CALIFORNIA’S BUDGET CRISIS EXPLAINED:

It looks like taxpayers will indeed be footing the overtime bill to get the new, $225 million Carquinez Bridge finished in time for Gov. Gray Davis to cut the ribbon before he leaves office.

More than a dozen construction workers were called out Saturday and Sunday to help finish the electrical and other work that needed to be done to meet the new Nov. 8 deadline, a week ahead of schedule, reliable sources say.

And workers are expected to be out on the bridge this weekend as well.

“It really fries my (behind),” one contractor on the job told us. “They’re literally spending tens of thousands of dollars on overtime they don’t have.”

Note to Brad DeLong: I don’t actually mean that this “literally” explains the California budget crisis, all by itself.