PENNSYLVANIA Rendell to focus on next budget

The budget for this year wasn't passed until December 2003.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- Gov. Ed Rendell's administration and state lawmakers are just now turning their attention toward a state budget for the coming fiscal year as the full Legislature returns to the Capitol.
For the fiscal year that begins July 1, Rendell's $22.7 billion proposal, which represents a 4.5 percent increase over the current year's budget, does not call for any tax increases.
The governor, however, is asking lawmakers to increase waste disposal fees by $5 per ton for municipal solid waste and $4 per ton for industrial waste, primarily to pay debt service on a proposed $800 million environmental-protection bond issue.
Rendell also has proposed a new 15 cent-per-pound fee on the release of certain toxic materials to generate more than $20 million a year to shore up the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund.
After several weeks off for the April 27 primary election, the House of Representatives returns Monday and plans to vote that day and Tuesday on legislation that is expected to serve as the framework for the final spending plan, which must be adopted by June 30.
The Senate returned last week.
The state budget for the current fiscal year was late because of a stalemate over funding for new education programs and the tax increases that Rendell sought to pay for them. The compromise, reached in December, raised the state income tax rate by nearly 10 percent and also increased levies on telephone usage and cigarettes.
House debate
House debate Monday will focus on how to spend $75 million in revenue that has not been earmarked in the budget bill.
More than 230 amendments have been introduced by members of both parties suggesting a whole grab-bag of ways to use it, in addition to increasing the amount of money already set aside for grants to school districts.
In addition to boosting the grants, lawmakers have proposed increasing aid to state-owned universities, libraries, and drug- and alcohol-treatment programs.
"While this budget might not be the final budget document, every single amendment that's put forward is important to at least one member and one constituency. Members are thinking of their districts," said Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader Sam Smith.