Area legislators react to budget

Area lawmakers commented on Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget proposals:

Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Berks/Carbon/Schuylkill: “It’s always nice to hear the governor say that there are no new taxes included in the state budget. However, the governor failed to mention his previous commitments to imposing the largest energy tax in the nation on Pennsylvania taxpayers and job creators.

“Again, the governor’s budget address is only a starting point for future negotiations. As a proud graduate of Thaddeus Stevens Trade School, I am looking forward to working together with the governor to give our schools the flexibility to expand career, trade-based and technical education opportunities.”

Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon: I think the governor tried to strike a tone of bipartisanship in his address. It’s a good starting point. He has an ambitious spend number, but we have to remember this is other people’s money, and we want to make sure we are being responsible in how it is allocated. We don’t want to extend ourselves and have an unbalanced budget at the end of the day.

“He wants to make some investments in technical education, which I support. He also wants to continue the fight against the opioid epidemic, which is one of my top priorities. Some good proposals in both areas are included in his plan.”

Senator David G. Argall, R-Schuylkill: “While Gov. Wolf’s budget address offers a viable starting point for negotiations, I believe we need to go one step further and address other issues that impact every Pennsylvania community — including the growth in government spending. We should implement common-sense work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients and increase our efforts to reduce welfare fraud.

“I also have serious concerns about the governor’s plan to cut $15 million from school safety. Given the terrible events of the past year, there was broad bipartisan support for additional school safety funding in last year’s budget. We should be able to work together once again to restore this funding and ensure our young people can enjoy a safer learning environment.

Rep. Zach Mako, R-Lehigh/Northampton: “While I think we all can agree that our commonwealth’s infrastructure could be improved, I am not on board with adding a severance tax on Marcellus Shale to accomplish this. The natural gas industry already pays an impact fee that has generated $1.7 billion since 2012.

“I was heartened to hear the governor talk about workforce development and preparing our young people for the jobs that are available today and in the future. Pennsylvania is currently facing a shortage of qualified workers for some family-sustaining jobs.”

Sen. John Yudichak, D-Luzerne/Carbon: “I applaud Gov. Wolf’s call for continued investments in education and workforce development training that will further fuel the job growth, economic development and fiscal responsibility in Pennsylvania.

“Northeastern Pennsylvania is leading the way in job creation with over 4,000 new jobs created in the South Valley in just the last two years — jobs that empower families and improve communities.”

Sen. Mario Scavello, R-Monroe/Northampton: “Judicial reforms being implemented across Pennsylvania will result in former inmates looking for jobs. If we don’t give incentives to employers to hire them, they are going to be back in the system. All of the dollars being saved by judicial reforms should be used to link the newly released with jobs so that we can reduce recidivism.”

Scavello said he remains committed to getting the commonwealth to create a full-day Career and Technical Education program in the 40th Senate District and across Pennsylvania. “We have too many students going into debt for a college degree they are not going to use, or spending hours of their school day on a bus traveling from their high school to their vocational-technical school,” he said.

Rep. Rosemary Brown, R-Monroe/Pike: “There were a lot of overlapping ideas in Gov. Wolf’s budget address, including workforce development, career and technical education and quality education, are areas of focus that our caucus agrees with and will work together with the governor to address.

“As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, my colleagues and I will review the details of each initiative within each agency and ensure that the taxpayers’ money is being used appropriately.”

Rep. Jack Rader, R-Monroe: “I’m pleased the governor is not asking for any new or increased broad-based taxes. I think there are areas where we’ll be able to find some common ground on issues like fighting the opioid epidemic and investing in workforce training. The governor’s overall spending proposal is a bit aggressive, so we will look for ways to identify savings to drive down the cost for taxpayers.”

All lawmakers expressed disappointment that the governor did not address property tax relief.