From the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center (http://www.pennbpc.org):
It’s late September and the PA budget is still not complete. There has been movement in the past few weeks, but still no agreement on a revenue bill to pay for the spending bill passed back in July.
House members returned to Harrisburg last week and passed an irresponsible, sham revenue plan that would reply heavily on stealing money from special funds that are already earmarked for very specific purposes.
This week, the Senate voted 43-7 to NOT concur with the House’s irresponsible revenue plan. Then, as the impasse continued, credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded PA’s credit, making a clear statement attributing this to years of budgets funding with gimmicks & fund transfers. This now sets the stage for the creation of a Conference Committee, which cannot officially begin until the House returns to session next Monday and acts on it.
At this point, it is important for an agreement coming out of a Conference Committee include real, recurring revenue sources. The most politically-viable recurring revenue option looks like a much-needed severance tax on natural gas drillers, but House Republican leadership remains the road block to a sensible shale tax.
*** TAKE ACTION *** Go to https://actionnetwork.org/letters/pa-house-on-the-pa-budget-its-time-to-get-real to quickly and easily send a letter to your state representative to tell them that it’s time to get real about recurring revenue to finish the budget. Calls are good, too–find contact information at http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/index.cfm#address.
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