Burns won’t accept paycheck until PA has a budget

HARRISBURG, July 5 As the state begins July without a state budget enacted for the current 2024-25 fiscal year, state Rep. Frank Burns said that he is voluntarily refusing to accept a state paycheck until Pennsylvania has a budget.

Burns said that he’s traditionally gone without a paycheck as long as the state budget is unfinished, most notably during the nine-month impasse of 2015-16, because of a strong belief that legislators should set an example.

“My neighbors and other Cambria County residents don’t get paid when they don’t do their job, so why should legislators?” said Burns, D-Cambria.

“I firmly believe that if the legislature didn’t get paid until this work was done, we wouldn’t keep having these budget delays and impasses. As such, my conscience won’t let me accept a paycheck from the taxpayers as long as this fundamental part of our job remains unfinished.”