Nico Salvatori, Erie Times-News, Pa. (TNS)

Pennsylvania lawmakers have roughly a week to agree on a state budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year, which starts Saturday, and so far no consensus on how to do that is in sight.

That is not unusual for the Pennsylvania legislature, but this year lawmakers are grappling with the state's biggest cash shortfall since the 2008 recession.

House and Senate Republican majority leaders were expected to meet over the weekend for budget talks before the full legislature reconvenes Monday.

"We are scheduled to be in session all week and probably up until we have something in place," state Rep. Pat Harkins said recently. "I'm looking forward to a very busy and productive week."

Harkins, of Erie, D-1st Dist., said a slew of proposals are on the table to try to raise more than $2 billion in new revenue that would balance a proposed spending plan and close the deficit. They include expanding gambling in the state, cutting costs and borrowing against future state revenue.

The extent to which gambling should be expanded has already been a point of contention between the House and Senate. Video gambling in thousands of bars, truck stops and elsewhere passed the House earlier this month with bipartisan support, and House Republican leaders have brought it to budget negotiations.

But the Senate has not shown that it would support such a large gambling expansion. Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, a Republican from Centre County, on Wednesday said such a move could be bigger than Pennsylvania's 2004 legalization of up to 14 commercial casinos, and he was "a little nervous about the size and scope" of it.

Many Erie County lawmakers are concerned that legalizing video gaming terminals and regulating them could pull revenue away from brick-and-mortar licensed casinos, which provide a percentage of funds to the communities that host them every year.

"I know the House members that don't have casinos are pushing pretty hard for VGTs because they want some gaming money in their districts," said state Sen. Dan Laughlin, of Millcreek Township, R-49th Dist. "That's going to be part of this conversation."

Gov. Tom Wolf, whose own budget proposal relies on $250 million of new gaming revenue, voiced concerns in recent days about the effect VGTs could have not only on licensed casinos, but on the Pennsylvania Lottery as well.

"I want real revenue, and I want net revenue," Wolf said. "I don't want anything that we do in gaming or gambling to interfere with the revenues that are already in place. If it just cannibalizes and takes from one bucket called gambling to another, the commonwealth isn't doing anything more than it has in the past."

Another option under consideration would borrow from Pennsylvania's annual share of the 1998 multistate settlement with major tobacco companies. The idea has traction among Senate Republicans and would largely fund a $31.5 billion House Republican spending plan.

State Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, of Millcreek, D-3rd Dist., said the idea comes with too many risks.

"We cannot continue to rely on tobacco to fill our deficits," Bizzarro said, referring to a hike in the state's cigarette tax enacted last year as part of the 2016-17 budget.

As opposed to borrowing, Wolf would prefer proposals he outlined in his February budget address, which called for imposing a tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas production, closing corporate loopholes and charging municipalities for state police coverage.

"That's what I'm looking for, something that is recurring revenue, not another one-time fix, not another thing that just kicks the budget problem, the deficit problem down the road for another year or two," Wolf said.

Lawmakers are bracing for a busy week in the state Capitol.

"We are hoping to get it done," Laughlin said. "It seems like everything is going to come down to the last minute."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Nico Salvatori can be reached at 870-1714 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNsalvatori.

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Pa. lawmakers eye gambling revenue, borrowing to balance budget - Pocono Record