pamatters.com | Governor Tom Corbett

New Law Protects PA Firefighters

July 7, 2011/in News /by PAMatters

Governor Tom Corbett’s signature on HB 797 ends firefighters’ 25-year battle. President of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association, Art Martynuska, is ecstatic. “Our men and women across the state – both career and volunteer – risk their lives on a daily basis, protecting the residents of Pennsylvania,” Martynuska tells us.

The new law designates cancer as an occupational disease for firefighters in Pennsylvania. For some types of cancer, Martynuska says, firefighters are at a 100% greater risk than members of the general public.

Previously, the onus was on the firefighter to prove that the cancer was caused by the cumulative effects of the job. Now, the presumption is flipped. But, Martynuska says the municipalities which pay for the workers compensation can still rebut: “Lifestyle things, heredity things, certain things of that nature would give [them options] to say no, it wasn’t a result of your exposure to products of combustion or hazardous materials.”

Firefighters would have to meet certain conditions too. For instance, they must have served at least four years of continuous firefighting duty, and they must have a prior cancer-free physical exam.

A similar bill was vetoed by Governor Ed Rendell in 2010, but Martynuska says they’ve since sat down with the municipal groups who were expressing concerns with the bill. HB 797 passed both chambers of the legislature with near unanimous support, and it takes effect immediately. In all, Governor Tom Corbett signed 46 bills into law on Thursday.

State Budget’s Education Cuts Scrutinized

July 5, 2011/1 Comment/in News /by PAMatters

It’s a budget that represents shared sacrifices, and president of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children Joan Benso says kids are sharing a big chunk of the sacrifice. Benso’s budget reaction is somewhat mixed. For instance she says the $100-million dollar restoration for Accountability Block Grants will be helpful. “But for example… in Harrisburg, their school board voted to go back to part-day K, the restoration simply isn’t enough,” Benso says. The Accountability Block Grants are used in large part to fund full-day kindergarten programs across the state. Governor Tom Corbett’s original budget proposal would have eliminated them. Lawmakers worked to restore $100-million of last year’s $259-million dollar line item.

The Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) – the state’s largest teachers union – is lamenting what they calculate to be $860-million dollars in cuts to public education. “We’re very concerned about the consequences this is going to have on student performance,” says PSEA spokesman David Broderic. “Pennsylvania students in public schools have made dramatic gains in student performance in the past six years, and part of that has to do with resources being directed at programs that work.”

State Education Secretary Ron Tomalis

The “Basic Education Funding” line item will receive $5.35– billion dollars this year. Last year’s appropriation included $4.73-billion state dollars, in addition to roughly a billion federal stimulus dollars, which are no longer available. “States were warned not to use that money in a way that would create long-term obligations, and unfortunately that’s exactly what Pennsylvania did,” says state Education Secretary Ron Tomalis. As the new budget forces the state to live within its means, Tomalis says the education system will have to do the same. Overall, public education and K – 12 educational programs will receive $10.1-billion dollars in FY2012.

State Senator Jake Corman (R-Centre)

Higher education was projected to receive a 50% state funding cut, according to Governor Tom Corbett’s March 8^th budget proposal. Those figures have since been mitigated to 18% cuts to the 14-universities in the State System of Higher Education, 19% cuts to the state related universities (PSU, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln). The State System’s board has already approved a 7.5% tuition hike for the new school year. Even more recently, Temple became the first state related university to approve a new budget. It calls for a 10% tuition increase. Penn State’s trustees will set new tuition rates next Friday (July 15^th). The higher education funding issue isn’t likely to go away anytime soon. “I think that we should take the summer and the fall to get a better understanding of some of these issues, and then be prepared for next year when the budget comes around again,” says State Senator Jake Corman, who chairs the Appropriations Committee. The Centre County Republican also represents State College, which is – of course – home to Penn State University.

Arts Funding Dodges Significant Budget Cuts

July 5, 2011/in News /by PAMatters

Funded at $8.1-million dollars in the new state budget, the “Grants to the Arts” line item represents a tiny fraction of the $27.15-billion dollar spending plan. But, supporters say that small investment brings back a huge return. “If you include all arts related spending, about 62,000 full-time equivalent jobs are created annually,” says Jenny Hershour, managing director of Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania. “It also generates economic activity around $2-billion dollars a year… so it’s an economic generator,” Hershour tells us.

While funding is still down slightly from last year’s $8.4-million dollar appropriation, it’s a vast improvement from the more than 70% cuts that House Republicans called for in their first budget counterproposal. Hershour credits grassroots advocacy with preserving the funding: “I think the General Assembly understands the importance of these very small grants that go to arts organizations, and the very large impact that it has on their constituents.”

First Lady Susan Corbett with Governor Tom Corbett

Pennsylvania’s First Lady Susan Corbett chairs the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. She has served on the council since 1999. When asked about arts funding on Radio PA’s monthly “Ask the Governor” program (prior to the final budget) Governor Tom Corbett quickly sided with his wife over the House Republican budget plan. “There is a significant return on investment… in tourism dollars, in growing art in Pennsylvania; whether it be in the community, in the schools or wherever,” Corbett said.

The arts grants are used for a variety of programs in all 67-counties.

PA Budget Signing Beats Midnight Deadline

July 1, 2011/in News /by PAMatters

The $27.15-billion dollar, no-tax increase budget trims state spending by more than a billion dollars. It passed the legislature with zero Democratic support Wednesday night, but Governor Tom Corbett waited until all of the supporting bills were in place before finally putting pen to paper late Thursday night.

The administration reports that 66-line items were eliminated, 226-line items were reduced, and 52-line items were consolidated. Basic education funding will receive $5.35-billion dollars in the new fiscal year. That’s down from a total of $5.77-billion dollars last year (a number which included federal stimulus dollars). The State System of Higher Education is already responding to 18% funding cuts. Its board of governors approved a 7.5% tuition hike on Thursday. Similarly, the state related universities (PSU, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln) face 19% reductions in state support.

Governor Corbett calls the lean spending plan an important first step in putting PA’s fiscal house back in order. “It spends no more than we have and it doesn’t pretend that we have more that we haven’t budgeted,” Corbett said referring to Democrats’ calls to use last year’s unexpected revenues to mitigate cuts to education and welfare programs.

At Thursday night’s bill signing, Governor Corbett said the budget was crafted to grow PA’s economy: “Make no mistake here. This is a budget for Pennsylvania families, for Pennsylvania working families. It is a budget that imposes no new taxes on them.”

Governor Corbett also hailed legislative passage of a new bill to limit Act 1 exceptions – thus requiring a voter referendum if a PA school district seeks to raise property taxes above the rate of inflation. While it was technically an unrelated bill, it represents a Corbett priority and the final piece of the budget package. “I believe we need to give the citizens of Pennsylvania, in the school districts, the ability to voice their opinion in more than just the election of school board directors,” Corbett tells reporters.

However, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association is concerned that this will result in additional reductions in educational programming. They know that voter referenda on property taxes are extremely difficult to approve. “The problem is, less than 25% of the population has children in schools, so there’s 75% of the population that the districts need to reach that they don’t necessarily reach on a routine basis,” says PSBA director of research Dave Davare. “Districts are not willy-nilly raising taxes,” Davare tells us.

With this year’s budget work behind them, the State House and Senate have each recessed until September. This marked the first time in nine years that PA’s state budget was signed by the constitutional deadline.

Lawmakers May Give Voters More Say on School Tax Hikes

June 30, 2011/in News /by PAMatters

Governor Tom Corbett calls a local property tax reform bill crucial for this budget season. Specifically, he supports the removal of exceptions that allow school districts to raise property taxes above the Act 1 inflationary index, without voter approval. “I believe that if [school districts] are going to go beyond the rate of inflation than they ought to have the right to vote on it,” Corbett said on Radio PA’s monthly “Ask the Governor” program.

An apparent compromise has started to move in the State House, which would remove many exceptions and tighten several others. Executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) Jay Himes tells us the most important exceptions would remain: pensions and special education. “It’s good that they’re in. Unfortunately – particularly with regard to the pension exception – they are in with a very limited form.” Himes says state-mandated pension costs aren’t controlled by inflation. Rather, pension costs are going up by hundreds of millions of dollars every year, for the next several years.

The House voted 103 – 98 to amend SB 330 with the property tax reform language on Wednesday night. During floor debate, Republican Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) said schools could still raise property taxes up to the Act 1 index (1.4% next year). “You need referendum when it is at or above that index,” Turzai said. But PASBO’s Jay Himes says Pennsylvania’s history with school property tax referenda has been one-sided. “It’s going to be a huge uphill struggle that will take additional resources and additional efforts for school districts.”

Supporters say the change would hold school districts more accountable. On “Ask the Governor” Corbett said teachers’ contracts are one of the biggest components of increasing school budgets. “And I have seen across Pennsylvania, in the last few months, contracts that are 3, 4, 5% increases per year.”

Operating Budget Awaits Governor Tom Corbett’s Signature

June 30, 2011/in News /by PAMatters

A $27.15- billion dollar state spending plan has now passed both chambers of the legislature, with zero Democratic support. Wednesday night’s House vote was 109 – 92. Two Republicans joined all House Democrats in opposition to the bill.

House Republican Appropriations chair Bill Adolph (R-Delaware) says it represents about a 4% reduction in general spending. “This is only the third time in nearly 40-years that Pennsylvania will be spending less than the prior year budget,” Adolph said during House floor debates. He contends the budget is built upon realistic and sustainable revenues. “This budget will not create a deficit by spending beyond our means.”

The Republican-backed spending plan would tap into some of the higher-than-anticipated state revenues, which have accumulated this year, but Adolph says they do not rely on that money to sustain the budget. Most state officials expect the final surplus number to be in the range of $700-million dollars. While many Democrats say more of that money should be spent to mitigate painful spending cuts, Republicans are quick to point to a long list of liabilities, including: growing pension obligations, state debt payments, a potential Mcare settlement, an unresolved transportation funding gap and more.

As Republicans tout the fiscal responsibility of the spending plan, Democrats – like Appropriations chair Joe Markosek (D-Allegheny) – say they relied on gimmicks to keep the spend number artificially low. “This is a budget that is full of hide and seek and sleight of hand,” Markosek said. “This is not open government.”

Democrats complained even more loudly about more than a billion dollars in cuts to basic and higher education. The 14-universities in the State System of Higher Education will see an 18% funding cut, and we may soon learn whether it will significantly affect tuition rates. The ‘basic education funding’ line item, in the budget, stands at $5.35-billion dollars. That’s down from $5.77-billion dollars last year. But that number included federal stimulus money, and Republicans say this year’s state investment in basic education is the largest ever.

In all, Pennsylvania is losing about $2.7-billion dollars in stimulus money, which was used to balance last year’s budget. Senate Republican leaders say the loss of federal stimulus dollars means that difficult but necessary budget cuts needed to be made.

The legislative work isn’t over yet, as there are still auxiliary budget bills that need to be enacted. But, if Governor Tom Corbett signs the budget today, it will break a streak of eight consecutive late budgets in Pennsylvania.

Senate Passes Budget Bill as Deadline Looms

June 28, 2011/in News /by PAMatters

Sen. Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware)

The new fiscal year begins on Friday, but Pennsylvania may still have its first on-time budget in eight years. The State Senate voted along party lines (30 to 20) to pass a GOP-backed $27.15-billion dollar spending plan Tuesday evening. “This year marks a return to a state budget paid for with state revenues,” says Senate Republican Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware), referring to the $7-billion dollars in federal stimulus money Pennsylvania received over the past three years. “It is difficult but necessary to reset state spending to reflect that new reality.”

While the bottom-line is more than a billion dollars below the current General Fund budget, Senator Pileggi points out that the bill increases basic education funding by $268-million and higher education funding by $368-million, compared to the Governor’s March 8^th budget proposal.

Senate Democrats still say the budget pain doesn’t have to be so severe. “We’re sitting on an extra, what will probably be by June 30^th, an extra $700-million dollars in budget surplus,” says Democratic Appropriations Chair Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia).

But that’s a “so-called” surplus, according to Governor Tom Corbett. “Yes more revenue has come in, but we still have a deficit… We have spending that has to be done in the future, we don’t think that next year is going to be much rosier – if at all – than this year,” Corbett told reporters on Tuesday.

While Corbett says spending matches revenues in the current budget bill, he knows that it’s not a done deal yet. “Until there is a budget, until I have an opportunity to sign one, there is no budget,” he says. The budget bill now awaits House action.

Expanded Castle Doctrine Becomes Law

June 28, 2011/in News /by PAMatters

State Rep. Scott Perry Addresses a May Gun Rights Rally at the Capitol

Law abiding gun owners’ rights to self defense just got stronger in Pennsylvania. Governor Tom Corbett signed the expanded “Castle Doctrine” privately on Tuesday. “It codifies existing law… it codifies the self defense law under common law,” Corbett said in response to questions at an unrelated news conference.

“If you believe that your home is your castle as I do… then you also believe you have the right to defend it,” said State Rep. Scott Perry (R-York) at a capitol gun rights rally in May. Perry is the bill’s prime sponsor.

The expanded Castle Doctrine eliminates one’s “duty to retreat” before using deadly force if they are under attack, virtually anywhere they are legally allowed to be. Currently, a gun owner’s right to stand their ground ends at their front door. The new law takes effect in 60-days.

CeaseFire PA had recently delivered more than 4,000 petitions to Governor Corbett – urging him to veto the expanded Castle Doctrine. “This expansion we think is a dangerous and unnecessary change to that law, which means that now you can use deadly force in public spaces even if you could have walked away safely,” says CeaseFire PA’s executive director Max Nacheman.

The news conference, referenced earlier, was held as Governor Tom Corbett publicly signed the “Fair Share Act” into law Tuesday. It is designed to ensure that defendants in civil lawsuits are only responsible to pay their fair share. Under the previous system of joint & several liability, defendants with as little as 1% of the fault could be on the hook for 100% of the damages.

Amended Budget Goes to Full Senate

June 28, 2011/in News /by Brad Christman

Senate Republicans unveiled the latest version of the FY2012 state budget late Monday during a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting in Harrisburg. The measure passed 16-10 along party lines. The $27.148 billion spending plan also has the approval of Governor Tom Corbett and House Republicans, who signed off on it during closed-door budget talks.

The budget restores hundreds of millions of dollars in education spending cuts, but Democrats say it’s not enough. Democratic members of the Senate Appropriations Committee tried unsuccessfully to restore or increase funding to several line items through amendments that attempted to bolster human services, AIDS funding, the now-defunct AdultBasic health plan, the arts and tourism, among others. Each amendment failed by the same 16-10 party line vote.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman (R-Centre) says this budget proposal spends responsibly while respecting the billions of dollars in debt the Commonwealth is now carrying.

The budget bill is expected to go to the full Senate today.

Sate Capitol View from Commonwealth Ave.

“Fair Share Act” Goes to Governor Tom Corbett’s Desk

June 27, 2011/in News /by Brad Christman

The state House of Representatives has given final approval to a Senate bill known as the “Fair Share Act.” The legislation was one of the top priorities of Governor Tom Corbett and it is now on its way to his desk for signature.

The bill addresses percentages in civil lawsuit awards to ensure that the percentage of damages leveled against a defendant does not exceed the level of their determined responsibility. It would apply to defendants found 60% liable or less in civil cases. Democrats tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to exempt minors and senior citizens before the legislation passed 116-83 on Monday afternoon.

Supporters of the bill argued that exempting anyone from the proposed tort reform would defeat its purpose, and that the bill had nothing to do with plaintiffs. They say the current lawsuit climate in Pennsylvania has hindered the state’s ability to attract new business and create jobs.

The bill will become law 60 days after the governor signs it.

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