AP News, July 8th, 2007
Pennsylvanians will be unable to take a driver's license test, visit a state-run museum or place a casino bet starting Monday unless an 11th-hour breakthrough ends a budget stalemate that threatens a partial government shutdown.
If Sunday ends without a compromise between Gov. Ed Rendell and the Legislature, 24,000 state workers whose jobs are not deemed to be essential to health and safety will be furloughed without pay at 12:01 a.m. Monday. Critical services _ such as health care, state police patrols and prisons _ would still be maintained.
At Gifford Pinchot State Park in Lewisberry, 70-year-old retiree Janice Sorgen and her family are among those who will have to vacate the park's 10 cabins and 100 camping spots first thing Monday morning if a deal is not reached.
"To do it in this manner is ridiculous," said Sorgen, who drove 500 miles from Fort Wayne, Ind., for a family vacation. "They can just pay us for driving down here and driving back."
Refunds are available to people who request them, said park manager Bill Rosevear.
The state remained without a budget for an eighth day as a battle of wills dragged on between Rendell, a Democrat, and Republicans in control of the state Senate.
High-level negotiations were being conducted by telephone even as state lawmakers began arriving at the Capitol on Sunday afternoon. A spokesman for House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese said "shuttle diplomacy" was going on among his caucus, Senate Republicans and Rendell's office.
"Right now there's a 50-50 chance that enough progress will be made to avoid the Monday furloughs," spokesman Tom Andrews said.
Rendell spokesman Doug Rohanna said the governor had not determined what time Sunday he would announce whether furloughs and a partial shutdown would occur.
One Republican senator said he believed an agreement on the $27 billion budget was near. But disagreements remain over the governor's other priorities, including an energy plan that Rendell has insisted the Legislature approve before he signs the budget, said Sen. Gibson E. Armstrong.
"The budget is not the sticking point," he said.
Rendell's energy plan would place a surcharge on electricity use for a fund for alternative energy programs and electricity conservation.
Both chambers of the Legislature convened in the late afternoon.
A legal effort by state employees' unions to put furloughs on hold failed Saturday, but a hearing was scheduled for Monday.
A judge was expected to rule later Sunday on a request by Pennsylvania's five slot-machine casinos to prevent the state from shutting them down.
