Pennsylvania has gone more than 60 days without a budget for state operations. Schools, human service agencies and other organizations that rely on public dollars have been forced to borrow so they can pay their bills. For state employees, though, it's business as usual.

Why have the elected officials, salaried administrators and hourly workers been immune from fallout from this summer's budget stalemate? Because state spending for staff goes on undeterred.This is nothing new for the 253 members of the Legislature and their employees. The Legislature maintains a huge nest egg, a multimillion-dollar account that gives them a cushion that keeps their failure to achieve a new budget from hitting close to home. The majority Republicans, who control the General Assembly's agenda, will be financially immune to repercussions of a stalemate until the reserve runs out, and even though Gov. Tom Wolf's fellow Democrats in the House are starting to feel a pinch, their situation has been tempered by the reserve.The ostensible purpose of the fund is to provide independence for the legislative branch, but in reality that independence equals business as usual, no matter how unusual the budget business becomes. This reprehensible situation has existed no matter which party has been in power in Harrisburg, and it's an affront to the taxpayers who pay for it. A recent Franklin & Marshall College poll found that 66 percent - Democrats and Republicans - said lawmakers should not get a paycheck when the budget is overdue.This year, the rest of state government's workforce has been similarly unaffected, even though Wolf vetoed a budget passed by Republicans. A 2009 court ruling said Pennsylvania could not use a budgetary trick employed in the past labeled "payless paydays," in which workers worked and their paychecks were deferred until a new budget eventually was enacted.That's not an option now, although the ruling did not preclude layoffs and government shutdowns. Naturally, no one wants the chaos those developments would bring, but the Legislature has not adopted any sort of interim spending plan either.Both parties are to blame for the impasse, but, given the lack of direct impact on the leaders involved and the employees who report to them, is that surprising? Lawmakers and other state officials must have their own skin in the game.If decision-makers knew going into the process every year that failure to enact a budget would have real consequences, they'd be sure to craft a deal by July 1. It's time to change the rules so that the lack of a spending plan hurts state officials, too.- The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette