Lawmakers push borrowing, gambling bills in budget talks
Lawmakers scrambled Wednesday evening to advance massive borrowing and casino gambling measures to help resolve a four-month stalemate over how to fix Pennsylvania’s deficit-riddled finances.
The Senate voted 29-21 to approve a House plan that revolves around borrowing $1.5 billion — with interest, payback likely would cost more than $2 billion over 20 years — and a grab bag of tax increases that is projected to yield as much as $140 million a year.
Meanwhile, a gambling expansion plan in the nation’s No. 2 commercial casino state would potentially bring casino-style gambling to truck stops, airports, online portals and 10 brand new casino locations, each with hundreds of slot machines and table games.
It also would make Pennsylvania the first state to allow both casino and lottery games online, in a quest for money from new and younger players.
Hanging in the balance is roughly $650 million in aid to five universities, including Penn State and its agricultural research and extension programs. Meanwhile, fresh efforts to scrape up enough support in the House to impose a tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas production have hit a wall amid opposition by House Republican leaders.
Pennsylvania has had spending authority since the fiscal year began July 1 under a nearly $32 billion budget bill that lawmakers overwhelmingly approved. However, it has a gaping, $2.2 billion hole in it, largely from state government’s biggest cash shortfall since the recession, and the ugly fight over how to fill it has pitted Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-controlled Senate against the Republican-controlled House.
With hundreds of pages of budget-related legislation passing the House and Senate, Wolf would not give his blessing to it Wednesday. His office would only say that he would evaluate the bills.
“These bills contain many policy changes and deserve a full vetting,” Wolf’s office said.
In many ways, Wolf has moved on from the Legislature’s budget fights. Three weeks ago, Wolf began exploring borrowing and costcutting avenues without the involvement of lawmakers, declaring he was finished waiting for House Republicans to produce a plan to fill the deficit. Paying bills on time has required short-term loans from the Treasury Department and is expected to be necessary again, with a $1.2 billion payment due to public schools Thursday.
The casino bill was still under wraps Wednesday evening, after months of talks as part of a wider budget agreement. Efforts to win its quick passage in both the House and Senate could run late into Wednesday night.
License fees and taxes on higher gambling losses is projected to net upward of $200 million a year for Pennsylvania, a state that already netted $1.4 billion in taxes on the industry in the last fiscal year.