Happy Fiscal New Year California! Today we ring in the first day of the 2008-09 fiscal year, and once again the state doesn't have a budget in place. With the state facing an estimated $17.2 billion deficit, hammering out a deal between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the legislature hasn't been an easy fix. The budget needs two-thirds support, which means some will have to vote for the spending plan (even if it doesn’t fit their political agenda). Not having a budget on time has become almost tradition for California. In the past 20 years, the Legislature and the governor were able to have a budget in place only four times before ringing in the new fiscal year only (1993, 1999, 2000 and 2006). Those years were usually good economic times for the state, which always creates a ''happy problem'' of having too much money. But not this year. The housing market meltdown that continues to drag the state's economy has resulted in a $17.2 billion budget gap. The tardiness of this year's budget will have some immediate impacts, such as Medi-Cal reimbursement rates being slashed by 10 percent starting today. The state also faces prospects of running out of cash later this summer if a spending plan isn't in place by then. That means the state would need to take out expensive loans with high interest rates to ease the immediate cash crunch. Of course, everyone has their own ideas about helping to close the massive deficit: one side says spending cuts; the opposing view says new taxes and Gov. Schwarzenegger wants to borrow against future state lottery sales. So far, budget negotiations have been occurring mostly between the four legislative leaders -- Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Baldwin Vista (Los Angeles County); Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland; Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines from Fresno County; and Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill from Modesto. The inside word is that while the four have had detailed discussions about the budget, they are still far from having substantive agreements on how to close the gap.