SPRINGFIELD - Today marks the day the state's stopgap budget is set to run out, and lawmakers don't appear poised to approve another one before Wednesday.

"Tomorrow's not a pressure point," said House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego.

Comptroller Dan Hynes says the absence of a spending plan doesn't have to mean prisons, universities and state parks will close immediately.

He says Aug. 8 is the key date. That's when Hynes says he needs to know the spending plan so he can get money to schools and make the state's payroll.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Monday that the state has a backup plan, but didn't elaborate.

"We're prepared to meet whatever contingency is necessary," he said.

Aug. 8 is also the date House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has set for a special hearing on education, indicating that he might believe lawmakers could still be working on a budget then.

Blagojevich said the deadline shouldn't be an issue. He wants lawmakers to approve another one-month budget so the state can continue to pay its bills.

"I see the glass as half full," Blagojevich said. He added about Madigan: "Evidently, he sees it as half empty."

Legislative leaders say they're not interested in another stopgap spending plan for the state. They continued a recent trend Monday of meeting without Blagojevich to continue trying to work out a deal.

Hynes wants them to all sign an agreement to finish by Aug. 8, a move he says would better assure that state workers would get paid on time for the work they do in the first days of the coming month.

Hynes took reporters' questions Monday, saying he wanted to ease the idea that state government would cease to function Wednesday. That situation made waves in Pennsylvania earlier this year, when a one-day government shutdown furloughed 24,000 workers.

Hynes said a similar situation probably isn't imminent, yet, but said non-essential services might suffer if lawmakers go past Aug. 8 without a budget.

Among the possibilities are problems with the state fair, which is set to open Aug. 10, two days after the deadline Hynes has set.

"The state fair is definitely an open question as well," he said.

mike.riopell@lee.net / (217) 789-0865@lee.net / (217) 789-0865