2015/2016

This is a summary of the budget-related legislation for the 2015/16 enacted state budget.

On March 25, 2016, Gov. Wolf vetoed the Fiscal Code “trailer” bill (House Bill 1327, PN 2969) that accompanied the 2015/16 General Fund spending plan enacted without his signature – Act 1A (House Bill 1801, PN 2968). This summary provides a preliminary overview of the possible implications of not enacting aspects of the Fiscal Code bill.

House Bill 1327 amends the Fiscal Code with substantive language implementing the General Appropriation Act of 2015, and it makes other amendments to the Fiscal Code. On March 25, 2016, Gov. Wolf vetoed House Bill 1327.

This is a summary of the Republicans spending plan for 2015/16 (House Bill 1801, PN 2968). On March 28, 2016, House Bill 1801 was enacted (Act 1A) without the governor's signature.

This is a summary of the line-item vetoes in Act 10A. On Dec. 29, 2015, Gov. Wolf signed House Bill 1460 (PN 2626), but line-item vetoed about 100 appropriations in the Republicans’ budget plan for 2015/16.

This is a summary of the tax and revenue proposal for the 2015/16 budget, as contained in the Markosek amendment (A 03468) to House Bill 283.

This is a summary of the House Republican budget plan for 2015/16 (HB 1192, PN 1959). The governor vetoed the budget plan on June 30, 2015.

This Budget Briefing provides a quick overview of Gov. Wolf’s 2015/16 Executive Budget proposal. The House Appropriations Committee (D) will continue to review the budget proposal and provide briefings on specific issues and program areas, as more details become available.

As we have seen with previous GOP attempts to “reform” the pension systems, the proposed side-by-side hybrid pension plan (Senate Bill 1071, PN 1481) does not generate any savings in the short-term for the 2015/16 budget, nor does it pay off the pension debt any sooner than the current payment plan. Additionally, despite the pension changes, school districts’ pension payments will continue to increase for the next 20 years.

Senate Republicans fast-tracked and passed a complicated, far-reaching and unconstitutional plan to overhaul the state’s pension systems. Ironically, despite claims that the changes are necessary to address the pension debt, according to the actuarial analysis, the plan does not pay off the debt any sooner than the current payment plan, nor does it save any money in the short-term to address the budget deficit.

This spreadsheet compares by school district the 2015/16 Special Education Funding levels to 2014/15 using the distribution formulas in House Bill 1589 (Act 25).

This quick reference guide compares overall General Fund spending, education and human services spending in the five different 2015/16 budget plans, including House Bill 1801 as enacted without the governor’s signature (Act 1A).

This spreadsheet compares the funding levels in the Republicans' budget proposal for 2015/16 (House Bill 1801, PN2968) to last year’s budget (2014/15), the budget proposal line-item vetoed by the governor (House Bill 1460, PN2626) and the governor’s proposed budget for 2015/16 as contained in his February 2016 Executive Budget, including supplemental appropriations. Note: On March 28, 2016, House Bill 1801 was enacted (Act 1A) without the governor's signature.

This education spreadsheet from the Department of Education details the special education funding increases school districts receive under House Bill 1460 as enacted (Act 10A) as compared to 2014/15.

This printout compares the funding levels in the 2015/16 budget (Act 10A, which is House Bill 1460 as line-item vetoed by the governor) to the $30.3 billion Republican budget proposal as it was sent to the governor (House Bill 1460, PN2626); the $30.8 billion bipartisan budget agreement; and last year’s budget (2014/15).

This printout compares the funding levels in the bipartisan budget proposal for 2015/16 (Senate Bill 1073, PN1459, as passed by the Senate on Dec. 7, 2015) to last year’s budget (2014/15) and the Republicans’ June budget proposal vetoed by the governor (House Bill 1192, PN1959).

This printout compares the funding levels in the Republicans' budget proposal for 2015/16 (House Bill 1460, PN2626, as presented to the governor on Dec. 24, 2015) to last year’s budget (2014/15); the Republicans’ budget proposal vetoed by the governor on July 1, 2015 (House Bill 1192, PN1959); and the bipartisan budget agreement as passed by the Senate on Dec. 7, 2015 (Senate Bill 1073, PN1459).

This printout compares the funding levels in the House Republicans’ budget proposal for 2015/16 (House Bill 1192, PN1959) to the current budget year (2014/15) and the governor’s 2015/16 budget proposal.

This printout summarizes the spending proposal for all appropriations for 2015/16.