Leaders left the meeting tired, but all held out hope that a resolution to the budget impasse could be reached over the weekend as talks continued.
By the time the negotiations broke last night, the 25,000 state workers who had received furlough notices days earlier had already wrapped up their workweek and were heading into a weekend of uncertainty, not knowing whether they would be back at work Monday morning.
The Rendell administration had told the workers, deemed "non-critical," not to show up for work Monday unless the budget impasse was resolved. That would force the closure of many services and facilities, from state parks and driver's license centers to the five Pennsylvania casinos.
About 52,000 employees deemed essential to public safety and health, from state police to welfare caseworkers, would remain on the job.
The House yesterday spent several hours debating one of the governor's budget prerequisites - a statewide smoking ban. But the chamber broke off discussions at 7 p.m. with a vote on the measure still days away.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania's largest state employee union said yesterday it planned to file a lawsuit to block the threatened furloughs.
Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees plans to challenge the legality of dividing most state workers' jobs into "critical" and "non-critical" classifications, said David Fillman, the union's executive director.
A separate filing with the same court indicated how testy the budget divide has become.
State Sen. Jane Earll (R., Erie) asked Commonwealth Court yesterday afternoon to compel two Rendell cabinet secretaries to testify before a committee examining the pending casino closings.
On Thursday, the Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee issued subpoenas ordering Office of Administration Secretary Joseph Martz and Revenue Secretary Thomas Wolf to answer questions yesterday.
The two were unavailable, the administration said, until Wednesday.
