EDITORIAL : ANOTHER LOGJAM? STATE BUDGET DEBATE ILLUSTRATES FOLLY OF THE TWO-THIRDS RULE.

Based on the reaction Tuesday to Gov. Pete Wilson's updated state budget, it seems safe to predict that Sacramento faces another long, hot summer.

Predictably, Democrats in the Legislature objected to proposals by the Republican governor to cut state taxes and reduce some welfare programs, partly by making some previously approved temporary cuts permanent.

Moreover, some of the rosy revenue projections upon which the $63.3 billion budget is based might not materialize. For example, there is no assurance that Washington will come up with the $1.25 billion that Wilson is counting on to cover state costs in providing health care and other mandated services for illegal immigrants. Disagreements in the Legislature over whether Wilson's revenue figures are realistic might become the basis for another hang-up.

But the biggest hang-up of all is language in the state Constitution requiring that budgets be approved by two-thirds majorities by each house of the Legislature.

Since the Legislature is divided (the GOP controls the Assembly by a narrow margin, while the Democrats have a slim edge in the state Senate), no budget can be approved without broad bipartisan support. This may be sound in idealistic theory, but it isn't very practical in partisan practice.

The two-thirds rule doesn't encourage high-minded compromises. Instead, it gives holdouts more leverage than they deserve.

That was illustrated when Assembly Minority Leader Richard Katz, D-Panorama City, said that the Democratic caucus has decided not to participate in budget negotiations so long as the cut in income, corporation and banking taxes is on the table. Katz said that Democrats fear that public education would lose too much money if taxes are cut.

We have reservations about a tax cut, too. While we acknowledge that California taxes on business are high and a reduction might encourage more economic growth, we also are concerned that the proposed cut might not be prudent given all of the state's economic uncertainties.

Further, California counties, which provide a lot of vital state-mandated health and public-safety services, still are staggering from the blow they suffered several years ago when the Legislature took away more than $2 billion in county property taxes and used the money for education. Counties desperately need help if they are to avoid becoming more dysfunctional. (A good example of their plight is Los Angeles County's new downtown jail, which remains idle because Sheriff Sherman Block says he can't afford to operate it.)

The state Constitutional Revision Commission recently recommended, among other things, that the Legislature be allowed to pass a budget with simple majorities. What's happening (again) in Sacramento makes it clear that the commission's position is sound.