This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania hasn’t had a full spending plan for more than eight months, and top lawmakers haven’t had a budget meeting with Gov. Wolf’s administration this year, the House Appropriations Committee chairman said Thursday.
"We haven’t met since December," said Rep. Bill Adolph, R-Delaware. "And we should have been."
In December, Wolf partially rejected a Republican-crafted spending plan sent to his desk right before the holidays. The vetoed funding for corrections, schools, agriculture, and other programs has prompted recriminations from both sides of the aisle, as well as a number of legal quandaries.
The state Treasury is advancing unauthorized funds to the state prison system in an effort to protect the safety of the commonwealth. This week, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association asked a state court to force state funding to flow to schools over and above what is in the budget approved by the governor.