States Set to Ring in Independence Day Sans Budget

Citing the Legislatures failure to pass a budget plan, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announces that he...

Citing the Legislatures failure to pass a budget plan, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announces that he is declaring a fiscal emergency to address California's deficit during a Capitol news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, July 1, 2009. Lawmakers will have 45 days to send him a plan to balance the state's budget which ended the fiscal year with a $24.3 billion deficit.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

(AP)

Pennsylvania schools still don't know how much state money they'll receive and may have to reopen their budgets to add or subtract spending. The state's budget year began Wednesday with no sign of a deal between lawmakers and Gov. Ed Rendell.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and lawmakers are stymied over a proposal to allow casino-style gambling to raise money. As a result, the state started its budget year with a one-week temporary budget.

That interim spending plan was already putting a strain on some social service groups.

The state food pantry agency has only $163,000 available to spend on produce this week, regardless of how much more they could purchase. The group spends $400,000 a week at the height of Ohio's harvest.

"This budget impasse is impacting real Ohioans," said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Food Banks. "People for the first time in their lives are now finding themselves standing in the food line because they've lost their jobs, their incomes aren't stretching."

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