Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Today was the deadline for Governor Tom Corbett to make a decision about signing the state budget, or not. During a news conference in Harrisburg this morning he said he’s decided to use his power of line-item veto to cut out about $65 million in Legislative spending. He said he made the move because of lawmakers’ failure to come up with a public pension reform plan. Corbett addressed Pennsylvania citizens during the news conference, encouraging them to tell their representatives in Harrisburg to stop bowing to unions and get pension reform done. Top GOP senators say they are disappointed that Corbett has not been able to work effectively with the Republican majorities in the Senate and House to address important fiscal issues in the state. Senators Joe Scarnati, Dominic Pileggi, Jake Corman and Pat Browne, in a joint statement, said, “Reforming public pension benefits is an important goal that Senate Republicans have been engaged in for months.” The statement goes on to say tha...

HARRISBURG – Senate Republicans today elected their leadership team for the 2013-2014 legislative session. Senator Joe Scarnati (R-25) has been nominated once again to serve as President Pro Tempore. The full Senate will vote on Scarnati’s nomination when it reconvenes in January. As President Pro Tempore, he will be responsible for appointing the chairpersons and members of the standing committees of the Senate. He will also play a significant role in negotiations with the Administration and the House of Representatives. A native of Brockway in Jefferson County, Scarnati was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate in 2000. A graduate of the Pennsylvania State University at DuBois, the Senator is a third-generation small business owner and served in local government. Senator Dominic Pileggi (R-9) will serve his fourth term as Senate Majority Leader. His duties include overseeing the legislative agenda, developing policies an...

The state Senate today approved a fiscally responsible, sustainable state budget that does not increase taxes and restores funding for education and human service programs, said Senate Appropriations Committee Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte). Senate Bill 1466 fully restores funding for Pennsylvania's state-related universities and State System of Higher Education schools. In return, the presidents of these institutions have agreed to keep tuition increases to a minimum – no higher than the Consumer Price Index. "Restoring funding for higher education is a big win for residents across the Commonwealth," said Corman. "Our public colleges and universities are one of the best resources we have for economic development and job creation. Additionally, state funding helps keep access to high levels of education open for individuals at all income levels." By fully restoring funding for Pennsylvania's public higher education institutions, the schools have stated that they...

Harrisburg – The Pennsylvania Senate approved two bills sponsored by Sen. Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) aimed at cracking down on problematic drinking, particularly in college towns, by increasing maximum fines and assessing a fee to pay for prevention measures. Senate Bill 941 increases the maximum fine limit for underage drinking violations and public drunkenness, to $1,000. The current maximum for underage violations is $500 on second and subsequent offenses, and $300 for all offenses of public drunkenness. "Municipalities are continuously facing the rising costs of alcohol related crimes, and those costs are borne by someone – in this case, the taxpayer," Corman said. "The goal here is to give the judiciary discretion to make a larger impact as it sees fit on the person violating the law, and to provide a more appropriate deterrent so that the individual makes better decisions the next time around. Additionally, if higher fines are chosen, the municipality and tax pa...

HARRISBURG - Four state Senate leaders are looking to make changes to Pennsylvania's pension system. Senate Majority Whip Pat Browne, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Brubaker will soon introduce legislation to change Pennsylvania's pension system for government employees from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan, similar to a 401(k) or 403(b) plan. The new defined contribution retirement system will be provided for all state employees and public school employees hired on or after December 1, 2012. "Significant policy decisions regarding Pennsylvania's pension system must be made soon," Senator Browne said. "Without significant changes in the design of Pennsylvania's pension system, including a switch to a defined contribution system, the long-term costs will be unaffordable to Pennsylvania taxpayers." "Over the past few dec...

Money restored for Pitt, Penn State, Temple, Lincoln Better than anticipated revenues over the past few months enabled the Senate to pass a General Fund budget bill for Fiscal Year 2012-13 on Wednesday that makes significant restorations without raising taxes, according to Senator Jake Corman, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Senate Bill 1466 will provide substantial restorations to certain areas of the Governor’s proposed budget that reflect the fiscal realities that we have today. Increased revenues over the past few months allowed us to alter what the Governor had initially proposed back in February, including significant restorations to higher education, basic education, early childhood funding, and social service funding,” Senator Corman said. General Fund spending for Fiscal Year 2012-13, as proposed in SB 1466, is $27.656 billion, $517.2 million, or 1.9 percent more than the Governor’s budget request in February. “This budget, which is sustainable ...

By Kimberly Marcott Weinberg Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing University of Pittsburgh at Bradford HARRISBURG, Pa. – Two dozen students, staff and alumni from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford joined Dr. Livingston Alexander, president, and 500 supporters of the University of Pittsburgh in Harrisburg Tuesday to lobby against cuts proposed to Pitt’s state appropriation by Gov. Tom Corbett. Leaving before daybreak, the group traveled 400 miles to meet face-to-face with legislators throughout the day. Members of the group said that legislators were largely sympathetic to their request to keep the appropriation for Pitt and other state-related schools at the same level as this fiscal year, which was already a 20 percent reduction from the previous year’s levels. In February, Corbett unveiled his proposed 2012-13 budget, which included a $42 million cut to Pitt’s state appropriation. The cut would come on top of a $67 million cut for the curr...

Former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) announced today that his campaign for president has been endorsed by 15 Pennsylvania State Senators, including former Lieutenant Governor and current State Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati. Senator Santorum said, "I am honored to have the support of this esteemed group of Pennsylvania leaders, from TEA Party legislators to Party Leadership, who know firsthand that our campaign has the record of electoral and legislative success in Pennsylvania and is best positioned to defeat President Obama. They understand that our nation is at a crossroads and that it is time for proven leadership, not showmanship in the White House. I have worked with these fine people and they know my record of consistent conservative results. Their support undergirds what I've been saying on the trail - that I have the record of results to win the GOP nomination and defeat President Obama in November 2012." Pennsylvania Republican State Senators who have ...

HARRISBURG – The Senate Education Committee approved legislation this week sponsored by Sen. Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) to extend a provision of the state's Empowerment Act that allows school districts to apply for waivers from certain mandates. Under Senate Bill 250, the sunset date for the Mandate Waiver Program will be removed, allowing the program to continue past the scheduled ending date of June 30, 2010. "Mandate waivers have proven a successful means to give school districts more flexibility to operate effectively," said Corman. "The program is worth continuing and provides a significant costs savings to both school districts and taxpayers." The Mandate Waiver Program allows school districts, intermediate units and vocational-technical schools to apply for waivers from certain requirements in the Public School Code. To be eligible for a waiver, school entities must have their application approved by the Department of Education and show the waiver wi...

State Senator Jake Corman says the state budget deficit for this fiscal year continues to grow and is more than $1.2 billion. That’s up by $125 million over numbers at the end of April, because of continuing declines in major state revenues including sales taxes, personal income taxes and corporate taxes. Corman, who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, noted that the continued weak revenue collections already far exceed Governor Ed Rendell's anticipated year-end shortfall estimate by well over half a billion dollars. House Democrats and Rendell want to enact a severance tax on natural gas extracted from Marcellus shale areas; impose a new tax on smokeless tobacco and raise the cigarette tax by 30 cents a pack. "The well of tax revenues is too dry to fill buckets of new spending," said Corman. "I think state residents recognize those realities and are willing to deal with short-term pain in return for a better economic outlook in the long term." T...

Several state senators, including Joe Scarnati, have sent a letter to school superintendents across the Commonwealth regarding Governor Ed Rendell’s proposed budget. The letter urges superintendents to be cautious when putting together their 2010/2011 final budget. You can read a copy of the letter here . (PDF) e-mail from Scarnati's office

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Governor Ed Rendell says unless state lawmakers come up with new revenue sources, a “significant” number of state workers will have to be laid off. Rendell held a news conference this afternoon saying that the state revenue department received $290 million less than anticipated in April. That’s not including the $100 in table games license fees, which the revenue department projected would be paid, but are not required to be paid until June. That brings the deficit-to-date to $1 billion. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman says the deficit is likely to be $1.3 billion by the end of the fiscal year. " We really need to start over, start from scratch and figure out a way to put the budget together on time – before June 30th – that reflects the revenues we have as opposed to what was projected back in February,” Corman said in a news conference. Rendell says he's ready and willing to work with the Legislature to find ways ...

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, (center), Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (right), and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman today provided an update on negotiations to reach a state budget agreement. Pileggi says, with a $28.9 billion proposal on the table, they're only $1 million to $2 million apart. The parties are meeting at the governor's mansion tonight.

The state Senate has voted to return an amended budget bill to the state house. The vote was 31-19, with Democratic Senator Lisa Boscola voting with the Republicans to pass the bill along. The amended version of House Bill 1416 reinstates higher education and PHEAA funding to the General Fund and reduces overall spending by almost $2 billion from the version approved by the House on Friday, according to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman. “House Bill 1416 is now a balanced, responsible budget that does not require a broad-based tax increase,” Corman said. “House Bill 1416, as we received it from the House, was unacceptable. Their proposal to slice higher education and PHEAA out of the General Fund was a blatant, backhanded attempt to push through the Governor’s proposed PIT increase.” As approved by the House, House Bill 1416 called for overall spending of $29.1 billion and did not account for the $1.3 billion in revenue necessary to cover a proposed special fund for ...

The state Senate Appropriations Committee voted on Saturday morning to report House Bill 1416 – the budget bill – to the full Senate with a "negative recommendation." Republican leaders opposed the House plan to remove higher education from the general fund budget. The House proposal would either create a $1.3 billion deficit in the budget requiring Pennsylvania to either raise taxes or strip funding from State System of Higher Education (SSHE) universities, as well as Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and Lincoln University and community colleges. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi says it's "obviously not a real proposal. It is an arbitrary division of a block of spending that presumably they picked because they thought it had some appeal – and it was unfunded." The only way to fund it in their scenario, he said, is by raising new taxes. For those reasons, he characterized it as not helpful, not productive and not something...

Legislation introduced by Senator Jake Corman (R-34) to extend health care coverage for young adults under their parents’ insurance plans is headed to the Governor for enactment into law following the House of Representatives’ approval (192 to 2) of the measure today. The Senate unanimously approved the bill on March 25. Senate Bill 189, introduced by Senator Corman, would extend health insurance coverage, at the expense of policyholders, to adult dependent children up to the age of 30 who are not married, have no dependents, are residents of the Commonwealth or enrolled as a full-time student at an institution of higher education and are not provided insurance coverage or eligible for government benefits. Insurers would be able to determine increases in the premium to cover this additional benefit. “I am pleased that the House acted quickly to move Senate Bill 189 on to the Governor’s desk for enactment into law,” Senator Corman said. “This bill is particularly important in these toug...

HARRISBURG -- The State Senate today approved a fiscally responsible budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2009-10 that cuts spending and includes no new taxes, according to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Senator Jake Corman (R-34). Corman said Senate Bill 850, which now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration, reflects the serious economic challenges Pennsylvania faces – rather than putting off difficult decisions that could only further exacerbate the fiscal crisis. "As we work to adopt a state budget, we must do the very same thing that families and businesses do during tough economic times – prioritize our spending and make difficult but necessary cuts," Corman said. "With revenues expected to come in nearly $3 billion below projections for this year, the prudent course is to plan for similar conditions next year. We all certainly hope the economy will turn around, but it is fiscally irresponsible to consider any spending plan that relies on unreal...

The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved Senate Bill 850, a $27.3 billion state budget for Fiscal Year 2009-10, according to Committee Chairman Senator Jake Corman (R-34). "Senate Bill 850 reflects and responds to Pennsylvania's tough economic climate. The fact that state revenues came in nearly $1 billion below estimate in April shows that Pennsylvania's economy hasn't improved and that we are facing a potential total shortfall of $2.9 billion or higher by the end of the current fiscal year," Senator Corman said. "Taking that into account, we developed a budget for Fiscal Year 2009-10 that looks to the long-term future of Pennsylvania and considers the Commonwealth's economic vitality in 2015 and 2020, not just 2010." During a milder recession in the early 1990s, Pennsylvania experienced a similar catastrophic revenue shortfall when the Commonwealth amassed a billion dollar deficit and, in response, raised taxes by $3 billion. That respons...

"We have one budget together, the Legislature and the administration," said a clearly frustrated (Sen. Jake) Corman, R-Centre. "This is an artificial way of raising the cost of spending in the budget every year, and quite frankly, it's disrespectful to the Legislature." For the full story, go to pennlive.com .