ALBANY — Gov. Paterson and state lawmakers were in tense talks last night in yet another attempt to reach agreement on the governor’s plan to slash state spending by $3.2 billion in order to prevent the state from running out of cash.

The talks kicked off a third week of special legislative sessions called by Paterson that have so far failed to address the state’s enormous fiscal problems as lawmakers resist efforts to cut education and health care by $1 billion.