PA Environment Digest

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FY17-18 Budget Now Law, It Fails To Address ANY Environmental Funding Shortfalls

At midnight Monday, Gov. Wolf allowed the $31.996 billion General Fund budget bill-- House Bill 218 (Saylor-R-York)-- to become law without his signature and without the revenue package to pay for it. Gov. Wolf has not signed a General Fund budget bill for three fiscal years in a row now.

A day later, the House and Senate left town after failing to agree on a revenue package to support the budget that is now law.

House Majority Leader David Reed (R-Indiana) said Tuesday the House would not return to Harrisburg unless there was an agreement on the revenue package.

The Senate Friday announced it would return to voting session on Monday, July 17 and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre) told members to be prepared to stay in session for three days.

There is really nothing new on the table in terms of revenue options. Borrowing what Rep. Reed said during the FY 2015-16 state budget debacle-- “all the pieces are there, we just don’t know what the picture is.”

To add to the good news, State Treasurer Joe Torsella Thursday warned the Commonwealth could run out of money to pay its bills by the end of August unless the General Assembly acts quickly to pass a responsible revenue package to balance the budget.

Fails To Address Funding Issues

DEP’s General Fund budget in the new year-- $147.7 million-- is $17.9 million BELOW what it was in 1994-95-- $165.6 million and 40 percent BELOW what it was in 2002-03-- $245.6 million.

Since 2002-03, the General Assembly cut DEP's General Fund budget 40 percent.

This means the House, Senate and Gov. Wolf want to continue the policy of having DEP adopt permit fee increases or new fees to fund its programs; and even more increases are coming as a result of this action.

The budget bill also includes the transfer of $61 million from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund to fund DCNR’s State Park and Forestry general operations (personnel and paperclip costs).

The PA Environmental Defense Foundation filed a brief this week in Commonwealth Court to declare the transfers in House Bill 218 unconstitutional, citing the June 20 PA Supreme Court decision that said similar transfers in the past were not constitutional.

There are still more risks to environmental funding because there has been no agreement on a revenue package to actually fund the $31.996 billion General Fund budget bill that has a deficit of least $2.2 billion.

At risk are additional transfers from special funds as they have done in the past with the Recycling Fund, Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund, the Underground Storage Tank Indemnification Fund, the Marcellus Shale Legacy Fund and more.

House Republicans have also suggested cutting appropriations for tax credit programs to end “corporate welfare.” At risk are the Resource Enhancement and Protection Farm Conservation and the Coal Refuse Energy and Reclamation tax credits to name just two.

Also still in play are Fiscal Code and Administration Code bills that, in the past, have contained special legislative “initiatives” often detrimental to environmental programs. We’ll see if the Senate and House will make any “tweaks” to programs through these legislative vehicles.

The Governor’s action will also let stand the 4.8 percent raise the House and Senate gave themselves for the new fiscal year. That means their budget has increased 77 percent since FY 1994-95-- $182.9 million in 1994-95 to $325.2 million in the new fiscal year ($142.3 million) and 26 percent since 2002-03 from $258.1 million to $325.1 million ($67 million).

Again, since 2002-03, the General Assembly cut DEP's General Fund budget 40 percent in the same time period.

Other Agency Highlights

Some other budget highlights include--

-- DEP: slight decrease from $148.3 million to $147.7 million, that’s higher than the Republican-passed budget in April of $139.3 million.

-- Personnel line-items essentially level funded

-- Conservation Districts same as last year $2.5 million

-- West Nile Virus & Zika Virus slight cut $5.3 million to $5.2 million

-- Black Fly same as last year $3.3 million

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission cut in half $473,000 to $237,000

-- Delaware River Basin Commission cut in half $434,000 to $217,000

-- Interstate Commission On The Potomac River cut in half $46,000 to $23,000-- Chesapeake Bay Commission same as last year $275,000

-- DCNR: Slight decrease from $106.9 million to $105.5 million, that’s higher than the House Republican-passed budget, but primarily due to a significant increase in using General Fund monies to fund agency operations, rather than the Oil and Gas Lease Fund monies. However, there is still a $4.7 million overall increase in DCNR budget (not shown on the budget spreadsheet) as a result of a transfer from the Lease Fund. There is a total transfer of $61.2 million from the Fund -- $11.2 million of that to pay for DCNR State Park and Forestry operations and $50 million to fund recreation and conservation projects (page 366, House Bill 218).

-- Heritage Parks same as last year $2.875 million

-- Agriculture: Slight increase from $143.6 million to $144.1 million, that’s higher than the House Republican-passed budget in April, but due primarily to $30 million in funding for the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School

-- Conservation Districts same as last year - $869,000

-- Nutrient Management Fund same as last year - $2.7 million

Click Here for the FY 2017-18 Senate Republican budget spreadsheet. Click Here for the FY 2017-18 Senate Democratic budget spreadsheet. Click Here for House Republican budget spreadsheet. Click Here for the Senate Democratic summary of DCNR, DEP budget. Click Here for Senate Democratic Agriculture budget summary.

NewsClips:

Morelli: Despite Challenges, PA Environmental Programs Face Cuts

Editorial: Keep Chesapeake Bay Cleanup On Track

Murphy: Bipartisan Pressure Growing In House For Shale Tax Vote (Nothing For Environment)

Op-Ed: State Has Means, No Will For A Natural Gas Severance Tax, Rep. Pashinski

Op-Ed: Pass A Severance Tax To Balance The Budget

PA State Treasurer: PA Could Run Out Of Money By End Of August

Lawmakers Take A Budget Break, Constitutionality Concerns Persist

AP: Talks At A Stalemate Over PA’s Unbalanced Budget

Murphy: With Budget Talks At Stalemate, Lawmakers Sent Home

In PA Capitol, It’s All About Avoiding Saying Budget Stalemate

House Amends Admin Code Bill To Extend Recycling Fee, Set Magnesium Standard, Study New State Park, Set Solar Borders