As I write this, the Governor should be signing the budget, 101 days after the constitutional deadline. The deal for the final piece was off and on today. There was language in the fiscal code bill that created an independent budget office and the House wanted it out. Why anyone would want to kill a reform measure that provides transparency and helps the budget process by ensuring accurate and complete financial information is beyond me. But then again, I couldn’t understand a lot of the House’s logic for the past three-plus months. The table games legislation should be finished next week. This is a bad policy decision for the people of Pennsylvania, but one that is slated to be made (without my vote).

- John