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Pennsylvania lawmakers are now nearly two months behind in passing a state budget, but the commonwealth isn’t grinding to a halt. State employees are still on the job, drivers can still renew their licenses and schools will still open this week.
At the federal level, Congress must pass funding bills to keep agencies open. If they don’t, the government shuts down. That’s also the case in many other states, like New Jersey, which shut down for three days in 2017. That led to the closing of state parks and beaches, as well as images of then-Gov. Chris Christie controversially enjoying an empty beach with his family. In Delaware, the legislature has become known for last-minute, late-night marathons to pass a budget before a shutdown in state services would take effect, potentially causing instant upheaval.
But Pennsylvania works differently and, as the debate rages on about how the state will or will not spend money to rescue SEPTA from its $213 million financial shortfall, the government largely continues to run as normal otherwise.
While the state Constitution requires a budget to be enacted by June 30 each year, the absence of a spending plan does not automatically shutter government operations as most of the core functions of government continue automatically. State parks are still open to the public, prisons continue operating and PennDOT stays in business.
“Pennsylvania can keep muddling through because they have a unique mix of constitutional and statutory exceptions as well as a layer of court rulings that facilitate the continued payment of certain state services,” said Bernie Gallagher, executive director at Keystone Research.
For example, in two lawsuits — Council 13, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees v. Casey of 1993 and Council 13, AFSCME v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania of 2009 — the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the state had to pay its employees who were already working, even if a budget wasn’t in place. That means they are not furloughed like federal employees. That also means much of the state government continues to operate.
Essential services must continue
State law also authorizes the state to pay for essential services, so called “Ledger 5 expenditures,” such as the completion of infrastructure projects already underway and payments required under federal law like unemployment compensation, Medicaid and Medicare disbursements and other federal aid programs.
And there’s still a flow of money. Although there isn’t a budget, taxes and fees are still being collected, so the state coffers continue to have liquidity that helps pay for government expenses deemed too important to stop.
“There’s obviously a big uptick when personal income taxes are due but, on an otherwise rolling basis, payments are being made,” Gallagher said.
Since most things continue to work, most people don’t even realize that there’s anything even wrong, reducing the pressure on Harrisburg even further, said Sam Chen, a political strategist who worked for former Gov. Tom Corbett, among other prominent Pennsylvania politicians.
“It’s so inside baseball; it’s not an issue that sits on voters’ minds,” Chen told WHYY News. “People like me who are in the business think not having a budget is an awful thing, but nine out of 10 people you talk to aren’t even going to realize that we’re past deadline.”
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