August 26th, 2009

Let’s see what the good ‘ol Pennsylvania legislature is up to, shall we?

Yesterday, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote about how Gov. Rendell is saying that they’re making progress on the budget, but that the GOP is saying that’s not true.

The first line of the article is:  “Fifty-five days into Pennsylvania’s budget dispute, Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and Senate Republicans can’t agree on what they’ve agreed to.”

That pretty much says it all, but here’s some more:

        “Rendell said Monday that negotiators are “relatively close” to determining how much state government should spend, and that the figure would be $28 billion.

        “The governor’s report of an imminent agreement is news to us,” said Erik Arneson, spokesman for Senate Republicans. “The governor has not been involved in a budget meeting with our leaders since Aug. 2.”

        Arneson said legislative leaders have held productive meetings and they will continue.

        “However, we are far from the end of this process,” Arneson said.

Here’s one of the things they’re not making progress on.  Rendell has proposed that PA change some laws to be able to tax some things that are currently tax-exempt.  Some of these items include airline food, candy, and gum; and services including dry cleaning, lawyers, and veterinary fees.

Reports the Morning Call:  As state lawmakers look for ways to come up with badly needed cash for education and social service programs, Gov. Ed Rendell said Monday that they may want to consider eliminating exemptions that only exist because of ”effective lobbying.”

”We have some of the wackiest exemptions,” Rendell mused during a news conference Monday afternoon.

Here’s what the Repubs have to say about that, via the Tribune-Review:

        Senate Republicans aren’t likely to support taxing items now exempt from state sales tax, Joe Scarnati, the chamber’s top elected Republican, said Tuesday.

        “I personally have a real problem with it, because you have whole industries that could be negatively affected,” said Scarnati, the president pro tempore and lieutenant governor.

        “I think that’s a slippery slope. If I had a list of revenue options, that wouldn’t be on top of it,” said Scarnati of Jefferson County. “I don’t see that gaining traction in our caucus.” Republicans hold a majority of Senate seats.

And finally, the school year for many Pennsylvania children is about to start, and their schools still don’t have any funding…