The state officially has a budget.
The $31.5 billion spending plan went into effect at midnight on Monday, without Governor Tom Wolf’s signature. But negotiations still aren’t finished on the revenue plan to back it up.
Deadline notwithstanding, lawmakers did seem to have a productive day of talks on the spending plan.
Senate GOP spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher called the progress “encouraging.” She said it seems likely a vote could come soon.
“Because of what came out of today’s meeting as far as everyone feeling good about the direction of talks, we decided to keep our members around for another day,” she said.
House Majority Leader, Republican Dave Reed, said the next 24 hours will be crucial.
However, one conservative contingent in the House was not happy with the progress.
A group of 20 Republican members signed a letter to the governor saying he could not let the unbalanced budget slide into law.
Representative Seth Grove of York County spearheaded the action.
“Based on the constitution and the statutory guidelines, the governor has to balance the budget,” Grove said. “It’s not a passive act like he’s portraying it to be. He has to go back and reduce line items to match the actual expenditures.”
Grove said some Representatives are looking into legal action against the governor.
Wolf’s spokesman said it’s not the governor’s legal responsibility to balance the budget, and that the duty actually falls to the General Assembly.
