March 23, 2016

Budget Update

It would seem that as Pennsylvania budgets go, the fourth time is a charm. Between the summer of 2015 and the beginning of March, the Pennsylvania General Assembly had sent three variations of a 2015-2016 state spending plan to the Governor, only to be sent back to the budgetary drawing board each time after the Governor vetoed or partially vetoed the bills. Last Wednesday, however, the legislature made a fourth attempt to enact a 2015-2016 budget, and the Governor announced this afternoon that he will neither sign nor veto the bill. Once ten days have passed and the Governor has not acted on the bill, it will become law as provided in the Pennsylvania constitution. The Governor received the bill on March 17th; therefore as of March 27th, the Commonwealth will have a budget for the 2015-2016 Fiscal Year.

Read more here: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2016/2016032364.HTM

The Governor has also indicated he will allow the non-preferred appropriations for the Commonwealth’s state-related institutions of higher education become law

Check out: http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/03/wolf_allows_release_of_more_sc.html

One would believe this to be a simple, possibly elegant resolution to the now nearly year-long budget battle in the Keystone State. The General Assembly gets a win for enacting a budget at long last, and the Governor’s allowing it to lapse into law makes the statement that while he doesn’t want his name on this budget (literally), he sees the need to release much needed funding for the Commonwealth’s educational, human services and criminal justice needs, just to name a few.

But it’s not quite that easy. The Governor announced today that while he will allow the General Appropriations Bill to become law, he intends to veto H.B. 1327, which contains amendments to the Commonwealth’s Fiscal Code. The Fiscal Code is a critical part of a balanced and complete state spending plan, since it includes directives on how the money in the General Appropriations Bill is to be spent. Without any of the “instructions” contained in the bill, state agencies and offices will receive their funding with what some are likely to argue is carte blanche ability to spend as they please.

If the General Assembly believes that to be the case and wishes to impose any of the conditions in the Fiscal Code on the line items in the budget bill, they could possibly vote to override the Governor’s veto. An override requires a two-thirds majority vote, however, so Republicans in both the House and Senate will have to work to get some of their democratic colleagues on board. It’s hard to gauge whether democrats will sign on for the override or stand in solidarity with the Governor. The chambers could both be called back to session at any time, should the proverbial iron be hot enough to strike on an override attempt. Stay tuned to this blog and our Twitter feed for updates (@BuchananGov).