Sacramento  - With California facing a cash crunch, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday urged legislators to set aside partisan differences and forgo their salaries until passing a long- overdue plan to address the state's looming 40 billion dollar deficit.

The former action movie star was speaking at his annual state of the state address in which governors traditionally outline their policy priorities for the year ahead. But with the state set to run out of cash within a matter of weeks, Schwarzenegger declined to address anything but the financial crisis.

"I will talk about all these things, and more, as soon as we get the budget done," Schwarzenegger said. "When a budget agreement is reached, when some of the raw emotions have passed, I will send to the legislature the package of legislative goals and proposals that a governor traditionally sends.

California, the world's eighth largest economy, has been hard hit by the recession which has seen housing prices plunge and revenues dry up. Issuing state bonds is also tough given the paralysis in the credit markets, while attempts to bridge the gap through a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes have been stymied by Republican legislators who reject any new taxes.

Saying the deficit was "a rock upon our chest," Schwarzenegger called on legislators to forego their salaries and other paymemts until a budget agreement is reached. "If the people's work is not getting done, the people's representatives should not get paid, either." dpa