California ? California legislative leaders on Tuesday made what they hoped would be a last push for one more Republican to support their $42 billion budget fix, warning of fiscal disaster if none of the holdouts puts aside opposition to tax increases.

The leader of the state Senate said the chamber would remain in continuous session until the legislation is passed. Meanwhile, state officials were sending out layoff notices and ordered the shutdown of hundreds of public works projects employing nearly 92,000 construction workers.

Tax revenues have plunged by billions of dollars as the recession clobbers California, leaving the state without sufficient cash to pay its bills. The remedy offered by the governor and lawmakers is to reopen the budget in the middle of the fiscal year, enact deep cuts and tax increases, and work out a fix that will cover the state’s spending through June 2010.