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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 26, 2017 02:17 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Andrew E. Dinniman |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Budget Impasse Legislation |
| As we near the June 30 budget deadline, I will soon introduce legislation requiring the legislature to pass a complete budget, including both a spending and revenue plan by July 1. Year after year, the legislature either fails to meet its constitutional obligation to pass a budget by July 1 or passes a spending plan at the eleventh hour and then delays any decisions on revenue for weeks or months at a time. My bill calls for the legislature to pass a complete budget, including appropriations bills and sufficient revenue to fund them, by July 1. If a complete budget is not passed and enacted by July 1, it requires the legislature to remain in continuous session, meeting every day without leave, without pay, without reimbursements, and without per diems. The same goes for the governor, his senior staff and cabinet members. In addition to requiring legislators and the governor to forfeit their salaries and reimbursement payments, my bill requires any meetings between legislative leaders and the governor during a budget impasse be open to the public. There is no question that entering a fiscal year without a complete budget has potentially disastrous and widespread impacts. When budgets run late or are incomplete, the legislature, the governor and the cabinet – not the people – should face the consequences of not fulfilling its constitutional obligation. |
Introduced as SB830