The following article addresses one of the major events that takes place in Harrisburg each year - the Governor's Budget Address.  This sets the stage for the environment in which AIA Pennsylvania is advocating for our legislative agenda in 2012. 

Peter Durantine

 

Gov. Tom Corbett delivers his second budget address to the General Assembly on Tuesday against a backdrop of political chaos, now that the state Supreme Court has kicked back the reapportionment map, and revenues that are running nearly half-a-billion dollars below expectations.

 

It will likely be another austere budget in which the governor is expected to not increase taxes and to hold the line on most spending including basic education, so at the least there will continue to be funding for school construction. But expect funding cuts for higher education and for welfare programs that are supported solely by the state.

 

It will be a dull year - no new initiatives, no new programs. And the budget will likely get done in June instead of May because revenues are not hitting their anticipated mark. The governor and legislative leaders will be poised to make final adjustments to the spending plan - either cut more or increase a little - depending on what the final revenue numbers are in that last month of the fiscal year.

 

The administration has so far kept details of the governor's 2012-2013 Budget under wraps. It seems certain that transportation funding will not be part of the proposal, although many lawmakers, such as Sen. Jake Corman, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, deem road and transit improvements critical at this point.

 

Meanwhile, Republican leaders who control both houses of the Legislature are scrambling over what to do with the court's order to re-draw the map designating House and Senate districts. They have no time to make the change before this year's April 24 primary, particularly the pending six special elections to fill vacancies in the House.

 

House Speaker Sam Smith has sued Pennsylvania's Secretary of State, who oversees elections, in federal court, arguing that population shifts the last decade have rendered the 2001 reapportionment map unconstitutional.

 

Smith's suit claims it's in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th amendment as well as in violation of the state constitution.

 

It's questionable, according to some court observers, whether federal judges would want to get involved with this political to-and-fro or even supersede the state Supreme Court's order, which stated that the existing map would remain in place until the completion of a revised one.

 

It's quite possible the legislature, which controls the funding of the judiciary, could find needed funds by cutting the court system's spending. Interestingly, the Senate Appropriations Committee canceled its hearing on the judiciary's budget for next week.

 

One positive note is that everyone from the governor to members of the Legislature appears on board with the Marcellus Shale bill that would use proceeds from an approximate 3 percent tax on gas wells to help local communities address environmental and infrastructure needs related to the drilling. Final passage of that measure may occur this spring.