HARRISBURG -- After a 101-day delay, the Legislature finally enacted a 2009-10 state budget in October. But its budget work is still not finished completely, and that's causing problems for some major universities and cultural institutions, as well as for the state's casinos.

A month has passed since Gov. Ed Rendell signed the $27.8 billion spending package for the fiscal year that started July 1. Yet the Legislature still must take final action on some major items, including a bill to permit slots casinos to add table games such as blackjack, roulette, poker and dice.

The delay in enacting table games legislation, which is supposed to generate $200 million in new revenue for the state this year, has caused legislators to delay voting on annual appropriations for 28 large educational, medical and cultural institutions, including Penn State University, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and the Children's Institute of Pittsburgh.

These institutions are starting to chafe under the delay, wondering if they have become the new budget "hostages."

Today the state House is to reconvene, with three different bills on the docket involving gambling. Even though House Democratic leaders have been meeting in recent days with Mr. Rendell and Senate Republican leaders, it still isn't certain when lawmakers will take a vote on table games legislation and the money for Pitt and Penn State.

"The governor has said legislative leaders need to get serious about the table games bill," said Rendell aide Gary Tuma. "He is disappointed and frustrated. There seems to be no sense of urgency about this bill."

Legislative leaders deny any stalling. They said there are several difficult issues to resolve, including what tax rate should be used on table game revenue -- 12 percent, as casino officials want; 14 percent, as a Senate bill calls for; 16 percent, as Mr. Rendell wants; 21 percent, as a bill by House Democratic Whip Bill DeWeese calls for; or 34 percent, as a bill passed by the House gaming panel calls for.

Another issue is whether counties or municipalities where casinos are located should get an additional 1 percent of tax revenue. Allegheny County would like a local share of table games revenue from the Rivers Casino to help keep libraries open.

Philadelphia, which is having major budget problems, could also use some table games revenue.

There is general agreement on one aspect of table games -- the one-time license fee that each casino would have to pay is likely to be $15 million. With nine casinos now open -- and a 10th casino scheduled to open in the spring in Philadelphia -- that would generate $150 million for the state by June 30.

The table games bill isn't the only piece of gambling-related legislation that's still awaiting action. Mr. Rendell and Senate Republicans want a companion bill that deals with reforms to the original 2004 slots law to be enacted at the same time as the gaming expansion bill.

The reform measure would prevent casino officials from making campaign contributions to state lawmakers, require state gaming board officials to wait a year or so before taking a job with a casino, bar outside income for gaming board members and make other changes. Mr. Rendell has said he won't sign a table games bill unless the reform bill is also sent to him.

Penn State, Pitt and 26 other state-funded institutions are called, in General Assembly jargon, "nonpreferred" appropriations, because they aren't included in the regular budget document. Their funding is included in separate pieces of legislation that must be approved by a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate.

The funding for all 28 institutions totals $730 million. Penn State gets the largest share, $334 million; Pitt is to get $168 million; Temple, $173 million; the Carnegie Museums in Pittsburgh, $226,000; the Children's Institute of Pittsburgh, $431,000.

The Legislature's failure to approve table games, and the $200 million those games are expected to generate, has kept lawmakers from handing out the $730 million to the 28 nonpreferred institutions.

Even though the current budget isn't completely in place, work has begun on a budget for fiscal 2010-11, which starts next July 1. State officials want agencies to submit their budget requests for next year, but Penn State says it will not submit its 2010-11 appropriation request until the state can provide the school with its funding for 2009-10.

The state initially wanted Penn State's appropriation request for 2010-11 by Sept. 21 but, given the uncertainty over the budget, extended the deadline to Thursday. However, Penn State spokesman Geoff Rushton said university financial officer Steve Curley notified the state on Oct. 30 that Penn State will also miss that new deadline -- and didn't specify a new extension date because it's pointless to do so without knowing this year's appropriation.

"We can't project for next year when we don't have money for this year. It's just the way it is," Mr. Rushton said. "It's certainly a new situation for us."

Being a third of the way through this fiscal year without its public funding has created problems for the state's largest public university.

"We have to rely on reserves and using funds that otherwise would be gaining interest," Mr. Rushton said.

The University of Pittsburgh also isn't sure if it will meet the Thursday deadline for filing its 2010-11 appropriation request. "We're going to wait and see what happens in the next week," said Pitt spokesman John Fedele.

Mr. Rendell has to make his 2010-11 budget proposal to the Legislature in early February. It's hard to say what impact a delay in the university budget submissions will have on his ability to produce a timely 2010-11 budget proposal.

For months, universities such as Pitt, Penn State and Temple have warned that a prolonged state budget impasse could mean a spring tuition surcharge for their 158,000 students. Spring term bills go out starting Friday, but the schools thus far have shied away from imposing a specific deadline.

The university presidents wrote an Oct. 21 letter to House Speaker Keith McCall, imploring him for a resolution.

"There needs to be assurance that the funding levels in our pending appropriation bills will be enacted soon," the letter stated. But it's still uncertain when that will be.

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