State Lawmakers & Workers Continue To Get Paid During Budget Impasse

Agencies that provide help to victims of domestic violence, school districts, mental health agencies and child welfare services are all feeling the pinch of receiving no state funding since Pennsylvania’s budget impasse began at midnight on July 1.

Months later and some progress in Harrisburg is being made, but no deal to pass a budget has been approved by all sides.

One group is still unaffected: lawmakers and state workers.

A 2009 Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling makes certain state workers are paid in a timely manner, even if there is not a state budget in place. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, ruling on a 2007 incident where more than 20,000 state workers were furloughed for one day due to a budget impasse, didn’t agree with then-Gov. Ed Rendell and ruled that a federal guidelines that stated workers had to be paid on time trumped the state’s squabble over a spending plan.

The lawsuit that made it to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was filed by unions that represent state workers. The lawsuit argued that Rendell’s administration was wrong to withhold pay to all “noncritical” employees.

During the ugly 2009 budget impasse, state workers received IOUs instead of regular paychecks until a budget impasse was solved. Rendell said the budget impasse did not allow money to leave the state treasury.

The lack of paychecks led some state works to have to borrow money and go to food banks once they ran out of money.

During a budget impasse in 1977, some state workers reportedly called out sick after not receiving their pay. A temporary deal that included payment for state workers was reached shortly after.

In the state House and Senate, lawmakers are still receiving their salaries, which averages roughly $85,000. However, some have decided to decline their paychecks and withhold getting them until the budget impasse is over.

In late summer, Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster gauged Pennsylvanians about the issue of lawmakers getting paid while deadlocked in a budget impasse. The poll found 64 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of Republicans and 68 percent of independents were supportive of lawmakers not getting paid during the budget impasse.

While there were some proposals for a law barring legislators to collect their paychecks during a budget impasse, they did not gain much traction in the capitol.