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Analysis of the 2021-22 Pennsylvania Executive Budget
With Diana Polson and Stephen Herzenberg Click here to print or read full screen. Continue reading
Category: Budget
A Guide to the $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan: UPDATE with PA-Specific Data
The American Rescue Plan, as put forward by President Biden and about to be approved by the U.S. Congress, is a bold and necessary action—not just to restore the American economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic but to make it far more just. Here we point to some of the leading features of the plan with estimates of how many people in Pennsylvania will benefit from it. (PA estimates are from the Senate version of the legislation. Links are to the sources of our information.) Most notably, the legislation takes a major step forward in making health insurance through the ACA more affordable and includes a welcome expansion of child tax credits, which for the first time would give low- and moderate-income families in our country the kind of support that can be found in many other countries. And, at one stroke, the legislation would ensure that… Continue reading
The Trouble with TABOR
UPDATED April 12: The Republican leadership of the House of Representative is poised to bring a dangerous constitutional amendment, the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), HB71 tomorrow, April 13, 2022. This amendment, which has been championed in states all over the country by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council, would limit the growth in PA General Fund spending to the previous year’s level adjusted for the sum of (1) the average percentage change in the U.S. Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) over the preceding three calendar years plus (2) the average of the percentage change in the resident population for the preceding three calendar years. Adopting this constitutional amendment would be a terrible mistake for many reasons. General Fund spending has not been growing faster than TABOR rates. First, even if one believes that the growth in state spending should be restrained, it is unnecessary. Over… Continue reading
Initial Response to Gov. Wolf’s Proposed 2021-22 PA State Budget | Thursday, February 4, 2021
The Pennsylvania Budget & Policy Center’s director Marc Stier and senior policy analyst Diana Polson provide an initial overview of Gov. Wolf’s proposed FY 2021-22 state budget, highlighting some of the governor’s key initiatives & priorities and identifying some of the challenges that are likely to impact budget negotiations. Marc & Diana respond to questions posed by representatives of various nonpartisan advocacy organizations, who participated in a Zoom meeting on Thursday, February 4, 2021. Continue reading
Statement on Budget Plan Approved by the House Appropriations Committee
Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. The budget approved by the Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee does basically what we expected. Most of the budget is flat-funded with increases to meet Medical Assistance caseloads and a few other mandatory expenditures. While it is an important achievement that there are no deep cuts to education and human services in the budget, the budget does not meet the needs of Pennsylvanians who are suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis it created. Front-line workers; small businesses, especially in the hospitality and entertainment industries; those who are threatened with losing their homes; and many other Pennsylvanians are not getting the support they need from the state. The budget is balanced with close to $5 billion in one-time revenues: CARES Act funds; enhanced Medical Assistance funding from the federal government (which may not be forthcoming); transfers from special funds and the… Continue reading
Pa. is in the throes of a COVID-19 recession. Wolf, lawmakers need to step up for working families
Originally published at the PA Capital-Star November 17, 2020 By Marc Stier No matter where we live, what we look like, whether we are native–born or immigrants, or whether we are struggling or getting by, the COVID-19 recession is a threat to all of us. We need the state government to do more for families and small businesses to meet that threat. Yet the recession will cost the state at least $3.3 billion in revenues—and perhaps more—over two years. Squaring this circle would be difficult at any time, but the General Assembly must act by Nov. 30 when the stop-gap budget enacted in May, covering about about half of the General Fund, runs out. Democratic and Republican senators appear close to a compromise that avoids a budget impasse at this dangerous time even as it leaves many problems unresolved. Our understanding is that it would fund a full-year General Fund budget at the same level as in fiscal 2019-2020 with some adjustments… Continue reading
The Budget Pennsylvania Needs Now: A Preview and Analysis of the Full-Year 2020 Budget
Download or print full document. No matter where we live, what we look like, whether we are native-born or immigrants, or whether we are struggling or getting by, the COVID-19 recession is a threat to all of us. We need the state government to do more for families and small businesses to meet that threat. Yet the recession will cost the state at least $3.3 billion in revenues over two years. Squaring this circle would be difficult at any time, but the General Assembly must act by November 30 when the stop-gap funding, enacted in June for about half of the General Fund, runs out. Democratic and Republican senators appear close to a compromise that avoids a budget impasse at this dangerous time even as it leaves many problems unresolved. Our understanding is that it would fund a full-year General Fund budget at the same level as in Fiscal Year… Continue reading
Stopgap Budget Is Incomplete but Takes a Small Step Towards a Just Recovery
Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center director Marc Stier issued the following statement in response to the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s passage of a stopgap budget for Fiscal Year 2020-2021 and legislation that appropriates part of Federal Cares Act funds. “The Pennsylvania House and Senate, with the support of Governor Wolf, this week took an important step towards enacting a budget for Fiscal Year 2020-21, which starts on July 1, and also made some important decisions on how to distribute the federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act funds. Everyone acknowledges that the budget remains incomplete. In saying that, we mean that not only is most of the budget funded for only five months but that critical needs remain to be met as well. The pandemic has shown everyone what many of us have long known—there are deep inequities in our society. Our goal is not just… Continue reading
What Not to Do in the Face of a COVID-19 Driven Recession: Lessons from the Corbett Years
Originally published by KCR-PBPC here. By Marc Stier and Diana Polson As COVID-19 hurtles us towards a global recession, Pennsylvania will need to make difficult decisions about how to handle a possibly huge shortfall in state revenues as well as a mandated increase in state costs for such things as Medicaid. We are working to estimate how much state revenues will suffer due to the recession but there are many unknowns, especially because this is an unusual recession, one that is a product of deliberate and necessary policy choice. With no models for this kind of recession, we do not know how deep the recession will be, how long it will last, or how quickly the economy can recover. At this point, we can only give a wide range of possibilities. It is likely that state revenues will drop between $4.5 and $9 billion in the current fiscal year and… Continue reading
Calm Before the Storm: An Analysis of Governor Wolf’s Proposed Budget for 2020-21
Originally published by KRC-PBPC here, By Diana Polson, Marc Stier, and Stephen Herzenberg We were in the last two weeks of work on this analysis of the governor’s proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2020, when the political and economic world in which we’d been living tilted on its axis. The coronavirus that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic was creating havoc in China, both to the health of the population and to the economy of the country. It is now clear that the United States is heading into a recession. We should expect that our economy, and indeed the whole world, will suffer for some time. A recession will have a severe impact on the budget of Pennsylvania with regard to both revenues and expenditure. Revenues will certainly decline. And expenditures for human services—especially for Medical Assistance (Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program), Unemployment Compensation, SNAP (formerly called… Continue reading