The Legislature is poised to vote today on a nearly $24 billion budget-balancing plan that Republicans vow not to support and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pledges not to sign.

The Democratic proposal appears dead on arrival, setting the stage for tense negotiations as the state wrestles with a huge budget hole that threatens to leave it unable to pay its bills next month.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg hailed his party's budget plan as a compromise that would ease the fiscal emergency without devastating the safety net for vulnerable Californians.

"I cannot say that we have a deal," Steinberg said. "We certainly have a credible plan."

The plan contains more than $11 billion in program cuts, and it would lessen the state's shortfall by more than $21 billion even if proposed tobacco and oil extraction taxes are killed, Steinberg said.

"Why isn't it better to solve $21 billion instead of zero?" Steinberg said.

But Matt David, Schwarzenegger's communications director, said the current proposal "continues Sacramento's practice of avoiding hard decisions … and failing to live within our means."

"This is exactly why Californians have lost faith in Sacramento's ability to solve problems," David said in a written statement.

Schwarzenegger wants a budget solution, not a stopgap measure, he noted.

"The Legislature must immediately address our entire $24 billion deficit – anything less is irresponsible," he said.

Republican legislators characterized today's vote as a political drill, meaning partisan politics rather than a sincere attempt to reach agreement.

"I think a drill just moves us further apart," said Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita.

"It's just more posturing," said Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark. "We're losing valuable time to fix the problems of the state."

The Assembly's GOP point man on fiscal issues, Jim Nielsen of Gerber, said he may recommend that colleagues abstain on all votes today because they had neither read nor received copies of the bills by late Tuesday afternoon.

"I'm not sure I'm willing to buy a pig-in-a-poke," he said.

Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, said he has asked Steinberg for more time to consider the package of more than a dozen bills.

"We're pushing very hard that there be 24 hours of public review," Hollings-worth said of the package, which requires support from two-thirds of the Legislature to take effect immediately.

"I don't think there's going to be any Republican votes for what is essentially a partial and not a serious fix," he said.

The Democrats' plan rejects about $5 billion in cuts proposed by Schwarzenegger and calls for imposing a 9.9 percent tax on oil production, a $1.50-per-pack hike in the cigarette tax and a $15-per-vehicle registration fee to finance the state park system.

Schwarzenegger and Republican legislators adamantly oppose any new tax increases on the heels of more than $12 billion in hikes approved in February. "We don't think that the economy can handle (it)," said Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks.

Democrats turned thumbs down on Schwarzenegger's proposals to borrow $2 billion from cities and counties, and to impose an additional 5 percent salary cut on state workers who already are required to take two unpaid furlough days per month.

Democrats also rejected the governor's proposals to eliminate the state's primary welfare program, CalWORKs, and to eliminate a health insurance program serving more than 900,000 low-income children. The party's proposals would cut these programs but not kill them.

The Democrats' proposal also would ease targeted cuts to AIDS programs, college financial aid and in-home support services for frail and elderly people.

Steinberg said he and other Democrats cannot stomach the governor's cuts.

"The price is too high," he said. "We're not eliminating the safety net for the most vulnerable Californians. We're not doing it."

Republicans contend that the Democratic plan relies too much on taxes and upon gimmicks, including a one-day delay in paying state workers – from June 30, 2010, to July 1, 2010 – to carry 1/12th of the state's $11 billon annual payroll onto the books of a new fiscal year.

"My impression is that it's not enough," Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, said of the Democrats' budget cuts. "What we're dealing with here is continued denial about the scope of our fiscal stress."

Steinberg countered that it's ironic that the GOP, a longtime advocate of smaller government, would reject a proposal containing more than $11 billion in program cuts.

"The world is turned on its head when a Democratic leader is urging Republicans to vote for cuts," Steinberg said. "That's sort of the situation we find ourselves in."

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