There’s a new round of drama in Albany.

New York State Governor David Paterson and fellow lawmakers have crucial decisions to make on a number of issues. The most pressing of which is a crushing deficit.

Paterson is expected to deliver a blunt, urgent financial message to New York State legislators: that the Empire State is in danger of becoming the next California.

“We have a very prohibitive amount of debt that we have to pay in December with increasingly depleted resources,” said Paterson on November 5.

The prospect of New York not being able to pay its bills stems from a budget deficit that analysts say could reach $10 billion by next year, without immediate action.

The bottom line: the state is being crushed by an increasingly heavy debt load.

“We are now over $400 billion behind where we were at the same time last year. So we cannot afford not to make these payments,” added Paterson.

But lawmakers have not warmed up to the governor’s plan to cut billions from healthcare and education.

Last week, Senate Democrats even made plans to boycott Monday’s session, calling it a “photo op,” before reversing their position.

Senate Majority spokesman Austin Shafran said Friday the senators will be there.

The announcement came after Sens. David Valesky in central New York and Neil Breslin in Albany County said they would attend the speech intended to galvanize support for addressing the state’s budget deficits.

“We’ve got to get a smart deficit reduction package that spreads the pain evenly and gets this budget back into balance,” said Valesky.

Monday’s joint session will be followed by an extraordinary session on Tuesday. The governor is calling on legislators to act not only on the budget, but several other issues, including same-gender marriage. But Senator Malcolm Smith isn’t making any promises.

“I don’t assure that we have the votes there, as I’ve said in the past. But it’s going to go on the floor if he puts it on there, and he’ll vote it up or down,” said Smith.

(Source: WCBSTV)