The governor has not yet called the special session, but both Democratic leaders said they were expecting it and would cooperate. The regular legislative session ends this week. "We're having good conversations," Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said after meeting with Schwarzenegger on Friday. "Health care is a very complex matter. We're doing the best we can to get an agreement." Democrats prepared for a vote as soon as today. The Democrats' bill would make employers offer insurance to their workers or pay into a state fund and expand public programs for the poor, to cover 4.1 million people. Schwarzenegger agrees that employers should pay something, but not as much as the Democrats have proposed.

The governor also insists that health insurance should be mandatory, which Democrats reject because it would hurt the working poor. Republican legislators said both proposals cost too much and are pledging to block anything with tax increases. On Friday, Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, of Clovis, released a fiscal analysis of the Democrats' bill drafted by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. The analysis warned of problems with the state-run insurance pool funded by employers that do not offer health plans to their workers.