1 1 2 COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 3 HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE 4 5 6 THE MAIN CAPITOL ROOM 140 7 HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 8 9 THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 10 1:45 P.M. 11 12 PUBLIC HEARING 13 TESTIMONY OF THE MEMBERS 14 15 BEFORE: 16 HONORABLE WILLIAM F. ADOLPH, JR., CHAIRMAN 17 HONORABLE JOSEPH F. MARKOSEK HONORABLE JOHN C. BEAR 18 HONORABLE MARTIN T. CAUSER HONORABLE JIM CHRISTIANA 19 HONORABLE GORDON DENLINGER HONORABLE BRIAN L. ELLIS 20 HONORABLE MAUREE GINGRICH HONORABLE GLEN R. GRELL 21 HONORABLE TOM KILLION HONORABLE DAVID R. MILLARD 22 HONORABLE SCOTT PERRY HONORABLE TINA PICKETT 23 HONORABLE JEFFREY P. PYLE HONORABLE THOMAS J. QUIGLEY 24 HONORABLE DOUGLAS REICHLEY HONORABLE MARIO M. SCAVELLO 25 HONORABLE CURTIS G. SONNEY 2 1 CONTINUED: HONORABLE MATTHEW D. BRADFORD 2 HONORABLE H. SCOTT CONKLIN HONORABLE PAUL COSTA 3 HONORABLE DEBERAH KULA HONORABLE TIM MAHONEY 4 HONORABLE MICHAEL H. O'BRIEN HONORABLE JOHN P. SABATINA, JR. 5 HONORABLE STEVE SAMUELSON HONORABLE MATTHEW SMITH 6 HONORABLE GREG VITALI HONORABLE RONALD G. WATERS 7 ALSO PRESENT: 8 HONORABLE BRYAN BARBIN 9 HONORABLE MICHELE BROOKS HONORABLE MICHELLE F. BROWNLEE 10 HONORABLE MARK B. COHEN HONORABLE DOM COSTA 11 HONORABLE MARGO L. DAVIDSON HONORABLE PAMELA A. DELISSIO 12 HONORABLE SHERYL M. DELOZIER HONORABLE H. WILLIAM DEWEESE 13 HONORABLE DAN FRANKEL HONORABLE MARK GILLEN 14 HONORABLE FLORINDA J. FABRIZIO HONORABLE WILLIAM C. KORTZ 15 HONORABLE KURT A. MASSER HONORABLE RICK MIRABITO 16 HONORABLE THOMAS P. MURT HONORABLE BRAD ROAE 17 HONORABLE TODD STEPHENS 18 EDWARD NOLAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (R) MIRIAM FOX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (D) 19 BRENDA S. HAMILTON, RPR 20 REPORTER - NOTARY PUBLIC 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 INDEX 2 NAME PAGE 3 OPENING REMARKS BY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH 4 4 HONORABLE TODD STEPHENS 4 5 HONORABLE PAMELA A. DELISSIO 8 6 HONORABLE THOMAS P. MURT 11 7 HONORABLE FLORINDA J. FABRIZIO 16 8 HONORABLE MARK M. GILLEN 20 9 HONORABLE BRAD ROAE 24 10 HONORABLE WILLIAM C. KORTZ 27 11 HONORABLE JOHN BEAR 33 12 HONORABLE SHERYL M. DELOZIER 35 13 HONORABLE RICK MIRABITO 39 14 HONORABLE MICHELE BROOKS 45 15 HONORABLE BRYAN BARBIN 49 16 HONORABLE MARGO L. DAVIDSON 59 17 HONORABLE W. CURTIS THOMAS 63 18 HONORABLE TIM BRIGGS 66 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 - - - 3 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Good afternoon. I'd 4 like to call to order the House Appropriations 5 Committee budget hearing, and this -- this hearing is 6 the House of Representatives members' testimony. 7 Each member has been contacted by the 8 Appropriations Committee and offered them an 9 opportunity to make an individual request or a comment 10 regarding the budget. 11 The members know in advance that they'll 12 be given five minutes. There will be no conversations 13 between the two chairs and the members, so -- but 14 unfortunately this is the process, and historically 15 each member has been given five minutes as their time. 16 You certainly can submit your testimony 17 in writing if you -- if it goes over the five minutes, 18 but I know all the legislators that are here, I know 19 you've practiced that five-minute rule before. 20 So without further ado, I want to welcome 21 you all, and our first legislator is Representative 22 Todd Stephens from District 151. 23 Welcome. 24 REP. STEPHENS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, 25 and -- and thank you to the other members of the 5 1 Appropriations Committee for allowing this 2 opportunity. I will, of course, be brief, and I know 3 it's been a long month for you, and -- and -- and I 4 know you have a lot to consider. 5 I want to thank you for giving me a 6 moment the -- a moment to share my thoughts and 7 concerns as we undertake this critical attempt to 8 address the budget blueprint given to us by Governor 9 Corbett. 10 I want to be clear. I fully understand 11 that Pennsylvania is at a crossroads and we must 12 restructure the state's budgetary house by avoiding the 13 fiscal games that left us with a $4 billion budget 14 hole. 15 So I want to begin by thanking Governor 16 Corbett for presenting an honest budget that does not 17 rely on broad-based tax increases, irresponsible 18 borrowing or dishonest revenue projections. 19 Recognizing his proposal is simply that, 20 a proposal, I respectfully request you consider some of 21 the budget cuts proposed in basic education. 22 It's not to suggest that you shouldn't 23 also maybe consider the cuts proposed in higher ed, but 24 I'd like to direct my comments to one specific line 25 item in basic ed. 6 1 That line item is Line 230 in the 2 proposed budget. It's the School employ -- Employees' 3 Social Security reimbursement. The Governor has 4 proposed a dramatic change in the formula directing 5 these funds. This change would cause an unanticipated 6 and significant loss of revenue for many districts. 7 While I agree with the Governor that 8 there are two sides to the budget ledger and we must 9 demand our school districts address perpetually rising 10 expenditures, we must also be fair in what we ask of 11 them. 12 Specifically, the Governor proposes cuts 13 to the five school districts of the 151st Legislative 14 District by $4.8 million in just this one line item. 15 Statewide the overall reduction is $21,115,000, meaning 16 my district would endure a 22.73 percent of the total 17 cut statewide. 18 So to give you an idea of the level of 19 state funding my school districts currently receive, in 20 '08 and '09 they ranked 463, 474, 477, 478, and 486 in 21 per pupil funding statewide. Truthfully, they don't 22 ask for, nor do they receive much from the state in 23 terms of funding. 24 Regarding the obligation the local school 25 districts have to rein in spending, two of the five 7 1 school districts are working without teachers' 2 contracts., one for over a year and a half and the 3 other for about nine months. These boards are trying 4 to hold the line on spending and they've been trying to 5 manage their budgets responsibly. 6 Another one of my school districts, the 7 North Penn School District, is expected to lose an 8 additional $2.28 million, the most in Pennsylvania, 9 just from this one line item. This district ranked 10 477th in revenue from the state to fund education in 11 '08 and '09 and has reduced the overall number of 12 teachers each year since '08 and '09. 13 I know there's been much discussion 14 concerning the proposed increase in funding for the 15 Department of Public Welfare. I'm also aware of the 16 series of bills -- I'm a prime sponsor of one of them 17 -- to address the waste, fraud, and abuse cited by the 18 Auditor General in his report. I believe we should 19 demand the Department of Public Welfare eliminate the 20 waste, fraud, and abuse and become accountable to the 21 taxpayers, just as we are doing with public education 22 When constituents confront me with the 23 issue of reduction of funding in our schools, I 24 routinely explain how school districts were aware of 25 the temporary nature of the stimulus funding and, 8 1 therefore, should have managed their finances, knowing 2 that revenue stream was disappearing. 3 However, the districts were not aware of 4 the loss of revenue in the School Employees' Social 5 Security line item. While there may be merit to 6 discussing the future of this reimbursement to schools 7 for the hiring and salary decisions that they make, 8 this unexpected change in the administration's policy 9 this year would negatively and, in my opinion, unfairly 10 effect these schools. 11 Mr. Chairman, the rest of the committee, 12 I appreciate you allowing me the opportunity to express 13 my concerns, and I hope that you will take that -- that 14 particular funding stream into consideration when you 15 prepare a budget for your consideration. 16 Thank you. 17 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you, 18 representative. And, once again, we apologize for the 19 delay. 20 REP. STEPHENS: Oh, no worries at all. 21 Thank you. 22 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Representative Pamela 23 DeLissio from the 194th District in Philadelphia. 24 Good afternoon. 25 REP. DELISSIO: Good afternoon. Thank 9 1 you, Chairman Adolph, Chairman Markosek, members of the 2 Appropriations Committee, thank you for giving me this 3 opportunity to address my concerns relative to the 4 Governor's proposed budget for 2011/2012. 5 As a voter and a taxpayer, I have 6 embarked on this third career as an elected official to 7 effect change using this platform as a member of the 8 House of Representatives. 9 Budget processes are not new to me. A 10 good budget will permit the Commonwealth to efficiently 11 and effectively deliver services to citizens that we 12 are responsible to deliver. Revenues and expenses must 13 be related, and I believe that we should live within 14 our means. 15 I also believe in smart and strategic 16 planning to create growth and growth leads to enhanced 17 revenue. 18 What I have observed from attending some 19 of these hearings is that -- it is clear that the 20 proposed budget addresses the expense side.