$28 Billion State Budget Leaves Unfinished Business

By Melissa Daniels | PA Independent

HARRISBURG —On Sunday night, Gov. Tom Corbett stood in front of about two dozen House members and cabinet secretaries and signed the state’s new $28.375 billion spending plan, about two hours before the new fiscal year began.

It’s the third on-time spending plan of his tenure, passed by the House and Senate earlier that day. But it was missing any of the major three objectives Corbett called for earlier this year – transportation funding, liquor privatization and pension reform.

Corbett said he wasn’t disappointed that lawmakers didn’t deliver these issues to his desk. He called them unfinished business.

“These aren’t easy things to do,” said Corbett. “There are, as you know, many interest groups with many different perspectives in a bill like this, so I can’t be disappointed.”

Some might argue whether Corbett’s budget is actually on time. He has yet to sign – and the General Assembly has yet to pass – several code bills, are like operating manuals for the budget. But Corbett said appropriation revenue certification have been signed off on, meeting the constitutional requirement of an on-time budget.

Lawmakers won’t be in session over the summer. But come the fall, Corbett will still push for these issues, he said. Existing bills already working their way through the legislature won’t expire until the end of the legislative session in 2014.

“We are making progress,” he said. “We are moving forward.”

Corbett had made a final push to get the state Senate to move a liquor privatization bill Sunday night. But he declined to say the issue was gone for good, calling the House of Representative’s vote on a privatization bill earlier this year historic.

On transportation, though, Corbett said he was disappointed to see some House members play politics with what should be a bipartisan issue.

“It’s a bill that requires bipartisan support, we were looking for that,” Corbett said. “Some people decide that they would rather play politics than good policy for the people of Pennsylvania, and we don’t have that bipartisan support yet.”

Secretary of Transportation Barry Schoch said his department may have to start limiting access to bridges this summer because of weight restrictions.

“We just lost a construction season by not getting this done now,” Schoch said.

The push to get pension reform died earlier this week after many members seemed to feel gun shy about enrolling future employees in a 401(k) style plan. While some actuarial reports suggested savings from the plan, others said it would wind up costing the state billions of dollars.

Budget Secretary Charles Zogby said there’s still wide support for switching to a defined contribution plan, which may be the starting point for talks again in the fall. He said expects the issue to remain in the forefront – especially as pension costs continue to spike in the state budget, and school districts statewide.

“What you’re going to see, too, is the pressure of those pension increases,” he said. “Those have not been wiped away. In fact, I think they’re going to get worse.”

Before he signed the budget bill, Corbett pointed to some pluses he sees in next year’s budget, topics often overshadowed by negotiations on the major issues –like  a $122 million bump to education funding  and an elimination of the inheritance tax on small family-owned businesses.

He said he is able to work with the legislature on major issues, despite the fact lawmakers couldn’t resolve their negotiations.

“It was just the way actions were taking place behind the scenes,” Corbett said. “Come September, come October, we’ll be right back.”