The stalemate on the budget — and pension reform — in Pennsylvania continues. And things got tense recently in Harrisburg.
First, Republicans offered Democratic Governor Tom Wolf a deal: $300 million for basic education funding in exchange for full liquor privatization and Senate Bill 3’s pension reform proposal, which the governor had previously vetoed. Wolf said he’d meet with Republicans to answer their offer. Then he pushed the meeting back. And then, when the House Republican Caucus attempted to override his veto on certain line-items of the budget, he canceled the meeting altogether. (His office says it was merely “postponed.”)
Attempting to override line-items in the budget bill, even though the governor vetoed it in its entirety in July, was a move met with some constitutionality questions. Those questions are moot because none of the 14 votes succeeded anyway — the Republicans needed 17 Democrats to support the overrides, and that did not (and was not going to) happen.
Some are saying the meeting cancelation was due to the threatened line-item veto override strategy, but it probably has as much, if not more, to do with the unwillingness of the unions to let Wolf agree to any pension plan modifications for existing or new employees as part of a budget deal. For the near future, it is difficult to predict where progress will emerge given how deeply both sides — Assembly Republicans and public sector union leaders — have dug in. And given that Gov. Wolf, House Speaker Mike Turzai, (R-Allegheny) and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-State College) are all new to their roles, territorial posturing isn’t being ruled out either.
On Sept. 1, Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale stepped in and chastised both sides, and now the word on the street is the governor is favoring smaller meetings in his official residence with Republican leaders to cut out the noise. We will keep you posted as things unfortunately move into the fall.
Ray Harmon is Government Affairs Counsel for the American Retirement Association.
First, Republicans offered Democratic Governor Tom Wolf a deal: $300 million for basic education funding in exchange for full liquor privatization and Senate Bill 3’s pension reform proposal, which the governor had previously vetoed. Wolf said he’d meet with Republicans to answer their offer. Then he pushed the meeting back. And then, when the House Republican Caucus attempted to override his veto on certain line-items of the budget, he canceled the meeting altogether. (His office says it was merely “postponed.”)
Attempting to override line-items in the budget bill, even though the governor vetoed it in its entirety in July, was a move met with some constitutionality questions. Those questions are moot because none of the 14 votes succeeded anyway — the Republicans needed 17 Democrats to support the overrides, and that did not (and was not going to) happen.
Some are saying the meeting cancelation was due to the threatened line-item veto override strategy, but it probably has as much, if not more, to do with the unwillingness of the unions to let Wolf agree to any pension plan modifications for existing or new employees as part of a budget deal. For the near future, it is difficult to predict where progress will emerge given how deeply both sides — Assembly Republicans and public sector union leaders — have dug in. And given that Gov. Wolf, House Speaker Mike Turzai, (R-Allegheny) and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-State College) are all new to their roles, territorial posturing isn’t being ruled out either.
On Sept. 1, Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale stepped in and chastised both sides, and now the word on the street is the governor is favoring smaller meetings in his official residence with Republican leaders to cut out the noise. We will keep you posted as things unfortunately move into the fall.
Ray Harmon is Government Affairs Counsel for the American Retirement Association.
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