The state budget has been passed by both the House and Senate.
Lawmakers made it official.
And so did Governor Tom Corbett when he signed on the dotted line shortly after 10 on Sunday night.
While the budget process really was a waiting game, many didn’t expect the House to pass the budget so early into the evening.
As discussions continued, many democratic representatives spoke out in opposition of the budget and what it entails.
While obviously the vote wasn’t split down the middle, legislators still plan on focusing attention to these highly debated topics even though the state now has a plan going forward.
A $28.37 billion dollar budget bill which raises spending by 2.3 percent sat on the desks of each state representatives.
Although not all concur, state leaders say the current plan gets the job done.
“There’s a lot of good in the budget,” says Democratic Sen. Rob Teplitz.
Democrats complain education funding is weak.
“At the end of the day not enough money invested in public education,” says Teplitz.
“I think this is a very good budget for education of course people can complain the bottom line is 100 million more dollars in funding for k-12,” says Republican Rep. Sheryl Delozier.
Although the legislature goes into recess after the budget was signed, these hot button issues don’t die as of midnight.
“It would’ve been nice to get done this week but we’ve been under this system for about 80 years if it takes a couple more months that’s fine we’ll continue to work on it,” says Republican Sen. Jake Corman.
Emotional discussion was more directed towards transportation funding.
The right blames the left for holding the bill hostage and forgoing negotiations.
There’s many projects across our state that need to get done,” says Delozier.
Liquor privatization weighs heavily as state employed workers swarmed the Capitol lobby this evening waiting for answers.
“It’s something that would be good for the entire state those are the types of big wins we should be getting for the state of PA and not fighting these decisive ideological fights like liquor,” says Teplitz.
“48 other states have been able to accomplish this I think Pennsylvania should be able to accomplish this,” says Delozier.
Had the budget not passed this evening Delozier says some state employees may have been the victim of furloughs.
As Governor Corbett signed the budget he said, “we are making progress, we are moving forward.”