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Senate Approves Budget for Fiscal Year 2005-06
Today’s Vote Marks Next Step in Developing State Spending
Plan
HARRISBURG -- Using
the expected surplus in the current budget, the Senate today passed a spending
package for Fiscal Year 2005-06 that restores funding for medical care and black
fly eradication programs, provides money to hire more State Troopers, and shores
up the financial prospects for hospitals and medical schools at state-related
universities, according to Senator Robert J. Thompson, chairman of the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
House Bill 815, as amended in
the Appropriations Committee earlier in the day, is headed back to the House of
Representatives for concurrence.
The $24 billion budget uses
$143 million in additional revenue beyond the $290 million surplus that Governor
Rendell projected for Fiscal Year 2004-05 when he unveiled his FY 2005-06 budget
package in February.
“We looked at the revenue
numbers as of the end of May and determined that we could use this additional
funding to restore some of the cuts that the Governor included in his budget
proposal,” Senator Thompson said. “This is a prudent investment of those
resources to ease the burdens that the Governor’s original budget could have
imposed, especially on low-income families and their access to medical care.”
While the Senate-approved
budget includes $143 million above the Governor’s request, it also sliced out
the various additional funding proposals previously added by the House.
“Obviously, this is a work in
progress. We still have much work to do to finalize the budget, but the version
we passed does get us a step closer to that goal,” Senator Thompson said.
The most significant change
in the Senate version is the restoration of $125 million in state funding for
medical care under the Department of Public Welfare budget.
“This will help ease the
significant impact that the cut in funding in the Governor’s original budget
would have had on people who rely on Medicaid,” Senator Thompson said.
HB 815 also provides $14.8
million in money from the General Fund and Motor License Fund to provide for an
increase in complement of 180 State Troopers and necessary vehicles to improve
public safety and homeland security efforts in the Commonwealth.
Acting to step up
Pennsylvania’s environmental protection efforts, HB 815 provides a $10 million
transfer to the Hazardous Site Cleanup Fund.
“This money will enable the
state to continue those important environmental efforts,” Senator Thompson said.
The Senate-approved budget
also includes $4.4 million for black fly eradication efforts, a program the
Governor cut from his proposed 2005-06 budget. The budget also shelves a
proposal by the Governor to shift funding to the federal government from the
state for the medical schools at Penn State, Pitt and Temple.
“As it stood, this would have
been a roll-of-the-dice gamble for these schools,” Senator Thompson said. “The
schools believe the Governor’s proposal was chancy at best. Instead, we will
provide the funding through the regular non-preferred budget process.”
As part of the budget
originally proposed by the Governor, basic education and special education will
see increases in state funding, with an additional $109 million (2.5 percent)
for basic education for a total of $4.47 billion, and an additional $23.2
million (2.5 percent) for special education for a total of $952.4 million. The
Accountability Block Grant program is slated to retain its current funding level
of $200 million.
The Governor’s budget also
includes a 10-percent increase ($22.8 million) for community colleges for a
total of $249 million. Direct funding for the State System of Higher Education
would increase by $9.75 million (2.2 percent) to a total of $443.1 million.
PHEAA changes include efforts to promote nursing
education to address the ongoing need for nurses across the Commonwealth. The
budget includes an additional $9 million in state funding for increases in PHEAA
grants.
 
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