Governor Jerry Brown had set a Thursday deadline for a budget deal so that he could put a group of tax extensions to voters in a June special election.  But the Governor now says he'll need a few more days:

"We lack Republican votes to put this matter before the people."

A group of five Republican lawmakers who'd been meeting with the Governor about the budget have sent him a letter stating that they've reached an impasse.  The lawmakers said they were disappointed that the reforms they sought to pensions and the budget were rejected or watered down.  Brown says he's still open to GOP ideas - and hinted that he'd help lawmakers out in the future if they put up the votes for his tax extension:

"Look, with the open primary, there will be more independents and democrats voting in the republican primary and I would certainly want to help anybody who helps the state of California."

Meantime, another Republican responded to Brown's call for big ideas by proposing the state shift responsibility for transportation projects from Caltrans to local governments.  Senator Joel Anderson:

"Unless we can prove that we can be good stewards with the taxpayers' money, it doesn't matter where the talks are going, because the voters aren't going to follow."