The discombobulated budget process that has played out in the Capitol in the past six months has stopped the flow of state money to community colleges and public libraries and left some other legislative priorities unfunded. The vast majority of state-supported operations have been fully funded and operating normally since Gov. Josh Shapiro on Aug. 3 signed into law a $45.45 billion spending bill that had been passed by the General Assembly. But some appropriations in the bill — including more than $260 million for community colleges and about $70 million for libraries — cannot be doled out without passage by lawmakers of separate bills that include “enabling language.” That passage has not happened because of partisan bickering.
