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Politics & Government

Wide Range of Issues on Tap for PA Senate This Fall

A Marcellus shale impact fee, transportation spending, school choice and liquor store privatization top the list.

Students are back in school, football season is in full swing and those favorite television shows are back with new episodes.

Along with other signs of autumn, the state Senate returned for the start of the fall session Monday, with no shortage of items to keep senators busy between now and the week before Christmas.

As always, the questions are what issues leadership must prioritize and where consensus exists between the Republican-controlled General Assembly and Gov. Tom Corbett, also a Republican.

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The state House will not return until Monday, giving the state Senate the first crack at setting the fall agenda. 

In no particular order are a fee or tax on natural gas companies drilling in the state, transportation infrastructure investments, educational reform including school choice, and the privatization of the state’s liquor store system. 

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“Those are all things that we could do and we should do,” said state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “But we’re really waiting to see what the governor wants.” 

Senate Republican leaders said Monday that Corbett has not provided a clear statement on any of those issues, but communication channels are open, Corman said.

The governor spent most of the spring gathering intelligence on those key issues. His executive-appointed commissions on transportation funding and Marcellus shale activity have turned in their reports and a separate report on the potential windfall from selling the state liquor stores is expected to be delivered soon. 

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester, said “no universal agreement” exists on the cost and structure of an impact fee on natural gas drilling and “no particular order (is) set” now for the Republicans’ top priorities. 

Various natural gas drilling fee structures were proposed in the spring, but the governor promised to veto any bill before his commission finished its report in July. 

As soon as the commission concluded, a bipartisan group of senators began meeting to craft a natural gas drilling impact fee proposal that would gain support in both chambers of the General Assembly. 

Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, said he hoped the Senate would take up the impact fee within the next three weeks. 

"I think within the next few weeks here you'll start to see a final package take shape in the Senate (and) then the conversation will move forward with the administration and the House," said state Sen. John Yudichak, D-Luzerne, minority chair of the Senate Environmental and Energy Committee. 

On the transportation front, widespread flooding from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee that forced the closure of hundreds of state roads and bridges in August and September has increased lawmakers’ interest in the state’s infrastructure. 

Pileggi said this disruption highlights "the need for government to have an active role in maintaining our transportation infrastructure.” 

“That costs money--and it costs a great deal of money,” he said. 

The governor’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission recommended $2.7 billion in new annual revenue for transportation through higher gasoline taxes and increases in the cost of driver's license and registration fees--among other things--but Corbett has not commented on the report or what parts of it he would be willing to sign. 

Corman said the state Senate was waiting for the governor’s signal, but transportation would be the top priority for the fall. 

“Transportation infrastructure is our responsibility, and we have to take care of it,” Corman said. “You see what’s going on in Washington, D.C.? They’re not governing. We have to govern.” 

State Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton, said she was discouraged by the Republican fall agenda, because it did little to help Pennsylvania’s economy or create jobs. 

"I can see transportation," Boscola said. "You need infrastructure, and that's when companies will come into the commonwealth if you have a solid infrastructure." 

She said transportation could be one area where infrastructure spending would create jobs. 

Pileggi said other issues that have been in the public eye for a longer period--specifically education reform and the Marcellus shale drilling fee--would be easier for the Legislature to address during the crowded and busy fall schedule. 

Education reform could go in various directions, including a reduction in requirements for public school districts, additional oversight of the state’s public charter schools and expansion of the Education Improvement Tax Credit program that uses corporate contributions to fund private school scholarships for children from lower-income families who attend struggling school districts. 

The biggest education battle will be fought over a plan to provide vouchers to students in the state’s 144 failing schools, as defined by the state Department of Education. Corbett and Senate Republicans publicly backed the bill in the spring, but the Senate never passed it and state House Republicans said they would not address the voucher plan until the Senate acted. 

The liquor privatization battle has been led by House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, while the state Senate showed only tepid support for the plan during the spring and summer. 

On Monday, state Sen. John Pippy, R-Allegheny, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which handles liquor issues, said he would focus on changing the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board until a bill is passed by the House to sell the state stores.

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