July 01, 2016

Budget Edition

Yesterday marked the last day of the 2015-2016 fiscal year, and the legislature passed a budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year just in the nick of time. Last night, the House concurred in S.B. 1073 (Browne, R-Lehigh), which, as amended by the Senate, is a General Appropriations bill that carries a $31.63 billion price tag. The bill, which represents a five percent increase in spending over the current fiscal year, includes:

  • A $200 million increase in basic education funding, $30 million more for early childhood education, a $20 million increase in special education funding, $10million more for early intervention services and an additional $39 million for higher education over the current year;
  • $31.2 million more for services to people with disabilities and $80.4 million to continue efforts to reduce the waiting list for the intellectual disabilities community waiver program;
  • $20 million dollars to fight opioid addiction;
  • Just over $12 million new dollars for state police cadet classes; and
  • A roughly six percent increase in funds appropriated to the General Assembly.

But $31.63 billion dollars doesn’t grow on trees. In order to fund the Commonwealth through the next fiscal year, we expect the legislature will pass a revenue package in the coming days that could include an increase in the cigarette tax as well as a new tax on other tobacco products, a tax amnesty program, resurrecting the natural gas gross receipts tax and expanded gaming. It’s also possible that parts of the revenue package have been kept so tightly under wraps that we’re not even aware of them yet. The Governor has stated that he will not sign the General Appropriations bill until bills to raise revenue have also reached his desk.

And while S.B. 1073 tells us how much money the state has to spend in the 2016-2017 fiscal year, substantive legislation  is still needed to direct how it is to be spent. Most years, a completed state spending plan includes bills to amend the Fiscal Code, the Human Services Code and the Public School Code. So far, only substantive legislation amending the Human Services Code has been approved by the General Assembly; H.B. 1062 (Killion, R-Ret.) was also passed last night. Read more about that bill here: https://www.buchanangovernmentrelations.com/worth-another-look-amendments-human-services-code/. At the very least, we expect a bill amending the Fiscal Code to follow.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives are set to reconvene today, at eleven o’clock and ten o’clock respectively. Stay tuned to this blog and follow us on twitter @BuchananLobbyists for updates.