Dozen lawmakers say they won’t take pay until state has budget

As Pennsylvania is about to enter a second month without a state budget in place, a dozen state lawmakers have adopted a “no budget, no pay” stance when it comes to their paycheck.

The bipartisan collection of longtime and freshmen rankand-file lawmakers requested a suspension of their $8,570 monthly pay for July and several signaled their intent to not accept a paycheck until the 2023-24 budget gets done.

While efforts to finalize a budget are in a holding pattern, legislative reserve accounts are being tapped to pay lawmakers who choose to continue accepting their paychecks. The reserve accounts reached a record high $261 million as of June 30, 2022, the most recent information available.

As of this week, no senator has asked for their pay to be suspended, according to information provided by the Senate chief clerk’s office.

In the House, the lawmakers who chose to have at least their July pay suspended include Republican Reps. Jill Cooper of Westmoreland County, Jamie Flick of Lycoming County, Joe Hogan of Bucks County, Tom Jones of Lancaster County, Brett Miller of Lancaster County, and Leslie Rossi of Westmoreland County.

The Democrats who asked for their July pay to be withheld are Reps. Tim Brennan of Bucks County, Frank Burns of Cambria County, Abigail Salisbury of Allegheny County, Christina Sappey of Chester County, Melissa Shusterman of Chester County and Perry Warren of Bucks County.

A freshman lawmaker, Cooper’s pay refusal is in keeping with legislation she is proposing that would suspend the pay of lawmakers as well as the governor and lieutenant governor during a budget impasse.

“One of the most important jobs of the General Assembly is annually adopting a budget,” she said in a memo to her House colleagues. “When the budget is not enacted in a timely manner, many payments to counties, school districts, service providers and nonprofits, to name a few, are not timely made and many important programs may be interrupted.”

Suspending these state officials’ pay, she said would puts them on equal footing with those who depend on state dollars to operate.

The budget bill has passed both legislative chambers and only awaits the Senate to schedule a session day so Lt. Gov. Austin Davis can fulfill his constitutional obligation of signing the bill in the presence of the Senate so it can be delivered to Gov. Josh Shapiro. Shapiro has said he would sign it.

During an event in Erie earlier this week, Shapiro said he is urging Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland County, to “come back and do its simple job. By the way, it’ll take literally one minute for them to hand me the bill.”

Ward said recently on during WHTM’s “This Week in Pennsylvania” that she expects the budget bill will be signed at some point in August. Additionally, the budget work requires at least one “code” or budget-related bill that must be passed by both chambers to implement certain programs funded in the budget bill.

In the meantime Burns, an eight-term incumbent, said he refuses to accept a paycheck as long as the impasse lasts in keeping with a practice he first adopted in 2009 when state employees were not getting paid. A subsequent Supreme Court ruling that year added state employee paychecks to the list of items that the state must pay.

Burns, who said he has no other source of income, isn’t critical of his colleagues who are accepting their paychecks.

“It’s not something everyone can do if they have a family,” he said. “I’m not saying I’m more noble than they are for not taking a paycheck. It’s just something I first started and I continue to do it. I don’t view it as a big deal.”

Flick, who is backing Cooper’s proposed pay suspension bill, said his decision to suspend his pay is rooted in his experience as the owner of a health and human service software company that has felt the impact of past budget impasses. Because his company works with counties and agencies that had revenue streams disrupted during those impasses, it forced him to go without pay and consider cutting hours for employees.

“This is not how our state should operate,” Flick said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Perry Stambaugh, R-Perry County, stands among the majority of lawmakers who chose to continue to be paid.

“Keep in mind it is not the House Republican Caucus that has caused the budget impasse,” said Stambaugh, who noted he refuses other perks available to lawmakers.

He blamed the budget hold-up on poor legislative calendar management by House Democrats and Gov. Josh Shapiro’s “head-scratching turnaround” on a limited school voucher program.

Stambaugh is referring to Shapiro’s support for including $100 million in the budget for the Senate-passed voucher proposal that lasted until the House Democratic majority voiced its objections to it. Given the chambers’ differences, Shapiro said rather than put the state into “a painful, protracted budget impasse,” he would veto the money in the budget earmarked for that school choice program, angering Senate and House Republicans.

Beyond assigning fault for the impasse, Stambaugh pointed out the state has blown past the June 30 deadline for passing a budget more often in the past 20 years than it delivered an on-time budget.

“With all of the major problems facing Pennsylvania, these annual budget follies are growing tiresome,” he said. “The General Assembly simply has to do better.”