Category Archives: ERG Blog

News on the state budget impasse these days is like a recurring bad dream. Late into the third month without a state funding or financing plan, each morning still starts with the news that the state is without a budget agreement.

Now in the third month of a budget stalemate between the General Assembly and Governor Tom Wolf, the State Senate announced plans to come back for voting session September 16, 17 and 18. The House is scheduled to come back for session the week of Sept. 21.

Late last week, and for a day or so this week, it appeared that the ice blocking a budget solution might melt a bit. Governor Wolf and legislative leaders had discussed a pension reform proposal from Wolf along with Republican promises of increased education funding. GOP legislators had hoped Wolf would agree to the ideas, to kick start further budget talks, but on Tuesday, Wolf said he needed more time to sort out questions about potential savings tied to the pension overhaul and wanted additional items put on the negotiating agenda.

Two meetings this week on the state budget left Gov. Tom Wolf and Majority Leader Dave Reed saying that they are still a long way apart on unresolved issues but that they plan to talk again next week. On Wednesday, Speaker Mike Turzai had said Wednesday’s talks were “an important discussion … although some of us share the concern that the governor has not moved off of his tax increases.” And Senate spokesman Drew Crompton said the meeting showed “how monumentally apart we still are.”

Last week after a three hour budget negotiating session, it appeared that a minor thaw was coming for the discussions on crafting a state budget acceptable to all parties – all parties said the meeting was “productive.” On Wednesday, Governor Wolf’s Chief of Staff Katie McGinty resigned – with the Governor naming his Legislative Secretary Mary Isenhour to the post, changing the dynamic of budget discussions (see stories below). Then last Thursday, Gov. Wolf took the 90-minute drive to State College area to talk Senate Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman and House Majority Leader Dave Reed about the budget impasse.

Two weeks into the 2015 state budget impasse, we are reminded of a line from Tom Clancy’s Executive Orders…” “Diplomacy was like a card game. The difference was that you never really knew the value of the cards in your own hand.”

The paradox of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object seems apt for the state budget process this year, as the battle of perceived mandates continued through the evening of June 30. Of course, reality tells us the paradox is a false premise. Existence of either would make the other impossible.

With less than two weeks remaining until the June 30 budget “deadline,” and discussions continuing among House and Senate leaders and the Governor’s Office, no breakthroughs appear imminent, and GOP leaders have signaled that without a significant change in negotiating positions, they may work together to pass a balanced budget and put it on the Governor’s desk on June 30.

In 2003, the General Assembly took a record eight days to pass the bare bones stopgap budget proposed by newly elected Governor Ed Rendell. That action forced Rendell to veto it almost identical to what he had proposed. This week, House Republicans set up a vote for the revenue portion of Governor Tom Wolf’s budget proposal, which was voted down by a 193-0 vote.

This week, the Wolf Administration, business community and the leaders of the General Assembly continued to face off over pension reform and severance taxes, two major pieces of the 2015-2016 budget puzzle.