With the July 1 deadline for adopting a state budget looming, there were a series of meetings and actions this week designed to move the process along to a successful conclusion; at least everyone hopes so.

Senate Republicans, with Senate Democrats voting no, approved what they called a bare-bones budget which Senate Appropriations Chair Sen. Gib Armstrong (R-Lancaster) said did not reflect anyone’s full set of budget priorities.

Senate Bill 1389 calls for $27.9 billion in general fund spending, which is an increase of $749.2 million (2.76 percent) over the current budget.

The proposal is $415.8 million lower than what the Governor requested for FY 2008-09. Overall, the bill cuts $457.2 million from specific line items in the budget proposal unveiled by the Governor in February.

For his part, Gov. Rendell said he still projects a budget surplus for the year of about $300 million, but noted revised revenue collections for June will not be available until the end of the month. Leaders have been waiting for revenue collections before making final decisions on major provisions in the budget.

The House Appropriations Committee last week amended a budget bill-- House Bill 2380 (Evans-D-Philadelphia)-- to spend $28.5 billion, restoring many of the cuts proposed by Gov. Rendell.

The House is set to vote on the General Fund budget starting June 23, but House Appropriations Chair Rep. Dwight Evans has said he hopes to avoid slogging through over 153 amendments proposed to their version of the General Fund budget in House Bill 2380.

Under the leadership of Rep. Evans, the House Appropriations Committee last week amended their General Fund budget bill to include much of the funding for the Department of Agriculture as proposed in the Fair Share Plan and a $2.3 million increase for county conservation districts over the line items proposed by Gov. Rendell.

Will the General Assembly accept the environmental spending priorities outlined by the Governor for energy independence, repairing high hazard dam and taking $29.2 million out of the Environmental Stewardship Fund and away from watershed projects to pay debt service on the Growing Greener II bond? (See 2/11/08 Pa Environment Digest)

It is interesting to note the budgets for the Department of Environmental Protection and Agriculture have not returned to the 2002-03 spending levels, however, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Fish and Boat and Game Commissions are all higher than they were in 2002-03.

The House and Senate are scheduled to be in voting session all next week. Stay tuned for the finale (we hope soon) of the state budget for 2008-09!

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6/20/2008