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March 9, 2010, 5:38 pm
A coalition of House lawmakers and environmental advocates said Tuesday that Governor Ed Rendell should abandon plans to lease more state forest land for drilling because the natural gas extraction could ravage the environment.
But an administration spokesman countered that the plan to make more state land available for drilling is one of the few politically viable ways to raise badly needed revenue as Pennsylvania grapples with a multi-billion revenue shortfall.
The governor proposes using $180 million from the leases to help fill next year’s budget, a plan similar to one used last year, when the state leased 32,000 acres to raise $60 million for the current fiscal year’s budget.
A better-than-expected return on the leases this year likely means the state won’t have to make as much land available next year as originally thought, but giving away even one more acre was an anathema to the lawmakers – including one Republican – who participated in Tuesday’s press conference.
March 8, 2010, 6:48 pm
The House is poised to approve a budget bill March 22, Democrats say, after the Appropriations Committee passed the legislation Monday, sending the $29 billion, no-new-tax spending plan for consideration before the full chamber.
But if Monday’s committee vote was any indication, Democrats, like last year, will face unanimous opposition from House Republicans, who reiterated concerns the proposed budget spends too much.
Members of the Appropriations Committee approved House Bill 2279 during an afternoon meeting on a party-line vote, 21-14. The relatively early vote, coming in the beginning of March, is part of an effort by Democrats to expedite this year’s budget process after last year’s 101-day delay.
February 25, 2010, 4:33 pm
Speaker of the House Keith McCall (D-Carbon) said Thursday that he thinks some of the state’s congressional delegation might be swaying the federal government’s decision on whether to approve of tolls Interstate 80, the centerpiece of a transportation bill passed by the General Assembly in 2007.
It’s why he sent a letter recently to Ray LaHood, secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, that touted the importance of the tolls while emphasizing few other options exist to fund the state’s mass transit system and repair its aging set of roads and bridges.
“When we first enacted this funding law in July of ‘07, we were at the very very last idea,” Rep. McCall told PLS in an interview. “It wasn’t like we didn’t consider gas taxes.”
February 23, 2010, 6:08 pm
Confusing reimbursement applications and a lack of state oversight are preventing hundreds of thousands of qualified homeowners from receiving property tax relief from casino slots revenues, according to a special report released Tuesday by Auditor General Jack Wagner.
And in some cases, the general’s report said, homeowners aren’t even aware they need to apply for the relief, causing them to miss the money due to them.
He recommended clarifying language on the applications, which every homeowner must fill out to receive property tax money, and giving the Department of Revenue oversight over the process. Several departments, including Education and Economic Development, and local county officials administer parts of the process now, a fragmented system of oversight the auditor general said causes confusion.
“There are a whole litany of reasons why we feel this system must be corrected,” Wagner said during an afternoon press conference. “We must remove the inequities that are part of it because the way it was structured just isn’t good enough.”
February 19, 2010, 5:29 pm
A new commission focused on reducing government costs used its first meeting Friday afternoon to discuss several potential money-saving proposals, primary among them whether Pennsylvania should sell a portion of its fleet of vehicles.
State government controls about 16,000 vehicles, half of them passenger cars, according to the Department of General Services’s spokesman, and even before Friday’s hearing lawmakers had suggested selling some of them to help ease the state’s fiscal burden. But critics of the plan say the state-owned cars can save money compared reimbursing the drivers for miles driven in their personal vehicles
The meeting was a debut for the 10-member Senate Government Management and Cost Study Commission, which was created earlier this session by a unanimously adopted Senate Resolution. It is tasked with finding ways Pennsylvania can save money ahead of this year’s budget negotiations, talks which will take place against the backdrop of a roughly $500 million revenue shortfall and looming fiscal pitfalls.
February 16, 2010, 4:33 pm
A trio of men dressed like Revolutionary War soldiers played “Yankee Doodle Dandy” on their fife and drums Tuesday morning in the rotunda as the crowd packed behind them held signs saying “Don’t tread on my beer” and “the right to bear beer.”
They had gathered with officials from supermarkets and convenience shops to “join the revolution” against what they consider prohibitive regulations over the sale of beer in Pennsylvania and to support recently introduced legislation aimed at loosening those rules.
“Well, isn’t this something,” said Mike Cortez, Vice President of Sheetz Inc., as he began the press conference.
“All I can say is, ‘Free my beer,’” he said, gaining cheers of approval from the crowd.
February 9, 2010, 6:46 pm
Legislative leaders from both sides appeared either uninterested or hostile to Governor Ed Rendell’s proposal Tuesday to cushion the blow of a looming multi-billion shortfall in the coming years, while the chief executive’s plan to increase spending next fiscal year by about $1.15 billion was called too costly by Senate Republican leaders.
The most ambitious part of the governor’s plan, unveiled during his annual budget address, was a proposal to squire away money generated by new taxes into a reserve account, which won’t be tapped until 2011-12. By then, the administration projects it to hold $2.3 billion, which can make up for the billions of dollars lost when federal stimulus money expires.
The reserve account would also help the state handle a multi-billion dollar increase in pension contributions to retired school and state employees, and it is funded primarily by removing sales tax exemptions on 74 items while reducing the overall levy from 6 percent to 4 percent.
Governor Rendell sought to portray the sales tax plan as one that will help average families at the expense of special interests, but Senate President Pro Temp Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson) said the proposal still represents a tax increase.
“Quite frankly, an increase is an increase,” Senator
Continue reading Legislators Cool to Rendell’s Proposals
February 9, 2010, 5:57 pm
Governor Ed Rendell used the state’s annual budget address Tuesday to propose a new reserve account designed to lessen the impact of looming multi-billion dollar budget gaps in the coming years, a plan whose centerpiece includes lowering the state’s sales tax but eliminating nearly 75 exemptions in it.
But the governor’s ambition to create the new account, which wouldn’t take effect until he left office and would be funded by restructuring the sales tax and adding an array of smaller taxes, contrasted with moderate proposals for next fiscal year’s spending plan. State government next year, under Governor Rendell’s proposal, would add about $1.15 billion in funding for education, corrections and medical assistance programs, but it would not create any new initiatives and raise no new taxes.
“With help from Washington, our challenge to produce a balanced budget with no tax increase for the coming fiscal year is daunting but doable,” Governor Rendell said in his address before a joint-session of the House and Senate. “As I said a moment ago, if you send me this budget I will sign it.
“However, I strongly believe that we must do more to ensure the future well-being of the Commonwealth,” he continued. “A fiscal tsunami is
Continue reading Governor Unveils Two-Pronged Budget Proposal
February 9, 2010, 1:56 pm
Senate Minority Leader Bob Mellow (D-Lackawanna) said Tuesday he will not seek re-election at the end of his term this year.
“It has been my profound personal honor to serve the citizens of Pennsylvania,” he said in a statement. “It has literally been my life’s work. I am deeply grateful for the trust that my friends and neighbors from northeastern Pennsylvania have shown me by electing and re-electing me to work for them. We have accomplished many great things together.”
Elected in 1971, Sen. Mellow is the chamber’s longest-serving member.
“The long hours in Harrisburg over the years have cost me precious time with my daughters and now my grandchildren,” he said. “My choice to put them first is the right thing to do and, as jarring as this decision has been to make, I am confident that now is the right time to do it. All of those days devoted to my constituents have resulted in many good things for the 22nd District – some I never imagined possible. With those successes in mind, I am shifting my focus. My daughters and grandchildren mean the world to me, and in this next chapter of my life, I need to devote more of
Continue reading Mellow to retire at end of session
February 4, 2010, 2:56 pm
Rep. Bill DeWeese (D-Greene) said Thursday he will seek re-election despite facing charges connected to the attorney general’s wide-ranging public corruption investigation, known as “Bonusgate.”
“There’s so much at stake for the families of the 50th District,” he said in a statement, “that I am prepared to continue fighting to represent their interests in Harrisburg. It’s a cause to which I have devoted my entire career.”
DeWeese, a former majority whip this legislative session before the indictment forced him to step down, has been a majority leader and speaker of the House in previous sessions. He has served in the legislature since 1976.
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