Photo courtesy Rep. Jill Cooper’s Facebook page Rep. Jill Cooper, R-Export, is pictured speaking during an event earlier this month.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis and state lawmakers continue to be paid despite a state budget stalemate going on nearly four weeks.

State Rep. Jill Cooper, R-Export, can’t end the stalemate, but she is backing legislation to end paychecks for the state’s decision makers when the budget is late. Cooper introduced a co-sponsorship memorandum this week for legislation she is writing.

“One of the most important jobs of the General Assembly is annually adopting a budget,” Cooper wrote. “In recent years there have been numerous occurrences of the annual budget not being adopted before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1 which is required by law. When the budget is not enacted in a timely manner, many payments to counties, school districts, service providers and nonprofits, to name a few, are not timely made and many important programs may be interrupted.”

Without new spending authority in place, the state will be legally barred from making some payments, although a stalemate must typically last weeks before an effect on services is felt, according to the Associated Press.

Senate Republicans passed a budget bill before the legislature’s summer recess, though even Republicans disagreed on spending for Penn State, Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh. House Democrats passed a one-house budget in June but there is little agreement between the two documents.

School spending approved by Senate Republicans is several hundred million less than what Shapiro proposed in March and about $1.7 billion less than what the Democratic-controlled House passed in early June, according to the AP.

The spending dispute is nothing new. According to SpotlightPA, 13 of the past 20 state budgets have been late, including four that have been more than 100 days late. Cooper wrote that perhaps withholding lawmakers’ paychecks will provide some incentive to negotiate in good faith.

“In the near future, I will be introducing legislation providing that compensation of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and members of the General Assembly would be suspended during a budget impasse.,” Cooper wrote. “I believe this puts us on a similar footing with some others who depend upon the annual appropriation process, i.e., we do not receive our pay until the budget is enacted. “