In a July Policy Brief we documented the date of gubernatorial signatures on budget legislation for the Pennsylvania fiscal year back to FY 2007-08.  Those dates were obtained by examining the legislative history of general fund budget legislation provided in the budget histories on the website of the Office of the Budget.

Two fiscal year budgets had stretched past July (the first month of each new fiscal year)–the FY 2015-16 budget, which was signed by the Governor on March 28th of 2016 (about three months prior to the start of the following fiscal year) and FY 2009-10 which was signed on October 9th, 2009.  By marking today’s date, October 10th, 2017, the FY 2017-18 budget has now surpassed that second runner up and stands behind only the FY 2015-16 budget in terms of length of time to approval.

The next step, as noted by the Governor last week, is to borrow against future anticipated payments of the Liquor Control Board, an idea that the Board appears to be open to exploring judging by a press release on the proposal.  In current statutory law there is an arrangement between the state stores fund and the general fund–whether this permits for a long-term securitization versus taking current revenues in the fund will no doubt be deliberated upon.