disclosure of the negotiations would threaten their ability to close a deal.

The body that is supposed to write a compromise budget and present it to the floors of both houses of the Legislature is the Budget Conference Committee, a Democrat-ruled committee composed of members of both houses. But that panel has refused to convene, pending decisions from Wilson and the other leaders. In general, Democrats seek to provide more money for such things as welfare and schools, while Wilson and his fellow Republicans seek tougher limits on welfare benefits than those proposed by President Clinton, oppose pay raises for state workers and seek a new statewide achievement testing program for California school students.

The net result is gridlock: For two weeks, California has had no official authority to pay its bills, although an array of court rulings from earlier budget stalemates have allowed the state to make payments to some groups, such as civil servants, welfare recipients, the providers of in-home services to the elderly and disabled, among others. But state vendors, such as those who provide services to prisons, hospitals and state agencies, have had their checks delayed. The hardest hit: the Legislature's 1,950 workers who are paid on the 15th and last day of each month. Their checks for Tuesday, July 15, have been withheld.

Legislative employees are used to budget delays. In 1992, when the recession-weakened state issued IOUs for the first time since the Great Depression, the state budget was more than two months late, a record. Two years ago, it was a month late. Last week, the Assembly's top administrative officer, John Waldie, convened a meeting in Room 4202 of the Capitol to alert staffers to the possibility of delayed paychecks. Among those at the meeting were bankers and credit union representatives, who said special zero-interest loans would be available to workers to tide them over until a budget is approved.

The outlook budget agreement remains uncertain. On Monday Bustamante said it would be "next week at least" until a budget pact was hammered out. Later, more pessimistic, he said he hoped an agreement could be reached "within the next two weeks." Either way, it appears to be that Capitol politicians, and the people they represent, are in for a long hot summer.