With the clock ticking for legislators to resolve the current year fiscal crisis, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez vowed today to do it without Republicans if necessary.

In comments to the Sacramento Press Club, the Los Angeles Democrat emphasized that he hopes to find common ground with GOP lawmakers on how to resolve the $3.3 billion shortfall expected in the current fiscal year. The need for a quick solution is being driven, in part, by Governor Schwarzenegger's declaration of a fiscal emergency last month. That declaration, made under 2004's Proposition 58, requires the Legislature to act on the budget crisis within 45 days of the governor's action.

That deadline is February 24, one Nunez said must be met... with or without Republicans. The speaker declined to list specific savings Democrats will ultimately endorse.

While the state constitution mandates a two-thirds vote of each chamber to pass an annual budget, the language in Prop 58 was silent on whether a mid-year budget crisis must also be approved by a supermajority. However, it seems certain that if that same budget solution included tax increases, then it would require a two-thirds vote.

Nunez called a majority vote solution (also known as one approved only by Democrats) "the last option." And it seems likely that Republicans would pounce on any deficit solution that does not have approval from their members, leaving the GOP governor squarely in the middle.