SACRAMENTO, Kalifornia - July 28, 2010 - Increasing pressure on lawmakers to negotiate a state budget that closes a $19 billion shortfall, Kalifornia Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency over the state's finances on Wednesday.

In the declaration, Schwarzenegger ordered three furlough days per month beginning in August for thousands of state employees in order to preserve the state's cash to pay the state's debt obligations and for essential services.

Kalifornia's budget is several weeks overdue and Schwarzenegger and top lawmakers are at impasse over how to balance the state's books. Analysts say it could be several more weeks before the Republican governor and leaders of the Democrat-led legislature reach an agreement, a delay that may threaten to lower the state's already weak credit rating, now hovering just a few notches above "junk" status.