In addition to the traditional pomp and circumstance surrounding the opening of the state Legislature, all ears will be tuned today to what promises to be a sobering presentation by the state budget director.

Georgina Kawamura will speak this afternoon at an informational briefing with the state House Finance Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The briefing, scheduled for 3 p.m., will come after the traditional chants and music of the morning have faded from the state Capitol.

With plummeting visitor arrivals and dwindling state tax revenue, Gov. Linda Lingle and state lawmakers will be looking for ways to balance the budget.

"This shortfall is the greatest one we've had to wrestle with. I can't recall in my 14 years seeing a deficit of this magnitude in this short period of time," said state Rep. Marcus Oshiro, D-39th (Wahiawa), chairman of the House Finance Committee. "This is an opportunity to be bold, courageous and innovative, to consider all opportunity for revenue generation and expenditure reduction."

The Lingle administration, as the result of a downgraded revenue forecast, is expected to recommend how to fill a $125 million hole in the budget for the 2009 fiscal year that ends in June. The lower revenue forecast also means lawmakers will have to consider spending cuts that go substantially beyond what the governor proposed in her budget for fiscal years 2010 and 2011.

Lingle's proposed operating budget is more than $11 billion for each fiscal year in the two-year budget, about half of which involves general-fund spending that depends on state revenue collections.

The governor has already made $221 million in spending cuts this fiscal year and has asked lawmakers to transfer $40 million from the state's rainy day fund to close the deficit.

The Republican governor has indicated a need to bridge partisan divides to navigate the economic turmoil spurred by the global recession.

State Sen. Shan Tsutsui, D-4th (Kahului), vice chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said dipping further into special funds and other alternatives has been discussed.

"It's going to take more than the executive and legislative branch to figure this thing out," he said.