After+deal,+Corbett+haggling,+referenda+bill+moves+forward.

= //At 8 p.m. Wednesday night, the House GOP needed 14 votes to pass a bill tightening voter-approval of school property tax hikes. A few were picked up by House leaders. Then: "A bunch of meetings and $2 million in budget commitments later, he had rounded up 102 and we voted," said one House Republican who helped whip the back-end referendum issue. "Ten members, $2 million. Done."// = = = = = =By Peter L. DeCoursey= =//Published by Capitolwire//= =//6/29/11//= = = =HARRISBURG (June 29) – After Gov. Tom Corbett personally lobbied lawmakers Wednesday on his top remaining education policy priority for this waning legislative session, the House narrowly positioned it for a session-ending vote.= =A proposal to make more school district property tax hikes face voter approval was amended into Senate Bill 330, by an ultimate vote of 103-98 after some uncertainty on the floor.= =Other than his nearly $900 million in education funding cuts, the referenda bill, if approved by the House and Senate this week, would be the top education priority Corbett will have achieved in the session slated to end this week.= =He called for a stronger version of this measure in his budget address. Unlike vouchers and a bill to allow unfettered economic furloughs of teachers, the governor managed to get lawmakers to start moving a bill he will accept.= =But the governor was forced to engage in horse-trading to get his policy goal in this bill, House and administration sources said. One administration source said the 112-member House GOP had 24 members voting no at 8 p.m.. "10 votes short."= =The amendment debate began at 9:45 p.m. and the bill passed two-and-a-half hours after Corbett began to make deals.= ="A bunch of meetings and $2 million in budget commitments later, he had rounded up 102 and we voted," said one House Republican who helped whip the issue. "Ten members, $2 million. Done."= =Several House Republicans who ultimately voted for the bill said they did not hear of the projects funding secured by hold-outs.= =One lawmaker who did hear about the negotiations, joked that even when bargaining for votes, the budget-cutting Corbett was frugal: "$2 million for 10 votes? That is cheap even at 1990s rates!"= =The bill, forged by Corbett with House and Senate GOP leaders, sliced several exceptions to the referenda requirement to two, and limited both compared to the current law.= =Act 1, the current law mandating when voter approval is required for school district property tax hikes, was enacted in 2006. It requires referenda when a school property tax exceeds the rate of the consumer price index.= =Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, like Corbett, had been seeking a bill with no exceptions to the referenda requirement.= =He said at a committee meeting earlier this year that since its inception, 12 voter referendums had been conducted. During the same span of years, school districts had applied for 1,611 exceptions, which, at a maximum, could have raised $600 million in property taxes.= =Grove introduced an amendment Wednesday evening that Corbett, House leaders and Senate leaders had negotiated. It contained only two exceptions, getting rid of exceptions for construction costs and for court-ordered costs or settlements.= =The current law allows districts to avoid referenda if the tax-hike must exceed inflation to pay higher pension costs. The Grove bill, reflecting the Corbett-House-GOP-Senate-GOP deal, would only allow a tax hike without voter approval if the current rates of teacher salary and number of teachers are maintained.= =If a district would need a tax hike because its rate went up because it hired new teachers or increased the salaries of those it has now, they would have to get voter approval, Grove said.= =Rep. Margo Davidson, D-Delaware, called that an unfair mandate on taxpayers.= =Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne, told Grove his drafting of the proposal was “so unclear, no one knows what it means.”= =Grove said state teachers’ pension officials helped draft it. Mundy said they did not.= =On special education, that exception was drafted so that school districts could in the future seek only a tax hike to cover the portion of a special education cost increase that exceeds the district’s special education state funding. Under current law, they could seek to raise taxes without voter approval for the entire increase due to special education.= =Grove said: “It curbs the ability for school districts to increase property taxes” without voter approval.= =Mundy replied: “I’m sure your intention is to not fund education” with state funds and, speaking of school districts, “to not let them raises taxes either.”= =House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said the bill “helps the folks, the elected officials, to contain significant increases in local spending and ultimately protects the taxpayers.= =He said: “Thirty-nine states have referenda for school district budgets or for school district increases in taxes.”= =The Grove amendment originally passed 99-98, with four House members not voting, giving the bill a slim margin of victory.= =After the initial vote, House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny, noted House rules compelled members in the chamber to vote. He then attempted to get Speaker Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, to compel those members, who were not named in floor discussions, to vote.= =The four members who did not vote the first time were: Rep. Tom Murt, R-Montgomery, Rep. Jim Marshall, R-Beaver, Rep. Mike Peifer, R-Wayne, and Rep. Mario Scavello, R-Monroe.= =After some discussion and consultation, another vote was held, and all four voted for the measure, lifting it to the 103-98 margin of victory.= =All House Democrats voted against the bill. On the first, 99-98 vote, the GOP no votes were: Reps. Doug Reichley, Lehigh, Mike Fleck, Huntingdon, Rick Geist and Jerry Stern, Blair, Denny O'Brien and John Taylor, Philadelphia, Bernie O'Neill, Bucks, Chris Ross, Chester, Dick Hess, R-Bedford.= =On the second, 103-98 vote, the same lawmakers voted no, except Rep. John Maher, R-Allegheny, voted no, while Reichley switched to voting for the measure.= =Reichley later wrote in an e-mail he hoped the Senate would restore the exception for court-ordered expensive programs. He said if voters turned down a court-ordered major tax increase, districts would have nowhere to turn.= =Maher could not be reached to explain his votes.= =

= Note: Insiders are saying the $2 million in budget commitments offered by Corbett may actually be as high as $10 million. == = = =News= =home=