Here we are again. July. The annual observance is upon us.<\/p>\n
No. Not Independence Day. Less celebratory, possibly just as explosive.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania once more has seen the yearly state budget deadline \u2014 and blown past it like a reckless driver.<\/p>\n
Did anyone expect anything else? Hoped, sure, but expected? Doubtful. This is the fifth consecutive budget to miss deadline and the 15th in the past 23 years.<\/p>\n
That means the state is consistently delinquent in its obligations: to its residents, to county and local governments and to its own agencies.<\/p>\n
In 2025, the budget was 135 days late. That\u2019s more than four months of funding that was delayed and services that were threatened. School districts and counties borrowed money to make up for what they weren\u2019t receiving. Some agencies cut hours. Others furloughed employees.<\/p>\n
When lawmakers and the governor fail to agree on a budget, it is not like being late filing your income taxes or putting off paying your water bill. The implications are broad.<\/p>\n
And, like a late credit card payment, a delayed budget has costs that add up, both for the state and those it funds. Ultimately, all of those costs fall on the taxpayer. For our state lawmakers, failing to do the job is not a victimless crime.<\/p>\n
Ideally, the budget should never be in a position where it comes down to the final hours on June 30 to see if it passes or not. It should be settled well in advance. The deadline is the last possible minute it should pass.<\/p>\n
Like a student\u2019s term paper, the work should be done and turned in before it\u2019s due, not scrawled out on the bus and turned in a week \u2014 or several months \u2014 late.<\/p>\n
At this point, the more relevant question isn\u2019t \u201cWhy is the state budget always late?\u201d It\u2019s \u201cWhy do we have a budget deadline at all?\u201d It means nothing.<\/p>\n
Perhaps if lawmakers can\u2019t agree on a budget, they should at least agree to change the rules and eliminate a deadline they habitually ignore.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot of work. It would require meetings and negotiating and, ultimately, voting to solidify a decision.<\/p>\n
But then again, if the leaders in Harrisburg were capable of doing those things, the budget could get passed in a timely fashion.<\/p>\n
Clearly, that\u2019s not possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here we are again. July. The annual observance is upon us. No. Not Independence Day. Less celebratory, possibly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-233852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}