July 1st, 2009

Well, it’s here — the day the state budget is due, yet the budget is unsurprisingly not.  Last night legislative leaders and key staff members spent about 5 hours at the governor’s mansion going line by line through the second half of the budget. 

Those that were in the meeting say a lot of time was spent going over items in the Dept. of Welfare’s budget.  While some concessions were made, the parties did not arrive at a deal — and so the negotiations continue.  No budget meeting is set for today, however.

In the news:

In The Patriot-News: State employees brace for the worst by saving money to pay their bills while going unpaid.

State budget cut-backs could hurt at the county level, says The Morning Call.

Columnist John Baer’s thoughts on the king-less budget process.

Eric Heyl from the Trib-Review thinks that the lack of budget again shows incompetence of the governor and the Legislature.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi writes about the need to pass a budget without a tax hike in The Patriot-News. 

Read more about the budget, or lack thereof, in the Inquirer, The Tribune Democrat,  the Altoona Mirror and the Intelligencer Journal.