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<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) &#8212; Tax increase proposals drew most of the attention when the state Senate approved a package of legislation late last month designed to bring Pennsylvania&#8217;s budget stalemate to an end, but lawmakers also tacked on a provision that would give them more leverage during any future standoff with the governor.</p><p>The bill that passed comfortably and was sent over to the House would enshrine into law the power to take the type of actions made by lawmakers during a standoff two years ago, by giving them explicit power to borrow money to pay salary, benefits and bills if their reserves run dry during drawn-out budget negotiations.</p><p>The proposed changes to the Fiscal Code, long used as a catch-all for budget-related items, said money &#8220;available&#8221; to the House or Senate through &#8220;a short-term agreement or other instrument executed with a lending institution&#8221; would be considered &#8220;augmenting revenues&#8221; and could be used to pay bills and fund paychecks for lawmakers their staff.</p><p>The borrowed money would be deposited with the Treasury Department, which would then use it to fund the Legislature&#8217;s costs. It would be paid back once a deal is done.</p><p>It&#8217;s a provision, said Senate Republican lawyer Drew Crompton, they hope will not have to be used any time in the near future. Because the $32 billion spending portion of the budget has been enacted, it won&#8217;t be needed this year.</p><p>The overall budget is more five weeks late because a $2 billion revenue hole remains. The Republican-majority Senate on July 27 approved a mixture of taxes, borrowing and fund transfers, a plan that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf supports.</p><p>That deal is now pending in the Republican-controlled House, where there is widespread sentiment against taxes and borrowing within the GOP caucus.</p><p>Two years ago, lawmakers were about four months into the new fiscal year when their money began to run out. House Democrats obtained interest-free advances from the state treasury, but the other caucuses had separation-of-powers concerns so they looked outside the executive branch for the money.</p><p>In October 2015, Republicans and Democrats in the state Senate borrowed $9 million at about 3 percent from PNC Bank, with a $25,000 origination fee, while House Republicans obtained a $30 million line of credit at a slightly higher rate from a group of five banks, and paid a $90,000 origination fee.</p><p>The new language in the Fiscal Code was designed to address concerns about the propriety of that approach by putting it into law.</p><p>Crompton said the loan would avoid giving Democratic Treasurer Joe Torsella the power to decide which legislative bills should be paid.</p><p>Some 80 percent of the Senate&#8217;s budget goes for salaries and benefits, but the other 20 percent leaves decisions, he said, about &#8220;if we want to pay rent, and if we don&#8217;t want to hold all the bills that we get from outside sources, be it Capitolwire, be it legal bills&#8212; and there&#8217; a whole host of other things in that last 20 percent.&#8221;</p><p>Seeing the prospect for a budget standoff ahead, Torsella&#8217;s chief counsel, Christopher Craig, wrote in a June 23 memo that courts have ruled that public employees still on the job must be paid, even if the budget to fund their salaries hasn&#8217;t been passed.</p><p>The memo said separation of powers under the state constitution gives the Treasury Department authority to fund salaries and &#8220;core functions&#8221; for the legislative, executive and judicial branches.</p><p>&#8220;The citizens of the commonwealth are constitutionally entitled to be represented by a functioning, elected General Assembly, to have cases heard and resolved by an independent judiciary and to have laws passed by the Legislature executed and enforced by the executive branch,&#8221; Craig wrote.</p><p>There&#8217;s no word on when the House might return to Harrisburg to consider the taxes, as well as other budget related legislation &#8212; including the budget standoff borrowing language.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By MARK SCOLFORO</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

State lawmakers move to protect own funds during budget stalemates