Pennsylvania’s unprecedented nine-month state budget crisis
ended on March 23rd when Democratic Governor Tom Wolf announced he would not
veto a Republican bill that contained the remaining $7 billion of the 2015-2016
budget. In a rare move, the Governor
chose not to actually sign the latest budget bill, but allowed it to become law
without his signature. The Governor said
he simply could not sign a budget that fell far short on his education funding
goals, among other things.
The final piece of Pennsylvania’s budget was sent to the
Governor in mid-March by the General Assembly.
There was enormous pressure on Wolf to not veto the bill, a move that
would have once again caused schools to consider shutting their doors or
borrowing more money before summer break.
While school funding was at the center of the final supplemental budget
bill, the fact that several Democrats joined Republicans in advancing the
budget revealed a weakness for the Governor in his own party, and Republican
legislative leaders had openly discussed rounding up Democratic votes to
override a veto if one occurred.
So who won the budget battle of 2015-2016? A case can easily be made that Republicans
came out on top. After repeatedly saying
taxpayers could not afford the spending and tax increases proposed by Wolf in
his first budget proposal, Republicans contained state spending to just over
$30 billion in the final budget, boosted education funding by $200 million and
stopped the Governor’s tax increases. At
the end of the day, the GOP can take credit for a no-tax-increase budget that
increased funding for schools.
Where does all of this leave Pennsylvania in terms of the
2016-2017 budget that is required to be in place by June 30th? Well, the answer is “in yet another big
mess.” The partisan gridlock fueled by
deep philosophical divisions over taxes and spending that dominated the first
fifteen months of Governor Wolf’s term continues.
In February, when Governor Wolf called for a 2016-2017 budget
totaling $30.8 billion with $2.7 billion in tax increases, including an 11
percent income tax increase retroactive to January, Republican leaders
immediately expressed opposition. With
the current year’s budget finally wrapped up after months of intense
negotiations and public relations wars on taxes, spending and school funding,
Harrisburg observers see another major budget battle looming. This is especially true because 2016 is an
important election year, with state House and Senate candidates hoping to win
votes based on support for or opposition to various budget proposals.
The table has been set for the budget crisis to repeat
itself, a reminder of William Shakespeare’s keen observation in The Tempest
that “what’s past is prologue.”
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