BUDGET WATCH : Deadbeat State

Gov. Pete Wilson is right: The “misery index” caused by the budget impasse, now in its 57th day, keeps rising. But he’s in no position to blame the Legislature alone--because he and the legislators are using that misery to pressure each other’s views on the budget.

The fact is, of course, there’s plenty of blame to go around. In the meantime, Wilson and others should support legislation by Democrat Rusty Areias of San Jose aimed at paying the state’s July bills for services rendered by the state’s vendors, firefighters, independent-living developmental centers and some contractors. Under current law, payments aren’t allowed until a budget is adopted.

Consider the agony of the private, nonprofit Developmental Disabilities Center of Orange County. It distributes state funds to homes and services for 7,000 severely handicapped or retarded persons. The center says it will be forced to close up shop Friday if it isn’t reimbursed, leaving thousands of families needlessly in the lurch. Numerous other operations in the state are also twisting in the wind.

Areias’ measure has twice come up for a vote in the Assembly and twice fallen short by one vote after the governor’s office arm-twisted GOP legislators who wanted to vote for it. The emergency measure needs at least a two-thirds majority in both houses.

Areias has vowed to bring the issue to the Assembly floor again this week. When he does, the people in the state Capitol, especially Wilson, need to get behind it so that the people who are hurting can finally get paid.