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BUDGET UPDATE
A General Fund appropriations bill, SB 1073, was approved by the General Assembly before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, but as of publication of the Bulletin, Governor Wolf had not yet signed the bill into law, awaiting legislative action on a funding package.
The House had originally proposed a $31.55 billion spending plan, but after Senate amendments the final budget sent to the Governor spends about $31.6 billion in state funds, representing an increase of about $1.4 billion over FY 2015-2016 but less than the $32.7 billion budget proposed by the Governor in February.
Many of the lines in SB 1073 affecting county government are level funded. Further, the spending plan fails to include counties'
priority
on human services funding calling for restoration of the ten percent aggregate cut to seven human services line items in FY 2012-2013, which, while part of the Human Services Block Grant, impact core services across all 67 counties. And, while the budget increases county children and youth funding by about $33 million, it retains the rebalancing initiative which shifts a full quarter of funds into the following fiscal year.
The FY 2016-2017 budget will not include an increase in the state's personal income or sales tax, as Gov. Wolf originally proposed, but still requires $1.2 to $1.3 billion in new revenues to balance the spending plan. Revenues will come in part from the expanded sales of wine and beer across the state, as signed into law under
Act 39 of 2016
in early June. Other sources under consideration are reported to include gaming expansion and new or increased tobacco taxes, reinstating a gross receipts tax on natural gas that was eliminated in 2000, establishment of a tax amnesty proposal for delinquent taxpayers, and borrowing from the State Workers Insurance Fund; none of these options had been approved by the General Assembly as the Bulletin went to press.
The Governor issued a statement on June 30 indicating that he would sign the budget "as soon as there is a sustainable revenue package to pay for it." He has until July 11 to sign SB 1073, veto the bill in whole or in part, or to allow it to become law without his signature.
A spreadsheet analysis of county impacts related to SB 1073 is available on CCAP's Budget News and Updates web page. As further details become available, CCAP will provide additional information and analysis on the site.
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COUNTY PRIORITIES INCLUDED IN HUMAN SERVICES CODE
The Pennsylvania legislature recently sent a bill to the Governor's desk amending the Human Services Code to include several key county priorities. House Bill 1062, sponsored by Sen. Tom Killion (R-Delaware), and as amended by the Senate, includes provisions to phase out the requirement that county nursing homes pay ten percent of the non-federal cost of services for Medicaid residents, also referred to as the "county share." The phase out of the county share will be concurrent with implementation of Community HealthChoices, or no later than January 1, 2019.
The legislation also includes language to suspend Medicaid benefits for inmates as opposed to terminating them, allowing inmate benefits to remain active upon their release from a correctional institution. Suspending Medicaid benefits not only ensures continuity of care, but also provides continued access to medications and other services and potentially reduces future incarceration.
House Bill 1062, as amended, passed the Senate unanimously on June 27, with the House concurring in Senate amendments by a 195-2 vote on June 30. As the Bulletin goes to press, the bill remains before the Governor, and he has until July 11 to sign it into law, veto or allow to become law without his signature.
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SENATE ADDS PILT INCREASE TO FISCAL CODE BILL
Discussions on the Fiscal Code amendments that will accompany the FY 2016-2017 budget have recently included discussions to increase the payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) to local governments with state forest, game and park lands. Counties, municipalities and school districts may not levy a property tax on these state lands, although current law provides a PILT of $1.20 per acre, for each level of local government, for a total of $3.60 per acre. The amount was last increased in 2006. During the last days of June, the Senate Appropriations Committee amended HB 1605 to include language that would raise the forest and park lands PILT to $2.00 per acre for each local government, for a total of $6.00 per acre. Game lands remain at $1.20/$3.60 per acre. As of the publication of the Bulletin, HB 1605 had been recommitted to the Senate Appropriations Committee, and would need the approval of the Senate and a concurrence vote in the House before being sent to the Governor.
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HOUSE PANEL APPROVES BILL ON AGENDA POSTING
The House State Government Committee advanced HB 1155 from committee, sponsored by Rep. Jim Christiana (R-Beaver), by a 17-8 vote. The bill would amend the Sunshine Act by requiring government agencies, including counties, to post meeting agendas with agency business that will or may be considered on the government entity's website at least 24 hours prior to a meeting. While HB 1155 originally included a prohibition on official action on any item not included on a posted agenda, except in case of emergency posing a danger to life or property, an amendment offered by Rep. Brett Miller (R-Lancaster) was adopted by the committee to further allow for official action on unposted items of business arising within 24 hours prior to a meeting as long as the matter is minor and does not involve expenditure or approval of a contract and, under the same conditions, a matter brought before the governing body by a citizen during the meeting. Two other amendments, one offered by committee chair Rep. Mark Cohen (D-Philadelphia) to extend the notice period from 24 to 72 hours, and one by Rep. Steve McCarter (D-Montgomery) to include meetings of the General Assembly held at the Capitol, failed to be adopted.
House Bill 1155 now goes before the full House for consideration.
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SENATE AUTHORIZES STUDY OF VOTING SYSTEMS
A study of voting systems and technology will be conducted by the Joint State Government Commission, as directed by a resolution adopted by the Senate on June 29.
Senate Resolution 394, introduced by Sen. Elder Vogel (R-Beaver), requires the Commission to survey counties about the administration of elections, current and future technology and needed improvements, as well as examine the cost to administer elections and to upgrade and modernize election system technology. An advisory committee to consist of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Commissioner for the Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation, county commissioners, county election officials, and representatives of disabled individuals will be established to assist with the study. The Commission has 18 months to report its recommendations to the Senate.
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CIVIL SERVICE MODERNIZATION BILL SIGNED INTO LAW
Gov. Wolf has signed
SB 1154
into law as Act 69 of 2016, representing a
first step in reforming the civil service system and providing much needed options as counties work to fill key staffing positions. The bill had previously won the unanimous support of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
For years, counties have shared their frustrations with the antiquated rules and procedures for civil service hiring. Senate Bill 1154, sponsored by Sen. Randy Vulakovich (R-Allegheny), would make three changes to that system that will benefit the counties as well as the state. First, the legislation would permit applicants to be notified by email (currently, applicants must be notified by U.S. mail). Second, it would allow a county to expand on the "rule of three," permitting a county to consider a wider group of candidates and resulting in better choices. Finally, SB 1154 would allow for vacancy based hiring, meaning that specific open jobs would be advertised instead of a general listing of job titles.
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SENATE APPROVES BILL TO PROHIBIT COLLECTION OF RECORDING FEES
The Senate has approved SB 1282, introduced by Sen. Scott Wagner (R-York), which would prohibit collection of recording fees for individual parcels when a condominium declaration is amended, by a 48-2 vote.
When a condominium association files an amendment to its declaration with the recorder's office, typical practice is for each parcel to be indexed to reflect the change in the parcel history, in addition to the filing of the amendment. Individual indexing enables
the owner to find all filings related to the property within that property's records, without having to separately research the filings related to the community.
However, Senate Bill 1282 bill would impact county recorder of deeds' offices by prohibiting the collection of the fees associated with indexing the information to each individual parcel, resulting in a disincentive to counties to index the information.
The bill now goes to the House for further consideration; the House Urban Affairs Committee has scheduled a hearing on a companion bill, HB 1101, introduced by Rep. Tom Caltagirone (D-Berks), on July 28 in Bucks County.
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911 INTERIM FORMULA EXTENDED
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Association (PEMA) has adopted the recommendation of the 911 Board to extend the 911 interim distribution formula through 2017. Under Act 12 of 2015, the rewrite of the 911 Public Safety Emergency Telephone Act, PEMA and the 911 Board were given up to 18 months to develop a new formula for distribution of all wireline, wireless and VoIP funds. Until the permanent formula is developed, funds are distributed on a two-part interim formula; the first part is calculated at 106% of each PSAP's wireline and VoIP average receipts over the prior five years, and the second part distributes the remainder based on each county's relative historic expenditure reports averaged over the prior five years. While the Board and PEMA will continue to work on a permanent formula, the early action to readopt the interim formula for 2017 is intended to enable counties to incorporate revenue estimates into their 2017 budget deliberations that begin in early fall.
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