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Pennsylvania is entering its fifth month without an enacted state budget, but GOP legislative leaders report some progress is being made on a compromise budget framework that addresses their and Gov. Tom Wolf's priorities.
(File photo/Pennlive)
Pennsylvania is about to begin its fifth month without an enacted state budget.
House and Senate Republican leaders and their staffs both reported signs of progress being made as they continue to try to come up with a compromise proposal to present to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf that addresses his and their priorities.
But Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre County, said it continues to be a slow-go. The GOP leaders and staff talks are still focusing on the framework of a budget deal that tries to establish the spending needs for this year as well as next, he said.
"Once we get that, we can sort of get down and have more specific discussions on what revenue raising we need, if any," Corman said.
House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, sent an email to House Republicans on Thursday indicating reaching agreement on a budget framework may be the easy part.
"The details are much harder to nail down," he said.
Meanwhile, reports from the lobbying community suggest some revenue ideas that may be gaining steam, such as legalizing Internet-based gambling run by the state's licensed casino operators, while others are getting removed from consideration such as new or higher taxes on tobacco products.
Corman said nothing is locked in place except that there is agreement among the Republicans that there will be no increase in the state's 3.07 percent personal income tax rate or the state's 6 percent sales tax to generate money for the general fund.
However, sources told PennLive earlier this week that there is interest in making some changes to the sales tax to provide some property tax relief, which is one of Wolf's priorities as well as House Republicans.
In Reed's email, he indicated that the compromise plan that is being worked on with input from all parties, including administration officials, would also include reforming the state liquor store system, pension plan for future state and school employees, more money for schools, and "rectifying the structural deficit once and for all."
Wolf spokesman Jeff Sheridan said he couldn't comment on specifics of the GOP proposal "until we see details of what they might be proposing."
Sheridan questioned the seriousness of the Republicans' interest in negotiating in good faith with the governor.
While the governor has made a series of compromises, he said the Republicans only now seem to be working on a serious proposal to address the state's future revenue needs and eliminate the one-time revenue gimmicks "that put Pennsylvania in the mess that it's currently in with a multi-billion-dollar deficit."
Then, seeing an article in The PLS Reporter really sent Sheridan over the edge. Corman was quoted as saying, "Now we're trying to recognize some of the governor's priorities, now we're entering a new world here."
Sheridan said, "To say in late October, they are now getting serious and taking into consideration the governor's proposal? They haven't wanted to get serious."
Corman called that reaction childish and said his statement was in response to a question about why the House and Senate Republicans were having difficulty coming to an agreement. Corman said his response was that the caucuses have differing opinions and on top of that, some of the governor's priorities have to be weighed in.
"Obviously we've looked to try and find ways in the past to meet [Wolf's] priorities," Corman said. "If Jeff Sheridan needs to justify his existence by taking quotes out of context, God bless him but that's not very helpful to the process."
House Republican spokesman Steve Miskin said the emphasis of the Republicans' effort is to craft a "bipartisan budget" that includes wins for Wolf as well as Republican and Democratic caucuses. He said the reason for a recent sense of optimism from House Republicans has to do with finding some House Democrats who are willing to work in partnership with them.
"They want to get a budget done as well," he said. "Moving forward, we really are trying to make sure everybody is able to get a big win out of this."
Attempts to get comments from House and Senate Democratic caucuses on Friday evening were unsuccessful.