CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SACRAMENTO

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders canceled a budget negotiating session Sunday evening, even as they continued to assert that they were on the cusp of agreeing on a package to wipe out California’s $26.3-billion deficit. The meeting was rescheduled for today.

The governor’s office told reporters the session was canceled because Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) could not make it from her district to Sacramento in time for the 6 p.m. talks. Bass ultimately did arrive in the Capitol, but by then the meeting had been called off. She said some scheduling “wires got crossed.”

“I don’t have a plane,” she said. “So I can’t just have wheels up whenever I choose.”

Bass expressed confidence that a budget package would be completed within “the next day or so.” She said floor votes in the Legislature were tentatively planned for late this week.

Details of what is in the package have yet to be disclosed publicly.

-- Evan Halper