Pa. lawmakers return to work today to face budget crisis

HARRISBURG - Two hundred and fifty-two men and women, from Erie to Easton and points in between, will gather here today, take the oath of office as legislators, and immediately confront the reality that the state is sinking deeper into a fiscal quagmire.

So bad is the economic outlook that many believe the 2009-10 legislative session, which starts today, will for months be dominated by delicate decisions over how best to cut programs and raise taxes to make ends meet.

"Every single policy conversation I have had has been about the massive budget shortfall," said Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Phila.), one of 27 House freshmen who will take the oath today. "Everything else is being pushed off to the side."

Just last week, as they finished setting up their offices in the Capitol and in their districts, lawmakers got a fresh round of bad economic news: revenue collections for December showed the state dropped deeper into a fiscal shortfall, by $157 million.

Halfway through the fiscal year, collections are down nearly 7 percent, or $815 million, from what was anticipated. Most believe the state will end the year $2 billion in the hole.

"More money is going out than is coming in, and that is the problem," said G. Terry Madonna, a pollster at Franklin and Marshall College. "Virtually everything that the legislature does will be done against that backdrop."

Gov. Rendell will unveil his budget proposal to the legislature Feb. 3. That will kick off weeks of budget hearings in the House and Senate as lawmakers craft their own spending plan. A final budget must be enacted by July 1, the start of the fiscal year, or the state will lose much of its ability to spend money.

Despite the budget crisis, Rendell is not giving up on key initiatives for his final two years in office, including finding more transportation funding and expanding health care to more uninsured Pennsylvanians.

"The governor's priorities haven't changed; the circumstances under which he will try to address them has," said Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo. "It might take longer than normal. He may have to scale back some things to afford others. Those are decisions being made now."

For the 203 House members and 49 senators (there remains one vacant Senate seat), today will be mostly filled with ceremonial functions. After they are sworn in at noon, many will host receptions throughout the capital for friends and family.

But before the parties begin, each house will hold a key vote: Electing someone to run the chamber for the next two years.

Senators are poised to reelect Sen. Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson) as president pro tempore. In the House, the strengthened Democrat majority is expected to hand the gavel to Rep. Keith McCall (D., Carbon), who is facing what many consider to be a token challenge from Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R., Butler).

Some freshman lawmakers, meanwhile, insist that there has to be enough political will and time early in the session to address issues other than those purely economic.

Fresh off his November victory, Rep. Frank Farry (R., Bucks), for example, said he planned to introduce a bill that would allow counties to eliminate the positions of jury commissioners in a cost-saving move. The posts, which many consider antiquated, are required by law, and some counties, including Bucks, have lobbied for the authority to eliminate them.

"There is room for us to do things beyond just addressing the budget mess," he said.

Added Sen. Larry Farnese (D., Phila.), one of seven freshman senators, "People multitask in many different professions, and as lawmakers we need to do the same."