Budget dance spins on low expectations

It’s June 23. Do you know where your state budget is?

It’s a trick question. It’s where it always is this time of year.

In the works. Harrisburg is a funny place. Every year the governor and Legislature do this budget dance. The state constitution mandates that a new spending plan be in place by midnight on July 1.

Democrat Gov. Wolf knows all about this do-si-do. His first couple of years in Harrisburg it was more like a WWF cage match. It did not go well for the governor.

He rode into the governor’s mansion on a promise to restore the education funding cuts that took place during the one term of his predecessor, Republican Tom Corbett. In fact it was largely that single pledge that created something of a rarity in Pennsylvania politics. Voters showed an incumbent governor the door.

After a couple of bruising budget years, Wolf finally seemed to learn his lesson. He won re-election in a waltz and saw Democrats make some solid gains in the House and Senate. But Republicans still control the purse strings. Wolf knows that.

Perhaps that’s why — despite knowing he did not have to worry about re-election — his latest budget blueprint was fairly mild. It did not even call for a tax hike, although he is still seeking a severance tax on natural gas; he’s just not doing it within the budget itself.

Wolf has thrown his weight behind a couple of fundamental budget items. He has traveled the state preaching the value of an increase in the state’s paltry minimum wage and a huge infrastructure program he has dubbed Restore Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is an embarrassing $7.25 an hour, the same as the federal standard. It has not been increased in years and lags behind neighboring states, all of whom have recently boosted wages.

Wolf makes the argument that the minimum wage issue no longer is restricted to those on the fringe of the workforce.

These are now people struggling to support families. It’s not doable on $7.25 an hour.

Wolf is proposing a sliding scale. He would start with a boost to $12 an hour, then tack on 50 cents an hour until the minimum wage hits $15 an hour in 2020.

Even some Republican leaders have expressed support for an increase, though they aren’t thrilled with Wolf’s call to push it to $12 for starters. Look for some kind of increase, probably not as big as Wolf wants.

Restore Pa.? Don’t hold your breath. Wolf wants to borrow $4.5 million for infrastructure improvements, then pay it back with money from a severance tax. Not likely to happen.

Don’t look for Republicans to be willing to get behind the governor’s annual call for boosts in education funding. Wolf antagonized Republicans last week when he vetoed legislation that would boost a program that offers tax breaks for businesses who underwrite scholarships to private schools. It was pushed by Republican House Speaker Mike Turzai.

Another sticking point looks likely to be the governor’s push to reinstate a general assistance program that was slashed by Republicans in 2012. The $200 stipend was used by many disabled citizens for some basic needs. Look for some kind of deal to be struck to get some more assistance to these needy citizens. It was killed by Republicans, then reinstated by the courts. Now Republicans are seeking to ax it again.

A move to do that passed the House Thursday.

No one sees the kind of standoff that once led to government shutdowns and layoffs for government personnel even though Wolf’s $34.1 billion budget boosts spending.

That is in large part because state tax returns have spiked, up more than $800 million ahead of projections.

So bet the house that Wolf and the Legislature get a spending plan in place on time, and one that will not raise taxes.

It would be nice to see the Legislature look on a bit larger scale, a bigger vision for the state.

Instead, Pennsylvania will continue to roll along, far back in the pack when it comes to jobs, education spending and other key areas.

Pennsylvania deserves better.

This budget likely will not deliver it.