House majority leader Dave Reed said that things have progressed as far as the funding plan for the 2017-2018 state budget is concerned.
Last night at the Indiana County Fair, Reed was attending the annual cheese auction. We asked him if there was any progress made in talks about the funding plan for the state budget, which is now overdue by two months now. Reed said that they were getting close to completing their budget funding plan, but there are still gaps to fill from last year’s budget and a small gap in this year’s budget due to how revenue collections came in last year. Reed added that the discussion has lead to two paths, and action on one of those plans will come in September.
While the budget spending plan passed both the House and Senate on time, it was not signed off by Governor Tom Wolf, who wanted to see a funding plan in place. The budget became law without his signature in early July. In late July, the State Senate approved by a 26-24 vote for a plan that would rely on borrowing and tax increases, including a new tax on gas drilling and increases to the gross receipts tax levied on heating fuel and other utilities.
