Budget bill moves out of committee, slated for Senate vote

Yesterday, Governor Rendell announced that a tentative budget deal has been made between his office and the four legislative caucuses. The $27.05 billion budget represents a .6% increase in spending from 2009-2010. The budget includes some deep program cuts and a few one-time transfers of money from individual funds. The budget does not include any revenue from closing the corporate loophole, increased tax on cigarettes or tax on smokeless tobacco.

HB 2279 has been amended and moved out of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is slated to reach the Senate floor for a vote today, and move quickly to the House for a vote. Visit the PA General Assembly website for the full language of the bill.

Cuts to some government programs were more than 10%, with agriculture funding cut by 11.7%; Department of Environmental Protection by 9.2%; Department of Conservation and Natural Resources by11%; and the Department of Labor and Industry, 10%.

Some OCDEL programs do receive modest cuts in HB 2279. PA Pre-K Counts and Head Start State Supplemental will receive small cuts (approximately $2.3 million). Nurse-Family Partnership, Child Care Works and Keystone STARS are essentially flat-funded. The Early Intervention program (0-5) also had modest cuts but these cuts should not impact the number of children served.

The budget does include language to pass a natural gas severance tax by October 1 that would begin January 2011, however, there are no details on the amount of the tax, and none of the revenue is considered in the 2010-2011 budget. The revenue from this tax will either make up for any revenue shortfalls throughout the year or be put in reserve to offset the $2 billion drop in federal stimulus money in the following year.

The budget also includes $850 million from an FMAP extension that has yet to be passed by the U.S. Congress. If FMAP is not passed, the Governor and Legislative leaders will negotiate deeper cuts.

We will keep you posted of developments. Thank you for your continued commitment to Pennsylvania's young children.