Phila. cigarette tax clears House committee

HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania House could vote as early as Wednesday to authorize Philadelphia to impose a $2-per-pack tax on cigarettes to raise money for its cash-starved schools.

The proposed tax had been caught in a legislative logjam since the summer, but appears on a fast track to Gov. Corbett's desk. The measure was approved Tuesday by the House Rules Committee, and is likely to be voted on by the full House on Wednesday or Monday.

The bill would then be sent to the Senate, where legislative leaders have said it remains high on their priority list. The governor has said he would sign it.

Mayor Nutter called Tuesday's committee vote "quite significant," and said he believed it was a sign that the tax would be approved swiftly.

"I think everyone understands that the stakes are very, very high," said Nutter, who was in Harrisburg for the vote. "We need these dollars and we need them as quickly as possible."

Nutter and Philadelphia School District officials have lobbied hard and long for the tax, which will help the district plug an $81 million deficit.

They have said repeatedly that failure to allow them to impose the tax could lead to teacher layoffs, a shortened school year, and class sizes of 40 and more.

Every week without the tax costs the city $1.6 million, they say.

Early last month, Corbett advanced the school system $265 million. But school officials said the action did nothing to help raise new revenue or find savings to stave off doomsday scenarios for the city's troubled public schools.

In other business Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee held a hearing on a hotly debated bill that would allow teachers and other school employees to carry guns at work.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Donald White (R., Indiana), believes the bill would give school boards more options for protecting students, particularly those in rural areas that rely on often-distant state troopers for police protection.

It is not clear whether the measure has enough support to move forward.

Also Tuesday, a bill that would create uniform organ-donation procedures across the state cleared a key committee and now heads to the Senate floor.

The "Donate for PA Life Act" would establish better coordination among coroners, donor agencies, and hospitals, and increase education about the donor process with a goal of increasing the number of organ donations. There are more than 8,550 people currently on the state transplant list, and since 2009, about 475 people have died while awaiting a transplant.

717-787-5934

Inquirer staff writer Amy Worden contributed to this article, which also contains information from the Associated Press.