|
|
|
|
|
COUNTIES UNVEIL 2017 PRIORITIES
The counties' top priority highlights the need to restore human services funding to historic levels in the face of increasing mandates and service demands, as well as the restoration of the ten percent cut that occurred in FY 2012-2013 across several key line items. In addition, the priority seeks to ensure that counties are never again forced into the situation they faced in the FY 2015-2016 state budget impasse, when counties stepped up to cover the state's funding obligations at the expense of local property taxpayers, by putting in place mechanisms to assure that any future impasse or budget delay does not burden counties and the clients they serve.
Diversifying the county tax base remains a priority for counties in 2017 as well, seeking options such as a sales, personal income or earned income tax to reduce reliance on the county property tax, currently counties' only local tax source. Counties will also be seeking to maintain the shale gas impact fee and all current distributions under Act 13 of 2012 regardless of any severance tax proposals, and will be looking for legislative and administrative action to address the drug addiction and overdose crisis through additional state resources and for coordination and collaboration on an integrated response for those affected.
More information about the counties' priorities is available at www.pacounties.org by clicking on Priorities under the Government Relations tab.
|
|
GOVERNOR PROPOSES AGENCY CONSOLIDATION
Ahead of his FY 2017-2018 budget address scheduled for Feb. 7, Gov. Wolf has announced a plan to consolidate four state agencies in an effort to streamline government programs and service delivery.
The proposal would create a new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by combining the existing departments of Aging, Drug and Alcohol Programs, Health, and Human Services. In his announcement, the governor indicated his belief that there are overlapping and similar functions within the current departments. A consolidated HHS agency, Gov. Wolf argued, would provide clients with a single agency to field any and all requests, and streamline the regulatory process. The plan also proposes to reduce bureaucratic redundancies for providers.
According to the proposal, one department secretary would lead the agency, with a separate cabinet-level position dedicated to oversee the opioid and heroin epidemic response, along with the various initiatives to combat substance abuse and drug overdoses.
More details about the proposed consolidation, which will likely require legislative action to implement, are expected to be released during the governor's budget address on Feb. 7.
|
|
BUDGET ADDRESS SET FOR FEB. 7
Governor Wolf will deliver his annual budget address, outlining his FY 2017-2018 budget proposal, to a joint session of the legislature on Feb. 7. While details of the governor's proposal remain unknown, media reports indicate that it will include a shale gas severance tax proposal, but no other broad-based tax increases. Gov. Wolf has also announced that he will call for $10 million to supply first responders with Naloxone.
The address is clouded, however, by an increasingly bleak state fiscal picture. In late January, the state's Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) projected the budget deficit for the current fiscal year has increased by another $250 million since its November economic and budget outlook, when the Office forecast the state would be $524 million short at the end of FY 2016-2017. The IFO indicated that revenues will continue to follow a low-growth pattern, further reducing its projected revenue growth for FY 2017-2018 from two percent to 1.8 percent over FY 2016-2017, for a cumulative shortfall nearing $3 billion through the coming fiscal year. The state's Department of Revenue also noted in its January collections report that fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections are about $416.8 million, or 2.5 percent, below estimate.
CCAP will be providing members with information on where to view the Feb. 7 budget address, as well as analysis of line items impacting county programs, on CCAP's Budget News and Updates web page. In addition, a special e-edition of the Bulletin will be published on Feb. 10, containing a more detailed budget analysis.
|
|
COURT EXTENDS STAY ON LOCAL SHARE RULING
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has extended until May 26, 2017 its deadline for the General Assembly to address the Court's ruling related to the local share assessment paid by casinos to local governments.
In September 2016, in Mt. Airy v. PA Department of Revenue the Court struck down the local share assessment, stating that as structured it is a non-uniform tax prohibited under Pennsylvania's constitution. Casinos had been required to pay $10 million or at least four percent of gross slot machine revenue to the host municipality. In its ruling, the Court crafted a remedy that severed the sections of law regarding both the municipal and host county shares; while the county shares were not at issue, the Court opined that they overlapped to the extent that both needed to be severed. The original decision was stayed for 120 days, until Jan. 23, 2017, to offer the General Assembly time to craft a solution. However, no legislation was advanced to the governor's desk before the end of the 2015-2016 session, nor have any subsequent bills been introduced since the new session started in January.
The petition for the extended stay was filed by Senate leadership, including President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson), Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre) and Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny), and was granted 6-1.
|
|
STATE, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ADDRESS "SANCTUARY CITIES"
As the General Assembly returned to session the week of Jan. 23, one of the first bills to receive consideration was SB 10, which would require all local governments to assure immigration laws are being enforced, and would prohibit local governments from adopting ordinances or policies which refuse cooperation with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials regarding the immigration status of an individual. If a local government fails to comply, it would be liable for any future damages caused by the individual who is the subject of the enforcement action, and it would lose access to law enforcement grant funds and access to commonwealth surplus property sales.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Allegheny), was approved by the Senate Local Government Committee on a party line vote, with Republican members voting in favor and Democratic members voting against. An amendment offered by committee chair Sen. Scott Wagner (R-York) was adopted on the same vote to clarify that local governments would be ineligible for any state grant funds, not just law enforcement grants. Several other amendments offered by committee minority chair Sen. John Blake (D-Lackawanna) and Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia) to protect local governments from liability concerns failed to be adopted.
While all counties follow all of the procedures required under state and federal law regarding communications with ICE regarding questions of immigration status, federal agencies and the federal court in Galarza v. Szalcyk, involving Lehigh County, have clearly established that ICE detainer requests are voluntary, and not mandatory orders. Under that principle, the courts have determined that a county can be found in violation of federal section 1983 and forced to pay damages for holding someone solely on detainer request, who ultimately is found not to be in violation of immigration law. To the contrary, SB 10 would force local governments to hold the individual subject to the request, creating a lose-lose situation for counties where they are exposed to costly lawsuits if they detain a bail-qualified individual in a county prison pursuant to a detainer request, or exposed to litigation for subsequent acts and loss of grant funding if they release the detainee.
Although SB 10 had been scheduled for further consideration by the Senate Appropriations Committee, the bill was held over, likely until the week of Feb. 6. CCAP continues to work with the Senate to address concerns over liability.
Relatedly, President Trump has signed two executive orders on immigration, one on interior enforcement and the other on border security. The former would also seek to support immigration enforcement and to penalize local governments that do not cooperate with federal authorities. The National Association of Counties is reviewing the order more closely to determine how it may impact counties.
|
|
IFO PREDICTS LOWER IMPACT FEE COLLECTIONS
The state's Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) has released estimates of impact fee collections for calendar year 2016, which companies will remit in April 2017. Based on production data and recent natural gas prices, the IFO is estimating that collections will be $174.6 million, or about $13.1 million less than the amount collected in 2015. Those declines are attributed to a lower number of new wells compared to older wells (since the impact fee is highest in a well's first operating year), as well as the effect of collections from wells that have either newly fallen below or surpassed the 90 mcf threshold for exemption. The full report is available at www.ifo.state.pa.us.
The exact effect on the overall revenue collections - and therefore on local government distributions which will occur around July 1 - will not be known until after the April 1 collection deadline. Act 13 payment information will be available at www.act13-reporting.puc.pa.gov in mid-June, and the PUC will not release estimates or actual payment information prior to June 15.
|
|
| |
|
