Category: Budget

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On Governor Wolf’s Proposed 2018-19 Budget

  By Budget, PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania Budget, Statements

PBPC director Marc Stier made the following statement following Governor’s Wolf budget address and the press release of his proposed 2018-19 state budget: “Governor Wolf today offered a responsible budget that takes major steps towards reducing Pennsylvania’s public investment deficit without raising taxes on working people and the middle class. His budget embraces the idea that broadly shared prosperity comes from both individual initiative and public investment. His proposals for new investments in pre-k, K-12, and higher education and workforce training will help generate good jobs at good wages as will his proposal to raise the minimum wage immediately to $12 an hour. His call for new investment for human services for children, women, and families; for earned sick days; and for a bold new family leave plan will strengthen the social safety net on which so many of our fellow Pennsylvanians depend. While the budget he proposes is balanced,… Continue reading

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The Unnecessary Federal Budget Impasse

  By Federal Budget

From Third and State, January 20, 2018 Let’s be straight about the politics of the federal budget. The Republicans control the House, Senate and Presidency, but partly because they are not united and partly because they are short of the 60 votes needed under current practices to move most legislation in the Senate, they are unable to pass a budget without Democratic support. So to pass a full-year budget, Republicans and Democrats must compromise. The federal government is shut down today because too many Republicans in Congress won’t compromise and because President Trump doesn’t appear to know what he really wants. Democrats are demanding that their key priorities be included in the budget: restoration of DACA protections for the children of undocumented immigrants who have spent almost all of their lives in the United States; reauthorization of the CHIP program that provides health care for millions of American kids (including… Continue reading

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In Truth, The PA Budget Is Still Not Done

  By Budget, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania Budget

A quick take If the governor signs the tax and fiscal code bills passed this week, or allows them to become law, a funding plan for the Pennsylvania Budget for 2017-2018 that technically allows for a balanced budget will be complete. But the work of the General Assembly is not finished because this funding plan not only fails to address the long-term budget problems faced by the state, it deepens those problems. The result will be that the fiscal year beginning in July 2018 will be in deficit and that, unless the state changes direction, those deficits will no doubt increase in subsequent years. (Click the title for more) A genuine bi-partisan effort on the part of the governor, a majority of the Pennsylvania Senate, and what appears to be a majority of the Pennsylvania House sought to enact a shale tax, that is a severance tax on natural gas… Continue reading

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  By PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania Budget, Statements

Marc Stier, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, released the following statement on the decision by the House to cancel session days on October 23, 24, and 25: “We at the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center generally don’t comment on when the House chooses to be in session. But the decision by Speaker Mike Turzai and Majority Leader Dave Reed to cancel voting sessions next week—on October 23, 24, and 25—and to do so the day after the House Finance Committee approved a shale tax bill on a bi-partisan basis reeks of both chicanery and desperation. “For weeks, Democratic and Republican legislators in the House have been working together to devise a shale tax bill that could win bipartisan support in the House. They have been supported by a rapidly expanding group of activists who have sent thousands of letters, made thousands of phone calls, and have recently… Continue reading

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On the State House Revenue Plan

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania Budget, Statements

Update noon, October 18: There is talk around the Capitol that a shale tax will come out of the House Finance Committee today and coming to a vote on the House floor later this week. This legislation must be part of the budget this year. It is the difference between a budget that takes a step forward to address our long-term budget problems and one that makes those problems worse. Marc Stier, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, released the following statement on the revenue plan passed by the Pennsylvania House of Representative last night: “The tax code bill passed by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives last night is a white flag raised by the leaders of both parties, who are evidently willing to surrender to another year of make-believe budgeting rather than fight for a solution to the state’s persistent budget shortfalls. “A shale tax, which would… Continue reading

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STATEMENT: On the Governor’s Plan to Securitize PLCB Profits

  By Pennsylvania Budget

Marc Stier, director of the PA Budget and Policy Center, made the following statement after the release of the governor’s plan to securitize PLCB profits. “As he recognizes, Governor Wolf’s plan to borrow $1.2 billion on the basis of Liquor Control Board profitsis not an ideal or complete solution to the state budget crisis. It is a step made necessary by a General Assembly unwilling to meet its responsibility to pass a budget. “As we have pointed out before, it is not ideal for the state to borrow to pay for operating expenses. And this plan does not provide all the funds the state needs this year or in the future. “The plan will not provide funding to enable the state to continue to support Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, or Lincoln University or for the University of Pennsylvania’s Veterinary School or for Penn State’s agricultural extension… Continue reading

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What the PA Credit Downgrade Means

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania Budget

The decision by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade Pennsylvania’s credit rating should come as no surprise. There was ample warning by S&P and other credit agencies, as well as by political observers including us at PBPC, that this would be the result of the continuing failure of Republicans in the General Assembly, and especially Speaker Turzai and his followers in the House, to raise sufficient recurring revenues to close state’s long-term structural deficit.   Instead, year after year, budgets passed with Republican majorities have been balanced with one-year revenues, phantom funds, and other budgetary gimmicks. This year, even as the sword of a credit downgrade was hanging over the heads of the taxpayers of the state who will bear the burden of the increased taxes at every level of government from school districts and municipalities to counties to the entire state, Speaker Turzai ignored the danger. Even when a bipartisan… Continue reading

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On the Passage of the PA House GOP Revenue Plan

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania Budget

HARRISBURG – Marc Stier, director of the PA Budget and Policy Center, made the following statement on the passage of the House GOP revenue plan: “After a long debate that was mainly remarkable for the failure of House Republicans to adequately explain or defend their proposal to transfer $600 million from special funds into the General Fund, the Pennsylvania House of Representative enacted a revenue plan that (1) includes zero recurring revenues, which means that the next fiscal year will begin with a deficit of over $1 billion, (2) is fundamentally unbalanced in that it includes many proposals that are unlikely to raise the revenues expected, including proposals that have been included in previous budgets but have never gone into effect, and (3) is a stealth cut in government spending on critical programs in public transportation, public safety, environmental protection and agriculture, small business, economic development, and other areas that… Continue reading

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Budgets and Balances: The PA House GOP Budget Plan to Raid Special Funds Explained

  By Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget

The Pennsylvania House Republican plan to balance the budget in part by raiding other state funds is something of a moving target. A new amendment Representative Moul (A03286) to House Bill 593 is the legislative vehicle in which elements of the plan will move to the floor of the House as early as today. We want to take a step back and put the whole plan to use supposedly “surplus” money that is “sitting around doing nothing” into perspective. This plan rests on a fundamental confusion between bank balances and budgets, one that has played a role in the life of most married couples once or twice. And perhaps the easiest way to understand it is to consider a scenario not unfamiliar to most of us. One partner — I’m going to make him the husband in this version but it doesn’t have to be — picks up a flyer from… Continue reading

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Where the Budget Stands

  By Budget, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania Budget

As legislators return to Harrisburg after a far too long vacation, it’s time to take stock of the state of the unfinished budget. In early July, the General Assembly enacted a budget that took many step forwards. It provided new funding for child care and pre-K education, for K-12 education, for the Pennsylvania System of Higher Education; for those who are intellectually disabled and face long waiting lists to get services; and for those for those who suffer from opioid addiction and mental illness. Yet, as of today, the General Assembly has not managed to pass a funding plan to pay either the budget for the current year, which remains about $900 million underfunded, or for the deficit of $1.5 billion accumulated last year. Weeks went by after the appropriations bill was passed with no action, but finally the Senate took a step forward. With strong bipartisan support it passed… Continue reading