Posts
Ask the Governor – June 17, 2014 (AUDIO)
Ask the Governor is a monthly presentation of Radio PA and PAMatters.com. This is the program for June, taped on 6/17/14. Topics include the high-gear budget talks; the chances for an extraction tax for natural gas; public pension reform; the UPMC/Highmark clash; the death of Lewis Katz and much more, including listener and web viewer emails.
Our next program will be coming up in July. Check back regularly with PAMatters.com for updated program information. Submit your questions or comments for the governor today by clicking the Ask the Governor link at the top of this page.
Click the player below to listen to the entire program.
Ask the Governor – April 30, 2014 (AUDIO)
Ask the Governor is a monthly presentation of Radio PA and PAMatters.com. This is the program for April, taped on 4/30/14. Topics include the Medicaid, state revenue shortfalls, medical marijuana, liquor proposals, the same-sex marriage lawsuit and more.. The governor also fields a multitude of emails from listeners and web viewers on topics ranging from using dead trees to help the poor to out-of-state vehicle license and registration deadbeats.
Our next program will be taped on May 27th. Submit your questions or comments for the governor today by clicking the Ask the Governor link at the top of this page.
Click the player below to listen to the entire program.
Ask the Governor – February 26, 2014 (AUDIO)
Ask the Governor is a monthly presentation of Radio PA and PAMatters.com. This is the program for February, taped on 2/26/14. Topics include a wrap up of the governor’s proposed budget plan including basic education spending, drilling proposals, higher education plans and pensions. The governor also fields a multitude of emails from listeners and web viewers on topics ranging from taxes and unemployment to gun laws and the minimum wage.
Click the player below to listen to the entire program.
Radio PA Roundtable – February 14, 2014
On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, we wrap up the latest winter storm for Pennsylvania and hear from a Pennsylvania athlete in Sochi for the Winter Olympics. Also, state budget hearings are underway.
Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting, commentary and analysis on the top news stories of the week.
Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:
Radio PA Roundtable – February 7, 2014
On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, we dissect Governor Tom Corbett’s 2014-2015 budget proposal, spotlighting education funding and proposed pension reforms. You’ll also hear from two athletes from Pennsylvania who are now in Sochi preparing to compete in the Winter Olympics.
Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting, commentary and analysis on the top news stories of the week.
Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:
Ask the Governor – January 14, 2014 (AUDIO)
Ask the Governor is a monthly presentation of Radio PA and PAMatters.com. This is the program for January, taped on 1/14/14. Topics include the scandal enveloping New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Medicaid, medical marijuana, the upcoming budget address, mass transit, the governor’s reaction to a state supreme court ruling on gas drilling zoning and much more, including your listener and web viewer emails.
Click the player below to listen to the entire program.
State House Returns to Voting Session on Monday
The state house will take a break from its summer break to return to voting session on Monday. A piece of the budget package needs to be finalized.
The House passed the fiscal code on July 1st, after adding an amendment regarding payday lending. The language indicated that the Senate and House majority leadership intended to pass legislation establishing a new schedule of rates and charges by October 31st.
The house adjourned until September, with only a non-voting day on the schedule for July 8th to sign bills and finish up other business. But on July 3rd, the Senate stripped out the payday lending language and sent the fiscal code bill back to the house. On the same day, the senate reluctantly approved the public welfare code, as amended by the house. Language on Medicaid expansion added by the senate had been stripped out by the house.
The state budget secretary warned that lack of final action on the fiscal code could have negative effects on state government. Governor Tom Corbett asked legislative leaders to pass it as soon as possible. The code includes language authorizing the spending of hundreds of millions of dollars, including some funding for higher education and additional money to help Philadelphia’s struggling public schools.
After house leadership looked at whether final action could wait until September, Speaker Sam Smith called the house back for a voting session at 1 pm on July 15th.
The delay in final passage of the fiscal code has led some to debate whether the budget for this fiscal year was really on time. The Governor did sign the General Fund budget before the start of the new fiscal year.
Franklin and Marshall College Political science professor Terry Madonna sees the dispute between the State House and Senate over the fiscal code a sign of serious distress between the two chambers. There were also big differences between the house and senate over key items in Governor Corbett’s agenda; liquor privatization and transportation funding. Neither won final approval before lawmakers took their summer breaks.
State Budget Headed to Governor Tom Corbett’s Desk
Just 3 hours and 10 minutes before the start of the new fiscal year, lawmakers in the state House of Representatives voted to approve a nearly $28.4 billion General Fund spending plan. That sends the budget to Governor Tom Corbett’s desk for his signature just before the clock strikes midnight.
Earlier Sunday, the budget passed the state Senate on a 33-17 vote. In the House, the final tally was 111 to 92. Most democrats opposed the plan on the basis of the education line items, but Republicans pointed to a late deal to increase funding to the embattled Philadelphia School District, where a $300 million deficit stands to result in thousands of layoffs. House Appropriations Chairman Bill Adolph (R-Allegheny) pointed out that the total increased state aid package to Philadelphia will help make up about $190 million of that shortfall.
The new budget spends about 2.3% more than the current year’s budget. That includes about $40 million more for public education than was proposed by Governor Corbett in February. The budget includes increases for early childhood education, including Pre-K Counts and Head Start.
Still unresolved as of late Sunday night: the issues of transportation funding, alcohol sales expansion and pension reform. Back room meetings, negotiations and deal-making did not result in breakthroughs on those topics this weekend, but lawmakers have scheduled more session time in the coming week, a rare move given that passage of the budget typically signals the end of the legislature’s work for the summer.
UPDATE: Governor Tom Corbett has signed the budget bill
Why Republicans Need Democrats Today
Pension reform is on the back burner and a deal for the state budget appears to have been reached. That leaves alcohol privatization/expansion and transportation funding as the two remaining major issues lawmakers were planning to deal with before their summer break. (Yes, Medicaid expansion is also back on the table).
It’s the transportation package that is now on life support. One might wonder how this is possible given Republican across-the-board control of the House, Senate and Governor’s office, but the GOP is fractured, especially in the House where Conservatives led by Butler County’s Daryl Metcalfe came out against the transportation plan late this week. They objected to motorist fees and other charges they deemed a pseudo tax increase.
That means House Speaker Sam Smith and Majority Leader Mike Turzai have to find Democrat votes in the chamber if transportation funding is to become a reality, but this is a little more complicated than a simple vote whip. Democrats in the House, knowing they have some power in their hands for the first time since the GOP took control of the chamber several years ago, are leveraging their position in an attempt to derail any alcohol privatization or expansion plan. Publicly, Democrats say they won’t support the transportation plan because it is inadequate. Privately, reports have surfaced that Democrats received emails this weekend from unions representing state store workers urging them to hold out on transportation in order to kill alcohol privatization.
And the chess match continues.
Transportation funding was arguably the most critical of the major issues lawmakers were expecting to address on this final week of June, the funding especially important given the deteriorating state of the Commonwealth’s roads and bridges.
With the state budget seemingly wrapped up, lawmakers could elect to remain in Harrisburg beyond Sunday to try to work out their remaining issues. Governor Tom Corbett also has the power to call for a special legislative session if he wants to force lawmakers’ hands on any or all of the remaining unresolved issues.