Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order today creating a bipartisan “Commission on the 21st Century Economy” to “re-examine and modernize California’s out-of-date revenue laws that contribute to our feast-or-famine state budget cycles.”

The 12-member panel — six appointed by the governor, three each by the Assembly Speaker and State Senate President Pro Tem — is supposed to report by April 15 on “changes that will result in a revenue stream that is more stable and reflective of our economy,” according to the news release from the governor’s office.

“Unlike our diverse economy, our state’s revenue system is the epitome of boom or bust and right now we are paying the price,” Schwarzenegger said in this release. “That is why I have worked with the legislative leaders to find a long-term solution to our revenue problem. And today, I am signing an executive order creating a bipartisan Commission on the 21st Century Economy to study our revenue system and help California achieve the long-term fiscal stability our state needs and our people deserve.”

Said soon-to-be-gone Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland: “California’s tax system is antiquated and long overdue for an overhaul. Our state is one of the most advanced economies of the 21st century, but it relies upon an outdated and volatile tax model that no longer makes sense. This commission will examine how to best capture revenue in California’s dynamic economy and put the state’s finances on the stable and sound footing needed to remain a global leader.”

And Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, said, “Keeping California competitive in a global economy is the key to a strong and healthy state budget. I applaud the Governor for working with legislative leaders to address California’s broken budget system and I look forward to reviewing revenue-neutral recommendations from the commission, not just on fixing our revenue system, but also on how the state can adjust its spending levels to come into alignment with revenues.”

But isn’t it the Legislature’s job to be the stewards of California’s long-term fiscal well-being? We wouldn’t need a blue-ribbon commission if our lawmakers weren’t so intransigent, so apt to put ideology over reality. It’s abundantly clear that California doesn’t take in enough money to meet its needs for schools, prisons, health care and the like; we can’t keep cutting our way out of the problem, and claiming that we can is ludicrously irresponsible.

Yet even after the absurd standoff this summer and the resultant massive crap-heap that’s now masquerading as a state budget, it seems lawmakers still aren’t willing or able to do what must be done on their own.

Maybe this commission is meant to give some political cover to lawmakers who still feel their careers are endangered by doing the right thing for California. If so, whatever; just get it done.

But if this turns out to be (to borrow from the words of REM) “a way to talk around the problem,” and we’re still having the same tired ideological debate after this commission’s report has come and gone, it oughta be clobberin’ time for this Legislature. It’ll be a pretty compelling argument for doing away with the constitutional requirement that budget and tax bills need a two-thirds majority in each legislative chamber, a requirement so awesomely effective at bollixing up the works that it exists only in California, Arkansas and Rhode Island.

State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, has just announced that he and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, will hold a news conference Wednesday morning to roll out their Conference Committee budget agreement.

Perata’s office said the plan rejects Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed deep cuts in education and health care and includes $9.7 billion in new revenue by raising taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents and closing corporate tax loopholes; that’s $1.8 billion lower than what the Senate recommended and $2.7 billion more in new revenue than what the Governor proposed.

On the spending side, this budget:

On the revenue side, this plan:

Perata’s release notes the state has cut $12.3 billion during the last three budgets, meaning “the fat is long gone, that a cuts-only approach would go deep into the bone of what the state provides. There is no free lunch: Quality education, health care, fire protection and law enforcement all require additional revenue.”

In other words, “Perata and Bass to Cogdill and Villines: GAME ON!”

UPDATE @ 1:48 P.M. WEDNESDAY: Here’s video of this morning’s news conference…