Ray's Round Up: State Budget Negotiations Continue

Pennsylvania’s elected leaders continued high-pressured negotiations on a 2016-17 state budget as the calendar moved closer to the end of the 2015-16 fiscal year on June 30.  As of this writing, the Pennsylvania House had passed a budget bill and the Senate amended it to pass a different version of a state budget and send it back to the House. Negotiators from the Senate and House are working on a compromise, but they need to determine if the level of spending contained in any compromise budget would equal the level of revenues collected by the State and whether the spending priorities of members of the General Assembly and the Governor could be achieved.  In addition, the Governor must weigh in with his views.

Elected officials seemed determined to avoid the type of stand-off situation that occurred last year and resulted in a nine month delay in enacting a State budget.  But disagreements on spending and the collection of revenues continue and the halls of the State Capitol are full of rumors of what might or might not happen.

AARP remains adamant that programs funded by the lottery that help older Pennsylvanians should be given their budget allocation beginning on July 1, as lottery funds are available and there is no dispute about the amount of funding for these critical services.  We are hopeful a solution that achieves that goal will occur, but the situation in the State Capitol is very fluid at this point and few details are available.  By next week we hope to provide an update on the 2016-17 Pennsylvania Budget and how it will impact many Pennsylvanians.  Stay tuned!

“Ray’s Round Up” features updates on current state and federal issues by Ray Landis, AARP PA’s Advocacy Manager.