Budget legislation signed last week by Gov. Tom Corbett is the subject of intense legal scrutiny.
Parts of the budget package are now an exhibit in a two-year-old lawsuit seeking to stop Pennsylvania state government from allowing more natural gas drilling on publicly owned lands and diverting the drilling proceeds away from a land conservation fund.
A Tuesday afternoon status conference was scheduled in the case.
The package establishes the state's authority to enact a new round of leasing publicly owned lands for natural gas drilling and authorizes the diversion of another $220 million from the fund into the state government's operating budget.
In addition, lawmakers are reviewing it because they say $7 million in line-item vetoes by Corbett of earmarks picked by lawmakers were unprecedented and possibly unconstitutional.
