Citing the need to prevent the shutdown of the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Program, the House this week put aside partisan bickering and approved a Senate proposal to fund the Program and sent it to the Governor before adjourning for the year.

Senate Bill 1100 (Pileggi-R-Delaware) provides $17 million for the Hazardous Sites Program for the remainder of this year. It earmarks $40 million out of the state Capital Stock and Franchise Tax for the following three fiscal years. The bill does not affect the Senate GOP commitment to phase out this tax by the end of 2010.

"I will sign the bill, but it is a bad way of doing business," Gov. Rendell said after presiding at the lighting of the Capitol Christmas tree. "If we open the floodgates and allow people to spend money in the middle of the [fiscal] year without a revenue source, it would be a terrible precedent."

Interestingly the next day, Budget Secretary Michael Masch predicted the current fiscal year would end with a $157 million surplus and that the Rendell Administration would ask for a mid-year $40 million in supplemental funding, over and above the surplus, for the departments of Education and Public Welfare.

“Senator Pileggi and I introduced Senate Bill 1100 to avert the furlough of HSCA-related employees and provide certainty for funding for the next four years – and to do it without the $50 million tax increase proposed by the governor,” said Sen. Mary Jo White (R-Venango), Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. “I want to thank the House members in my district who reached across party lines to ensure this critical funding bill reached the governor in a timely fashion.”

“This went down to the wire, but we're pleased that the House and Senate came to an agreement that enabled this critical legislation to be sent to the Governor's desk for his signature," said Brian Hill, President of Pennsylvania Environmental Council.

“We’re also pleased that the agreement is more than just a one-year fix -- people who live near these hazardous sites need to know that efforts are ongoing to address these problems, and the Department of Environmental Protection can't run an effective program if they see the money running out,” Hill said.

“We would have preferred that long term funding be identified to support this Program, but at least this legislation puts the Program on solid ground for the next few years,” Hill said. “We’re also pleased that funding wasn’t taken from other environmental programs to handle the hazardous sites program, as had been proposed recently. Hopefully the General Assembly can agree on a long-term dedicated funding source so that we don't have the lingering concern about the long-term viability of this crucial Program.”

House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D-Greene) said. "Ideally we would have passed our House Democratic plan and worked to create a permanent funding solution for HSCA in the context of the 2008-2009 budget negotiations, but the stall tactics of the House Republicans last night took away the luxury of time. We were forced to revert to the Senate's original proposal in order to get HSCA funding on the Governor's desk before the end of the year, so we reached across the aisle and took the bipartisan step of bringing the Senate's plan up on the floor."

House Minority Leader Sam Smith (R-Jefferson) commented, “Despite objections from some, this hazardous sites cleanup funding bill provides the needed funding without raising taxes. This issue never should have arisen to the level of a crisis, but regardless, thanks to Representatives Petri and Harper, we are able to fully fund HSCA for several years without a tax increase, and without cutting any other state programs."

Gov. Rendell said he would sign the legislation.

NewsClips: Lawmakers Poised to Fund Pollution Cleanup Program

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House Rescues Cleanup Program

Editorial: Funding Waste Cleanup

Hazardous Site Funding OK’d

12/14/2007