PA Environment Digest

In a re-run of 2003 on steroids, Gov. Rendell this week blue lined the state budget bill-- Senate Bill 850-- to try and force the Senate and House to come to agreement on a full state budget, only this time it was not just school district funding, it was $12.9 billion, everything but personnel and critical public safety costs.

Included in the $12.9 billion he eliminated from the bill was all the funding for the departments of Agriculture, Environmental Protection and Conservation and Natural Resources and their supporting agencies like county conservation districts, except for personnel costs.

Also eliminated were monies for the 501 school districts, institutions of higher education and PHEAA scholarship support and even funding for the Senate and House. (click here for a list of all items vetoed.)

“What I am signing today is not a budget,” said Gov. Rendell. “I am signing legislation that will simply allow us to pay state employees who provide for immediate critical public health and safety services, and that will send negotiators back to the table to communicate, compromise and get real about delivering a true budget agreement for Pennsylvania.

“So I call on the Conference Committee to begin work anew and in earnest. I call on every elected official to cancel their vacation plans and get ready to work each and every day. I call on all of us to put aside partisan politics and rigid ideology and work to pass a budget that protects and preserves the future of this great state.”

On Wednesday, House Majority Appropriations Chair Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia) announced a meeting of the Budget Conference Committee, only to cancel it "until further notice" a few hours later.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware) called the Conference Committee meetings to date "farcical," and called for real negotiations with the Governor.

"Certainly, the clear intent of the choices made by the Governor to deprive counties, mental health services, school districts, PHEAA of state funding in a very arbitrary way to create a crisis through a lack of funding for those institutions and those individuals," said Sen. Pileggi. "I don’t think the Governor will engage in serious negotiations until the crisis hits. That seems to be the way he seems to conduct budget negotiations.

"The delay is unfortunate, in my view unnecessary, and to use the conference committee as a dog and pony show to fill time in that delay is not a productive use of our time."

Sen. Pileggi said the Senate would be coming in Monday through Wednesday of next week to deal with budget bills passed by the House this week that will allow staff for independent agencies to get paid.

None of the budget proposals treat environmental programs kindly. They range from cutting environmental funding by $552 million (Senate Republicans) to $459 million (House Democrats and the Governor). (7/27/09 PA Environment Digest)

Fundamental Disagreements

The fundamental budget disagreements continue over whether an increase in taxes is needed to fund necessary spending and the level of "necessary" spending.

Gov. Rendell believes a tax increase is necessary and said a temporary Personal Income Tax increase is needed over the next three years.

Senate and House Republicans believe the budget should be cut to live within our revenues, except possibly increases in taxes on tobacco. They do not support increasing any broad-based taxes.

House Democrats were following the Governor's line on taxes until this week when Leadership declared any PIT increase dead.

In light of this opposition, the Governor challenged legislative leaders to come up with their own "recurring revenue" proposals to help fill the budget gap.

July Revenue Dips $195 Million From 2007

The Department of Revenue this week reported that the state collected $1.7 billion in General Fund revenue in July, the first month of the 2009-10 fiscal year. Collections were $95.3 million less than July 2008 and July 2008 was $100 million less than 2007.

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