Senate and House Republicans and Gov. Corbett have agreed to a $28.3 billion FY 2013-14 state budget, but not on liquor privatization, transportation funding and pension reform so far.
House Bill 1437 (Adolph-R- Delaware) was passed Sunday in a bipartisan vote of 33 to 17 in the Senate and 111 to 92 in the House and was signed into law by Gov. Corbett 90 minutes before the midnight deadline making it his third on-time budget.
Gov. Corbett said at the signing ceremony it was only the end of the first quarter in dealing with the Senate and House on his three priorities-- liquor privatization, transportation funding and pension reform. He said he looks forward to working with legislators over the summer and wrapping up those issues in the Fall.
House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) and other members of the House attended the budget signing, but no members of the Senate attended.
On the other issues, here’s where we stand--
-- Liquor Privatization: The Senate and amended House Bill 790 (Turzai-R-Allegheny) in the wee hours of Saturday morning and referred it to the Senate Appropriations Committee. It has been sitting there ever since. The proposal isn’t to the liking of House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny). Gov. Corbett put out a public statement Sunday afternoon asking the Senate and House to please take final action on the bill. So far, the Senate hasn’t listened.
-- Transportation Funding: It took several tries, but Senate Bill 1 (Rafferty-R- Montgomery) was amended and reported out of the House Transportation Committee Thursday and has been on the House Calendar ever since. It wasn’t even referred to the House Appropriations Committee. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson) came out with a statement Sunday urging the House to act on this critical priority, but so far the House hasn’t listened.
-- Pension Reform: It looks like House Speaker Sam Smith’s (R-Jefferson) statement Wednesday that pension reform was off the Table was on the mark.
What this means is Gov. Corbett may turn out to be 0 for 3 in his key legislative priorities before the summer recess.
The House has added July 1 and 2 to their voting session, but the Senate recessed to the call of the Senate President Pro Tempore leaving their return to session up in the air.
Here is the status of the other key Code bills following the budget, all of which were sent by the Senate to the House today--
-- Tax Code: House Bill 465 MacKenzie (R-Berks) amends the Tax Code was amended and reported out of the Senate Appropriations Committee, amended again on the Senate Floor and was passed by the Senate. The bill returns to the House for a concurrence vote.
-- Welfare Code/Medicaid Expansion: House Bill 1075 (Moul-R-Adams) makes numerous changes to the Welfare Code, including expansion of the Medicaid program was amended on the Senate Floor and was passed by the Senate. The bill now goes to the House for a concurrence vote.
-- Education Code: House Bill 1141 (Saylor-R-York) amends the School Code relating to district budgets, school building projects, educator discipline fees, basic education funding, accountability grants and more was amended in the Senate Appropriations Committee and was passed by the Senate. The bill returns to the House for a concurrence vote.
Click Here to view a spreadsheet comparing FY 2012-13 and new FY 2013-14 appropriations. Click Here for the agency-by-agency budget spreadsheet which compares current year funding, the Governor’s request and the agreed-to budget numbers.
NewsClip: Budget Bill Given OK, Corbett Agenda Up In The Air
