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New Urgency On Budget Talks With Lawmaker Pay Cuts

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- As the end of California's fiscal year approaches this week, there's added urgency to a deadline that is usually ignored.

Lawmakers face significant new pressures, as well as opportunities, as they seek to close California's remaining $9.6 billion deficit and get a budget in place by July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.

Proposition 25, approved last fall, forces lawmakers to go without pay for each day they fail to pass a balanced budget.

Democrats also can now pass a budget without GOP votes, although they still need a two-thirds majority to raise taxes or put a tax measure on the ballot, as Gov. Jerry Brown hopes.

Brown negotiated with Democratic leaders over the weekend after months of talks with Republicans failed to yield a deal.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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