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Albany, NY - While New York State Senate Democrats have reached a power-sharing deal between Senator Malcolm Smith and Senator John Sampson, after Senator Hiram Monserrate returned to support the party, the battle with the GOP over Senate leadership continues.

The deal allows Smith to retain his title of Senate majority leader/president pro temp, while Sampson will take on the role of conference leader.

Sampson said he is ready to work with Republicans to put the Senate back to work.

Standing alongside the senators during the announcement was State Senator Hiram Monserrate, who said earlier today that he would once again throw his support behind his fellow Democrats.

Last week, he joined with Democrat Pedro Espada Jr. to throw their support behind a GOP-led coalition, tipping the balance of power in the Senate.

With Espada remaining with the GOP, the Senate is deadlocked at 31-31 - throwing into further doubt the already murky question of who's in charge.

This is all the more complicated because there is no lieutenant governor, who would typically break the tie.

Governor David Paterson set a deadline of 1 p.m. for a deal to be reached. Without the agreement, Paterson is calling a leaders' meeting in his office later this afternoon to forge an agreement.

"Under the circumstances of a 31-31 tie, nobody is going to have a quorum to begin this session at any moment so there much be a power sharing agreement for the Senate to operate," said Malcolm Smith's attorney, Richard Emery. "That requires at lot of negotiation, a lot of give and take between the parties, and hopefully that's what's about to happen. The judge is looking forward to seeing progress on that front."

After meeting in chambers with both parties in the Senate dispute and Gov. Paterson’s counsel, acting Supreme Court Justice Thomas McNamara has given the parties until 10 a.m. Tuesday to reach a power-sharing agreement — and he’s made it clear that he’s unlikely to grant them any time beyond that.

Paterson has called a leaders meeting for 3 p.m.

“Please resolve this without the necessity of court intervention,” he said in court.

“I urge you in the strongest way I can … you’ve got to work this out yourselves,” said McNamara, who noted that the state “can’t let it go on forever.”