Pennsylvania to Begin Fiscal Year Without a Budget

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s new fiscal year will begin without a state budget in place, as Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration and top Republican lawmakers planned to work through the deadline to hammer out a roughly $42 billion spending plan whose details were still largely being kept secret. As of Thursday, negotiators had yet to fully brief rank-and-file lawmakers or publish the details of budget-related legislation. Without a new budget signed into law by Friday, the state will lose the authority to make some payments. Negotiations in closed-door talks revolve around a substantial amount of new aid for public schools and various concessions by the Democratic governor to Republican lawmakers who control the Legislature.