Pa. budget deadline looming but missing the mark is hardly unprecedented

Jun. 23—HARRISBURG — The final day of June arrives next Friday and with that comes the statutory deadline for state lawmakers and the governor to enact a budget into law for the new fiscal year on July 1.

It's increasingly likely that the deadline won't be met.

Republicans in both chambers balked at Gov. Josh Shapiro's budget proposal that tops $45 billion when adding in spending on state police. They raised concerns over spending increases, proposed at 8% over the current budget, and a projected structural deficit that the Independent Fiscal Office estimates could reach $12 billion in five years.

That was before House Democrats moved a budget bill of their own to the state Senate, one exceeding $46 billion, behind a 102-101 party-line vote.

Democrats point to Pennsylvania's healthy fiscal reserves that when combined, top at least $10 billion. They've prioritized spending even more on public education and school infrastructure, home repairs and tax credits for workforce development and the working class.

This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted along party lines to amend the House Democrats' bill and revert proposed spending to the current budget level — a procedural move as budget negotiations continue.

Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Armstrong/Indiana/Jefferson/Westmoreland, has publicly shrugged at the prospect of missing the deadline, focusing rather on passing a "responsible" budget.

House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, warned during floor debate this week of it being all but an eventuality. He called for bipartisan negotiations the week prior as the deadline approached.

"We are one reasonable Democrat away from being able to finish this process," Cutler said at the time.

House Majority Leader Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery, retorted that he "had good news" for Cutler, that the House passed a budget proposal "without a single reasonable Republican vote."

"There is only one body and one party that has yet to engage with budget discussions," Bradford said of House Republicans.

Missing the budget deadline isn't unusual. Lawmakers missed the cut last year by eight days.

The state experienced months-long budget impasses under former Gov. Tom Wolf in 2015 and 2017. In all, a state budget was enacted by June 30 three times in eight years with Wolf as governor and Republicans in control of both chambers of the General Assembly.

Former Gov. Tom Corbett's last budget in 2014 came 10 days late while the prior three met the deadline. The executive and legislative branches were under Republican control throughout this period.

A budget never met the deadline under former Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat. It was late in each of his eight years including his final four-year term when Democrats controlled the state House.

The state doesn't shut down without a budget. Employees are paid, prescription and medical assistance programs continue, public benefits programs are maintained and pension programs carry on — that is, core areas of protecting health and public safety are uninterrupted.

A fact sheet dating to the Wolf administration does show that payments to vendors and grant recipients would be delayed as would state funding for public schools. That occurred in the 2017 impasse, which put school districts in the position of delaying bill payments and managing expenses within their own reserves.