Partial Shutdown of Pennsylvania Government Impacts Some Tourism Attractions

July 9, 2007

Partial Shutdown of Pennsylvania Government Impacts Some Tourism Attractions
July 9 – As of 12:01 a.m. Monday, July 9, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell announced the shutdown of many state government services and said the state would furlough more than 24,000 employees since no budget was approved. The furlough forced closures of many state offices and included tourism sites such as state parks and battlefields, along with state-operated museums. Originally, the state’s casinos were supposed to be closed, too, but the Commonwealth Court granted a Temporary Restraining Order and ordered Pennsylvania’s five casinos to remain open.

While work continued Monday to come to an agreement on the budget, no deal had been finalized as of 4 p.m. ET.

In a release on the state of Pennsylvania’s Web site, Rendell said, "We made tremendous progress [Sunday] toward reaching an agreement on the state budget. Regretfully, we were not yet close enough to stop the furlough of state employees as required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Commonwealth case law. I sincerely hope this will be a one-day furlough, and I have reason for optimism. [Monday night] I hope we can announce an agreement that will bring our hard-working state employees back to work, and we can open our parks and museums and other services."

The latest information is available at http://www.state.pa.us/.