NOTE: The Senate and House will reconvene Monday on budget issues. Follow the latest by going to the PA Environment Digest Blog or sign up for the PaEnviroDigest Twitter newsfeed.

On Sunday evening, Senate Republicans amended House Bill 2328 (Adolph-R-Delaware) to create a $29 billion General Fund budget without any new taxes.  This compares to the House-passed $29.1 billion budget (more below) and last year’s $28.5 billion budget.

The Senate budget relies even more on additional “non-impact” drilling leasing of State Park and Forestry land by calling for the transfer of $95 million, not $75 million as House Republicans had proposed, from the Oil and Gas Fund.

This is in addition to at least $73 million from the Oil and Gas Fund to support DCNR’s State Parks and Forest administrative operations.

Beyond the transfer of $6.2 million from the Alternative Fuels Incentive Grants Fund there are NO TRANSFERS proposed from the Keystone Fund, Underground Storage Tank Indemnification Fund or other environmental funds.

There are still many details lacking, particularly amendments to the Fiscal Code which will include language related to any budget deals to adopt unrelated programs and information on which state tax credit programs will be suspended.

There has been no agreement on general pension reform or liquor privatization, Gov. Corbett’s key priorities.

The Senate is expected to have a floor debate on the budget bill on Monday.  June 30 is the deadline to have a budget in place.

Here’s a thumbnail of what is known now--

Agriculture

-- Horse Racing Fund transfer of $17.6 million, same as last year

Environmental Protection

-- DEP Operations - $12.4 million increase

-- Sewage Facilities Planning Grants - $500,000 increase

-- Delaware River Basin Commission - $500,000 cut

Conservation & Natural Resources

-- Heritage Parks Program - $2.75 million, up from $2.25 million last year

Funding Sources:

-- Non-Impact Drilling On DCNR Land - $95 million

-- At least $73 million transferred from the Oil and Gas Fund to support DCNR operations

-- Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant Fund - $6.2 million

-- NO transfer from Keystone Fund or Underground Storage Tank Indemnification Fund

Attorney General - $5 million increase

State Treasurer - $3.8 million increase

Auditor General - Flat funding

Judiciary - Flat funding

House - $1.9 million increase

Senate - $950,000 increase

Click Here for a copy of the Senate line item spreadsheet.  Click Here for the Senate budget balance and transfers sheet.

House-Passed Budget

The House Wednesday passed, by a partisan vote of 110-93, a Republican-written General Fund budget in House Bill 2328 (Adolph-R-Delaware) that relies on $75 million in revenue from additional natural gas leasing in State Parks and Forests and $15 million in deferred funding for the farm conservation and historic preservation tax credits to remain in balance.

The bill is now in the Senate as budget discussions continue between the Senate, House and the Governor’s Office.

The Senate and House declared June 28 a non-voting day, but are scheduled to return to voting session and 4:00 and 5:00 on Sunday, June 29.  Midnight June 30 is the deadline to have the state budget in place.

The House GOP leasing of additional DCNR land for “no surface impact” natural gas development is a little different from Gov. Corbett’s proposal because the House budget would divert the $75 million to the General Fund.  Gov. Corbett’s Executive Order issued in May would earmark at least royalties from the leasing for State Park and State Forest projects.

The proposed $75 million in revenue is on top of the proposed $72.7 million transfer from the Oil and Gas Fund to fund DCNR’s State Parks and State Forest operations.

The deferral of tax credit funding was included in House Bill 2188 (Cutler-R-Lancaster) passed Tuesday by the House.  The Resource Enhancement and Protection Tax Credit Program (REAP) would be zeroed out eliminating $10 million per year and the Historic Preservation Incentive Tax Credit would also be zeroed out cutting $3 million per year.

The budget also assumes $226.5 million in transfers from other special funds, but NOT the Keystone, Storage Tank, Recycling, Underground Storage Tank Indemnification Fund or other environmental funds.

Other changes in the House GOP budget include--

-- Delays for one year the contribution of $6.2 million into the Alternative Fuels Incentive Grants Program;

-- Restores $2.25 million for the Heritage Parks Program;

-- Provides an additional $10.4 million in funding for DEP general operations; and

-- An additional $500,000 cut from Delaware River Basin Commission funding.

Other budget line items for DEP and DCNR are generally the same as the FY 2013-14 budget.

Broadly, the House GOP budget counts on $380 million in revenue from liquor privatization which may or may not happen and a total of $48 million in savings from deferred funding of 11 different tax credit programs in each of the next two years to remain in balance.

A House spreadsheet showing changes between the FY 2013-14 budget is available online.  A proposed House FY 2014-15 Financial Sheet is also available.

NewsClips:

Lawmakers Proposed New Spending Plan

Corbett Looks To Philly Dems To Get Pension Reform

GOP Leaders Shoot For On-Time, No New Taxes Budget

Lawmakers Work On Budget Through Weekend

Lawmakers Scramble To Beat Budget Deadline

Closure On Budget Still Seems Days Away

House Passes State Budget On To Senate

House Passes GOP-Crafted State Budget Plan

House Budget Counting On Privatization, Plan Fizzles In Senate

Senators Discussing Mix Of Taxes To Bridge Budget Gap

House Panel Approves GOP Budget Bill

House Committee Approves $29.1 Billion Budget

House GOP Propose Leaner Budget Than Corbett

Economic Developers: Don’t Cut Our Tax Credits

Budget Deficit Could Lead Corbett To Severance Tax

Op-Ed: Severance Tax?  No Thanks, I’ll Pass

PA Weighs New Tax On Natural Gas Drilling

New Energy Taxes Threaten PA’s Economic Recovery

More Farmland Preserved, But Long Backlog Remains

Lancaster Lawmakers Urged To Protect Farmland Preservation $$

6/30/2014