Senate Majority Leader: Pa. Budget Headed For Overtime

By Tony Romeo

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) - The state Senate majority leader now says it's likely the effort to close a billion-plus dollar budget deficit will spill into July.

The current fiscal year ends June 30th. That's when a new budget is due and lawmakers are scheduled to wrap up work for the summer.

But, Chester Republican Dominic Pileggi, the Senate majority leader has told members of his caucus to prepare to be in Harrisburg in July.

"There's still a chance we could finish our work by June 30th, but I think we need to be prepared for the possibility – and at this point likelihood – that we will not finish by June 30," Pilleggi says.

Pileggi says lawmakers are still trying to craft a budget and resolve two major issues: "At the same time we're still trying to find 26 votes for some sort of liquor reform and still pressing ahead on public pension reform. So, we're working on all three things. It's not that we're working on them in any particular sequence, we're working on them simultaneously."

And he adds a severance tax on natural gas extraction – something Governor Corbett has opposed -- is a subject of "constant discussion".

A spokesman for House majority Republicans also says members in that chamber have been told not to make plans for the first week of July.

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