Key aides and officials held out hope that the dispute could be resolved before midnight. "The governor is continuing to work closely with legislative leaders to accomplish passage today," Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said late Tuesday afternoon.
Legislators also scrambled to write a measure to allow the state government to function if they missed the deadline, although some conservatives argued that a shutdown would be best. "We need to right-size Arizona's government, and we need to do it quickly," GOP state Sen. Ron Gould told the Arizona Republic. "If we have to shut down government to do that, so be it."
Arizona has never missed its June 30 budget deadline, but Pennsylvania has done so every year since 2003. This year will be no different. Democratic Gov. Edward G. Rendell and Republican legislators remain far apart on a budget deal and predict the standoff could last until late summer.
"We are very far apart," state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, a negotiator, said late Tuesday. "There is zero possibility we are going to have the budget done tonight."
Pennsylvania's 80,000 workers are bracing for their pay to dwindle to nothing after mid-July. Many flocked to local banks and credit unions to take out special zero-interest loans.
In Connecticut, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell said she had the authority to keep state operations running via executive order if she vetoed a budget proposal from the Democratic Legislature to increase taxes by $2.5 billion.
In Illinois, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn threatened to veto a budget from the Democratic Legislature for failing to implement his proposed tax hike.
In Mississippi, Republican Gov. Haley Barbour called legislators back into session Sunday to pass a budget that included a special Medicaid funding package. Late Tuesday, it was unclear if the sides could agree. Barbour contended that he could keep government running by executive order if a deal wasn't reached by midnight.
Even though several states had completed budgets, officials will probably have to revisit them because revenue continues to plummet, said Todd Haggerty of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
He noted that last year, states cut $32 billion in spending, then had to frantically cut another $60 billion after July 1 because tax receipts tailed off.
"There's a definite possibility, unless revenues improve soon, that states are going to have to continue to make these hard decisions and revisit these budgets," Haggerty said.
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nicholas.riccardi@latimes.com
p.j.huffstutter@latimes.com
