Pa. Senate panel passes $27 billion budget
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HARRISBURG -- The state Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved a $27 billion state budget proposal yesterday, with approval by the full Senate expected today.
"We are moving the 2007-08 budget process along,'' said Sen. Gibson Armstrong, R-Lancaster, Appropriations Committee chairman. "It's not the final action on the budget, but it's a step along the way."
The Senate's proposed spending package for the fiscal year starting July 1 is $300 million less than the budget recently approved by the state House. That proposal largely mirrored the $27.3 billion budget proposed by Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell in February.
The Senate's budget is $700 million, or 2.7 percent, more than the final budget of $26.3 billion for the 2006-07 fiscal year, which ends June 30. Mr. Armstrong said voters want the Legislature to control spending and keep the budget's growth to the rate of inflation, and don't want any of Mr. Rendell's proposed seven tax increases.
If the full Senate approves the $27 billion spending package today, as senators expect, the budget will return to the House for action. If the House rejects it, legislative leaders will meet with Mr. Rendell next week in an effort to hammer out a compromise by the July 1 deadline.
But things don't look good for meeting the deadline. Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said late yesterday it's unlikely the Democratic-controlled House would approve a new budget without additional funding for mass transit, road and bridge repairs, education, prisons and medical assistance for the poor.
"The debate is about what the level of spending should be," he said. To balance a budget that exceeds $27 billion, Mr. Evans left open the idea of using funds from the state's "rainy day" emergency account of nearly $600 million or from an expected $500 million surplus in the current budget.
Mr. Evans and Senate President Pro Tem Joseph Scarnati, R-Jefferson, sharply disagreed on whether additional transit funding would be included in the new budget. Mr. Evans insisted that it must be included, but Mr. Scarnati didn't think there was enough time before June 30 to find the additional money. He said action on transportation funding may have to wait until fall.
Mr. Evans said he was prepared to stay in session during July if necessary to provide more than the current $825 million for mass transit statewide. Mr. Rendell wants to tax oil company profits to raise $760 million a year for transit. A bill to do that was passed by the House Appropriations Committee yesterday, largely on party lines, and goes to the full House tomorrow for a vote.
Mr. Evans is also working on a separate bill to generate up to $900 million a year to repair roads and aid transit agencies. That bill also could be voted tomorrow.
The budget to be voted on today by the Senate provides only $20 million for Mr. Rendell's plan for laptop computers in high school classrooms versus the $90 million the governor is seeking.
The Senate budget also includes $225 million for "educational opportunity grants" statewide, which is only $25 million more than this year. But it doesn't include $75 million to expand pre-kindergarten programs, as the governor wanted. The GOP says school districts could use the opportunity grants for pre-K programs if they choose.
And in a sharp departure from the past, the Senate budget doesn't include $100 million or more for "community revitalization grants," more commonly known as WAMs, or walking around money. In the past such grants have been used for local projects in legislators' home districts and have been very popular among legislators.
First Published June 19, 2007 11:21 pm
