Ray's Round Up: PA State Budget at an Impasse

Whoever said “no news is good news” wasn’t thinking about missed state budget deadlines.  We are now a month into the budget impasse in Pennsylvania and if anything, the sides appear farther apart.

A quick recap:  Governor Tom Wolf presented a budget which included an increase in state spending and reductions in local property taxes. Wolf’s budget would include an increase in the state personal income tax and sales taxes, and a tax to be imposed on natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale fields.

The General Assembly countered with a budget that did none of the above and added an additional two pieces of legislation, one which would require all new teachers and state workers to enroll in a defined contribution pension plan (aka 401K) instead of a defined benefit plan, and the other which would begin the process of privatizing liquor sales in Pennsylvania.

The Governor vetoed these two bills along with the General Assembly’s budget at the beginning of July, and since then…there hasn’t been much development.

To be fair, Administration officials and the members of the General Assembly have held a number of meetings and both the House and Senate returned for a week of session in late July.

Both the Governor and the legislative leaders have remained committed to their respective positions, and both sides are currently paying for media ads accusing the other side of being unreasonable.  The word “compromise” is unlikely to be uttered by anyone who could make it happen.

 

Upcoming News/Events

On August, 4 ^th, special elections will be held for two vacant PA House of Representatives seats. Turnout is expected to be very light for this election, which would fill seats for the 87 ^th District in Cumberland County, formerly represented by Glenn Grell, and the 161 ^st District in Delaware County, formerly represented by Joe Hackett.

 

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