Structure of Liberty Loan Fund discussed in hearing
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HARRISBURG -- More details on the governor's new consolidated economic development loan fund emerged today during a House Appropriations Committee hearing with the agency that would oversee the fund.
Other information on the proposed Liberty Loan Fund, including a more detailed breakdown of the money being transferred to create it, will be available when legislation is introduced in the coming weeks.
The loan fund would combine several state economic development programs into one account. That would make it easier to match business applications to appropriate assistance programs, according to Corbett administration officials.
Promises of information coming soon didn't stop lawmakers from peppering Department of Community and Economic Development Acting Secretary C. Alan Walker with questions on how that fund will work.
Mr. Walker did shed light on how members of the authority that will run the $1.9 billion loan program will be chosen. Of the 15 members, one will be from each of the four legislative caucuses, three will be cabinet secretaries, and the remaining eight will be citizens chosen by the Legislature and the governor.
Unlike the current Commonwealth Financing Authority, which requires a supermajority of its members to approve a project, the Liberty Loan Fund likely will only require a majority vote, Mr. Walker said.
That change would make it easier for businesses to access funds, ending the current "bottleneck" for projects, Mr. Walker said. He noted that the Commonwealth Financing Authority hasn't been able to approve projects for five months because of voting requirements.
But several lawmakers, including Rep. Joe Markosek, D-Monroeville and the panel's ranking Democrat, said combining funds that had been in separate budget lines would take away some of the Legislature's budgeting power.
"Why not take all this money and give it to the governor, if we're not going to have much control over it?" Mr. Markosek asked.
Others questioned whether moving money that the state receives in its annual tobacco lawsuit settlement payment into the economic development fund would be legal. Those funds, under Pennsylvania statute, are designated for specific health-related purposes.
Mr. Walker defended that use of tobacco funds, telling the committee that "the commonwealth of Pennsylvania has the most conservative group of lawyers I've ever run across."
"They're very risk averse, and in their opinion, we're able to do this," Mr. Walker said.
First Published March 24, 2011 6:05 pm
