The battle between California State Controller, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the state legislature that has state workers caught in the middle continues to heat up. Jesse Russell reports:

Last week California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger slashed the wages of some 235,000 state workers to the federal minimum because the state legislature is eight weeks overdue in passing the state budget. Schwarzenegger said the state needed to cut the wages in order to save money, but on Wednesday state controller, John Chiang said the state, even with the full worker wages, has enough money to make it until October. The Governor’s administration has expressed concern over the new numbers coming out of the controller’s office and is examining them carefully. Chiang had previously said he will not follow through with the executive order. The Department of Personnel Administration sent a letter to Chiang on Tuesday with the names of 48,000 workers who will not have wages cut because they are deemed “essential.” Those workers include firefighters, state police, water resource workers, and military officers, among others. A number of other professionals, including lawyers and doctors, will receive no pay because there are no wage protections under state law that say they should receive the minimum wage.