California state Senate budget vote canceled

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Citing progress in state budget talks, California Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata canceled on Monday a Tuesday vote in his chamber on a spending plan proposed by Democrats who control the state legislature.

The bill on the budget plan likely would have failed.

Minority Republicans have threatened to block the Democrats' plan over its provisions for raising taxes, which Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also opposes.

California started its current fiscal year on July 1 without a spending plan in place and Democratic lawmakers lack the necessary votes to pass a budget plan on their own to put it to Schwarzenegger.

With budget talks plodding along, Democrats had planned to force the issue with a vote on their budget bill on Tuesday -- amid reports that Schwarzenegger this week would cut the pay of more than 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour to ease the financial strain on the state's books.

"Negotiations are continuing daily and we are making progress. It is clear that a floor vote on Tuesday would disrupt that progress," Perata said in a statement."

(Reporting by Jim Christie; Editing by James Dalgleish)