Speaker Smith Issues Statement on House Passage of State Budget
(HARRISBURG) - House Speaker Sam Smith issued the following statement regarding passage of the 2012-13 state budget earlier this evening by the House of Representatives:
“The budget bill we passed this evening and sent to the Senate is a responsible, and more importantly, a sustainable spending plan.
“The budget is lower than what the state could spend under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) formula, which is tied to inflation and population growth. The $27.7 billion budget is $84 million below the maximum increase permitted under TABOR.
“I am pleased that we prioritized spending and restored funding for education - kindergarten through college.
“One of our greatest challenges this year was restoring $84 million to the governor’s proposed 20 percent cut to human services funding. This will help our state’s most vulnerable citizens.
“Although tough decisions had to be made, I think we succeeded in making reasonable spending decisions based on limited resources. I believe we have a budget that will keep our state on fiscally stable ground for the foreseeable future.”
State Representative Sam Smith
The Speaker
66th District, Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Contact: Kelly Fedeli
kfedeli@pahousegop.com
717.645.4913