Lawmakers called to Capitol for weekend work with budget 11 days late

Democratic Rep. Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz of Berks County said she felt a lot of uncertainty as she prepared to head to Harrisburg. The fourth-year lawmaker said there were major "combative" issues in play in each of her first three years. This time around, she said, it seemed unclear why the private budget negotiations between top state political leaders went beyond the established June 30 deadline.

Republican Rep. Scott Barger of Blair County said most people would have loved to have made the deadline. Nonetheless, he said, "A couple of weeks late is acceptable if the product is good."

It is the fifth year in a row state leaders have failed to meet the deadline. Last year, they were 135 days late, causing billions of dollars in state payments to be withheld. There were furloughs, program cuts, and millions of dollars in lost interest among county governments.

Among major issues in play this year are funding a tax credit program that pays for scholarships that let children attend private schools; continuation of a multi-year effort to bolster "adequacy" funding for school districts following a landmark 2023 court decision; regulation and taxing of an estimated 70,000 so-called "skill games" around the state; and calls for a comprehensive plan to fund public transit.

To produce a complete state budget package, a General Fund appropriations bill must pass both chambers and be signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro, and the same must happen with a series of lengthy "code bills" that essentially lay out details of how the money in the appropriations bill is to be spent. In some years, an appropriations bill has been approved but one or more code bills have gone unfinished for weeks or months, holding up state payments in at least some categories.

Cepeda-Freytiz blamed the Republican-led Senate for what she felt was a confusing schedule. The chamber held a voting session on June 30, the final day of the fiscal year, and then left Harrisburg until its anticipated return on Saturday.

"I am not certain why there was a delay," she said.

The state is running a deficit in excess of $4 billion but has $7.7 billion stashed in its Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund, better known as the "Rainy Day Fund." Barger was among 40-plus Republican lawmakers who earlier this year signed a vow to shun any budget deal that involved tapping the Rainy Day Fund for purposes other than emergency spending or returning the money to taxpayers.

Barger said protecting the fund was his top priority in this year's budget process.