Budget: Never Have So Many Labored So Much For So Little, Wolf Vetoes Entire Budget

Senate and House Republicans Tuesday send state budget bills, a liquor privatization, pension reform and a Fiscal Code bill implementing their budget to the Governor.  Almost immediately, Gov. Wolf said he would veto the Republican budget “in its entirety,” including the General Fund Budget and the Fiscal Code bills.

He said he is going to take a closer look at both the liquor privatization and pension reform bills before he takes action.

Gov. Wolf said,”I am truly sorry that we are at this place….Republican leaders have just said no… I’m sticking to my broad goals.”  He invited legislative leaders to a meeting Wednesday to begin the process of really working on the budget.

He said the Republican budget would result in a $3 billion deficit.  “The math just doesn’t work-- Two plus two does not equal five in the real world.”

The Republican budget, he said--

-- Does not invest adequately in education;

-- Does not enact a natural gas severance tax; and

-- Does not give property tax relief to seniors and families.

The bills included--

-- General Fund: House Bill 1192 (Adolph-R-Delaware) Senate/House Republican General Fund budget was passed by the House 112-77 and the Senate concurred in House amendments by a vote of 30 to 19.  A Senate Fiscal Note and summary are available.

-- Fiscal Code: Senate Bill 655 (Browne-R-Lehigh) Fiscal Code amendments designed to implement the budget, fund projects wanted by legislators and insert legislative language wanted by members into law.  A House Fiscal Note and summary are available.

-- Education Code: House Bill 762 (Roe-R-Crawford) amendments to the Education Code required to implement the budget and making other changes.  A Senate Fiscal Note and summary are available.   A House Fiscal Note and summary are available.

-- Pension Reform: Senate Bill 1 (Corman-R-Centre) Senate/House Republican pension reform bill. A House Fiscal Note and summary are available.  An Actuarial Note and summary of the bill is available online.

-- Liquor Privatization: House Bill 466 (Turzai-R-Allegheny)House Republican liquor privatization plan was amended with the Senate/House Republican liquor privatization plan. A Senate Fiscal Note and summary are available.  A House Fiscal Note and summary are available.