Turzai: Wolf’s budget veto may face override vote

HARRISBURG — Nearly four weeks into the state budget standoff, House Speaker Mike Turzai said Monday that if negotiations do not progress, the General Assembly will have to consider attempting to override Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto of a Republican spending plan.

“We have to look at overriding if we’re not going to have a substantive discussion,” Mr. Turzai, R-Marshall, said at a luncheon of the Pennsylvania Press Club, adding that Mr. Wolf’s own budget proposal has too little legislative support for negotiators to simply meet in the middle.

“I can assure you that many of my Democratic colleagues are not interested in Gov. Wolf’s tax package, and they would be more than happy with House Bill 1192,” Mr. Turzai said, referring to the Republican-crafted budget. “Some have even privately called it quite responsible. I think that’s a direction we have to consider.”

Democrats uniformly rejected the Republican budget when it passed the General Assembly in

June.

Mr. Wolf has called for a budget that would increase the sales and personal income taxes and institute a severance tax on natural gas drilling, using the new revenues to boost education funding, lower local property taxes and close a budget shortfall. Republicans have opposed the tax proposals.

Republicans passed, along with their budget bill, legislation that would have ended the traditional defined-benefit pension plan for most future state and public school workers, as well as legislation that would move state sales of wine and spirits to the private sector. Mr. Wolf vetoed both measures.

Overriding a veto requires a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate. While Republicans hold the majority in both chambers, they would need to win over a number of Democrats to force the bill into law.

Bill Patton, spokesman for House Democrats, said not a single Democratic member would vote to override Mr. Wolf’s veto.

“Democrats will not support it, so any attempt to override the veto would be fruitless and counterproductive,” he said. “Other Republican leaders know this, and they have reached out to the governor and Democratic leaders for more substantive budget talks.”

At present, with 118 House Republicans and 80 House Democrats, the GOP would need 14 Democrats to vote against their governor. Special elections in August are scheduled to bring the House to its full 203-member complement.

Jeffrey Sheridan, spokesman for Mr. Wolf, said the governor has “met Republicans halfway” on their proposals to privatize state liquor sales and to reform the pension systems for state and public school workers.

“The speaker has refused to discuss funding for education or a severance tax despite a majority of Pennsylvanians, as well as members of his own party, sharing those priorities with the governor,” Mr. Sheridan said.