State Senate President Darrell Steinberg says a special election would have to be held to replace /*Maldonado*/ as state senator, and that could cost $2 million. Steinberg says the state cannot afford it.
Maldonado represents an area stretching from Santa Barbara to Santa Clara County.
Steinberg says he worries about filling the lieutenant governor's job with any elected official.
The seat opened up when /*John Garamendi*/ was elected to Congress for the East Bay congressional seat vacated by Ellen Tauscher.
