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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 24, 2015 04:01 PM |
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| From: | Representative Dan Truitt |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Temporary Emergency Budget Fund (HB-1410) |
| As we head into what should be the final week of budget negotiations, we are once again facing the prospect of missing our June 30th deadline. I’m sure that we are all hoping for a miracle that leads to a “grand compromise” by next Tuesday, but we should be preparing for the possibility that we will not have a deal by June 30th. While we can argue about who is at fault if we do miss it, one fact is indisputable – real people and organizations outside of the Capitol start to suffer, if and when, the money stops flowing on July 1st. To address this, I have previously introduced HB-232 that would automatically establish default appropriation levels that would be in effect between July 1st and the date when a new budget is passed. These levels would be based on the prior year’s budget. However, HB-232 does this via a constitutional amendment. Even if we pass it this year, it will not help us this year. To provide us with a viable option for this year, I have already introduced HB-1410 to establish a “Temporary Emergency Budget Fund” that will enable the Commonwealth to continue funding its operations and pay outside agencies until we do pass a budget. In a nutshell, the State Treasurer will transfer unappropriated, unrestricted revenues into the fund to be used to pay our bills, up to the amounts set in the expired budget. This means that we can continue operating at last year’s budget levels until a new budget is enacted. I hope that you will join me in sponsoring this simple but important legislation (copy attached) that would minimize the impact of protracted budget negotiations on the good people of Pennsylvania. Please let me know if you need any additional information. |
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Introduced as HB1410