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To verify a Pennsylvania budget waiver, compare the agency’s Act 146 request letter with the corresponding approval memo on OpenBookPA, then check the fiscal year and appropriation details against the Commonwealth’s budget publications. The letter explains the request and gives legislative committee chairs an opportunity to object; the memo records the later approval. Neither a budget summary nor an approximate count of published records substitutes for those two documents.

Find the request letter and approval memo

Start with Pennsylvania Treasury’s Act 146 Waivers listing on OpenBookPA. Choose the fiscal-year section that applies and locate the agency named in the record. The listing identifies waiver requests and their corresponding 10-Day Memos.

The two records serve different purposes. The request letter is from the Budget Secretary to the chairs of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. It gives notice of an agency’s waiver request, includes the agency’s justification, and provides the committees an opportunity to raise objections. Treasury says the approval memo is issued to the agency 10 days after the initial request.

Compare the records field by field

Use details printed in the documents to determine whether the letter and memo refer to the same request. Not every record is guaranteed to contain every item below, and the sources do not prescribe a universal checklist.

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What to compare What to check
Agency Does the agency named in the request match the agency named in the memo?
Fiscal year Do the record labels and dates fit the stated fiscal year?
Appropriation or program identifier Where an identifier appears, does it match across the records and the relevant budget material?
Funding description or amount Where stated, do the description and amount correspond?
Dates Compare the request date with the memo date. Treasury describes the memo as following the initial request by 10 days.
Action Compare what the agency requested with what the approval memo says was approved.

If a key identifier, amount, description, or date differs, do not assume the mismatch is harmless. Record the discrepancy and seek clarification or additional records.

Check the fiscal-year context

Pennsylvania Treasury says state appropriations typically run from July 1 through June 30. Act 146 waiver authority enables agencies to spend unspent funds beyond the June 30 lapse date. Treat this as general context, not a ruling on a specific waiver: the fiscal year and dates in the actual records, along with the governing text, control the case you are checking.

For budget context, use the Pennsylvania Office of the Budget’s Commonwealth Budget publications index to find enacted budget documents for the relevant fiscal year. Compare the waiver’s identifiers and funding description with those documents. A general budget summary can help place a waiver in context, but it does not replace the request letter or approval memo.

What the published record count does—and does not—tell you

In a September 30, 2026 announcement, Treasury reported approximately 100 letters and corresponding memos from FY 2025–26 on OpenBookPA. That is an approximate count reported as of that announcement, not a fixed total or evidence about any individual request. Use the listing and the actual documents to verify a specific waiver.

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Get records that are missing or unclear

If you cannot find a needed record online, the Office of the Budget directs users to the Office of Open Records for guidance on making a Right-to-Know request. The Office of the Budget says a written request should identify the records sought with sufficient specificity. It responds within five business days, subject to specified conditions that may permit an interim response.

Make the request concrete: identify the agency, fiscal year, waiver or funding description, and the particular request letter, approval memo, or related records you need. If you already found one of the two main records, cite its date and identifiers to help distinguish the matching record.

For any particular waiver, this process can establish whether the documents appear to correspond and how the request fits the published budget context. A case-specific conclusion still depends on the actual records and, where relevant, the governing law.

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