Members of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives are considering creating a two-year budget cycle to replace the current one-year cycle.

The House might approve a plan to conduct a study to examine the feasibility of switching to the two-year cycle.

State Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, said he introduced the resolution because he was frustrated with the current budgetary impasse in Harrisburg.

Legislators have not yet finalized the budget for the 2003 fiscal year.

This process is usually completed during the summer. The hold up has halted the delivery of state funding to several state institutions, including Penn State.

The delay is costing Penn State $100,000 each month.

If there is even a chance that adopting a two-year budget cycle will help prevent situations like these from occurring, then legislators should seriously consider making the change.

Approving a budget is one of the most basic jobs of the state legislature. Yet as this year has proven, the process is often weighed down by political debates.

If representatives only had to go through the process once every two years, perhaps the political squabbles could be avoided, or at least minimized.

Twenty-three other states use a two-year cycle.

The proposed study would help legislators determine whether this system could work for Pennsylvania.

If approved, the study will not be completed until March 31, 2004.

If the results show that a two-year cycle will be advantageous for Pennsylvania, representatives should act quickly to make the change.

Clearly, something has to be done to prevent budget standoffs like the one going on this year.

While legislators argue, institutions like Penn State are loosing money.

If something can be done to stop this from happening in the future, it should be done soon.