Corbett signs budget
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HARRISBURG -- With 13 minutes to spare, Gov. Tom Corbett signed a $27.15 billion state budget package into law late Thursday night, narrowly finishing his first spending plan by the June 30 deadline.
While the governor and the Republicans in control of both legislative chambers campaigned on reversing the last administration's pattern of budget fights dragging into the summer, it took lawmakers until the final moments to complete all of the measures that Mr. Corbett required of them.
With the spending, revenue and other budget bills headed to his desk, the governor told lawmakers that they would not be signed into law until he received a measure aimed at constraining the ability of school districts to increase property taxes.
As the midnight budget budget deadline drew near, the House finally approved that measure with a half-hour left before the Legislature was required to end session for the day. Senators promptly shepherded it to passage as time expired.
At a hastily gathered event in the Capitol rotunda, the governor thanked lawmakers before proclaiming that the budget "confronts and deals realistically with a $4.2 billion deficit."
"Make no mistake here, this budget is for Pennsylvania working families," Mr. Corbett said. "It imposes no new taxes on them," drawing applause from the GOP lawmakers behind him, "nor does it raise any new taxes on them."
The late-night bill-signing marked the first time in nine years that all of the budget legislation was passed by June 30. It also is the first time since at least 1970 that state spending will decline from the previous year.
That 4 percent reduction in state spending was the subject of months of criticism from Democrats and other opponents who said the proposal cut too deep into education and human services. Nearly every state government program will see a decrease in funding, from lucrative economic development grants to mandated welfare and corrections costs.
The property tax-hike bill that drew controversy was Mr. Corbett's answer to critics who say that $900 million worth of state funding cuts to schools will translate into higher taxes at the local level.
The legislation strengthens an existing law requiring voter approval for property tax increases that exceed inflation. Mr. Corbett has said that law is ineffective because it allows so many exemptions that districts seldom need to go to referendum.
First Published July 1, 2011 12:40 am
