Watchdogs say budget process still needs work
HARRISBURG – In a span of about 32 hours last week, lawmakers approved bills that will lead to higher tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 2009 and new tolls on Interstate 80 in 2010. Legislators also decided how the state will spend about $27.5 billion, handed out $75 million in tax cuts to television and film studios and dedicated about $120 million in slot machine revenues for projects, including a new arena for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Lawmakers insisted that rules changes in both chambers made the budget process more transparent and gave rank-and-file members more say this year.
However, Capitol watchdog groups who pushed for reforms after the 2005 legislative pay-raise fiasco said the hectic voting schedule largely followed the pattern of previous years.
Eric Epstein, coordinator for Harrisburg-based watchdog group RockTheCapital.org, described the pace of the final hours of voting as outrageous and unnatural.
“People were overwhelmed by the sheer volume,” Epstein said. “It’s not humanly possible to review all the legislation that comes to the floor. The legislation was serious and weighty and we need to look at it ahead of time. Too much came at the end.”
New rules adopted in January required the Senate to wait six hours and the House to wait a day before voting on final versions of the bill, but Epstein said little else changed.
The budget details ultimately were decided in closed-door meetings between Gov. Ed Rendell and legislative leaders from the House and Senate, Epstein said.
“Even though the whispers were audible, the doors were still closed to the public,” he said.
“Last year we were completely in the dark (about the budget). This year we had a flashlight in a cave. Next year we need a spotlight on the entire process.”
But lawmakers said rules changes improved the process considerably.
Some lawmakers said in the past they were forced to vote on bills that were still throwing off heat from the printing machine.
“In many years in the past, members have gotten a 300-page budget bill literally five minutes before they are asked to cast a deciding vote on it,” said Bill Patton, a spokesman for House Speaker Dennis O’Brien, a Philadelphia Republican.
“This year, for those members who had a desire to do so, they had a full 24 hours to look at the bill.”
House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, a Greene County Democrat who represents parts of Fayette, said the House made serious and substantial changes to the way it conducts business.
“We no longer vote in the middle of the night,” said DeWeese, who promised more reforms this fall.
Those reforms would include strengthening the public’s right to government records and limiting campaign contributions, DeWeese said.
“I have completely bought into this new world of reform,” he said.
Rep. Tim Mahoney, a Fayette County Democrat who won his seat last year by emphasizing the need for reform, called the waiting period a step in the right direction.
“I think it slowed the process up some and people at least knew what they were voting on most of the time,” Mahoney said.
As a matter of principle, Mahoney said, the budget process should be more open to rank-and-file lawmakers.
Figuring out a practical way to make that happen would be a challenge, he admitted.
“When you are talking about 253 people in the room trying to come up with a budget, it would take more than a year to get a budget,” Mahoney said.
Rep. Josh Shapiro, a Montgomery County Democrat and a co-chairman of a legislative reform panel that recommended new House rules, said the hours of debate on major legislation showed that reforms took hold.
Thirty-eight House members spoke during debate on a transportation funding package that will spend $750 million this year on mass transit and fixing roads and bridges, Shapiro said.
He added that rules requiring a 24-hour cooling off period before voting on legislation gave the public the time to review bills and the rank-and-file members time to ask questions.
“This process was more open and transparent than any in recent memory,” Shapiro said. “The public has access to information through the members and through dialogue on the House floor. I personally returned thousands of e-mails and phone calls informing people in my district what was in the budget or what I thought about the budget.”
Rep. David J. Steil, a Bucks County Republican who served as the GOP co-chairman of the legislative reform panel, agreed.
“The one thing we gained in the House is the 24 hours to review the line item budget proposal,” Steil said. “Last year, we had two hours to review it.”
But Steil acknowledged more improvements could be made, including starting budget talks earlier.
Adopting a process known as performance-based budgeting would help lawmakers set priorities, Steil said.
He said that approach would determine the value of state programs, such as funding for pre-kindergarten classes, and give lawmakers objective criteria for deciding what the final budget should include.
“The Legislature does need to look at itself in terms of how it moves these major pieces of legislation,” Steil said.
Russ Diamond, chairman of the Lebanon County-based advocacy group PA CleanSweep, said lawmakers deserve a small amount of credit for ending late night sessions.
The House finished all its votes before 11 p.m. and the Senate worked past 11 p.m. just once during the final hours of voting.
Diamond said the Legislature still has a long way to go for true reform.
He pointed out the disparity in the amount of time House members debated a proposed smoking ban and the budget.
House members spent about 10 hours over four days discussing the smoking ban before passing a bill that was rejected by the Senate. Floor debate on the budget lasted less than 45 minutes.
“If a smoking ban takes four days and 10 hours to debate, then a budget should take 40 days and 150 hours to debate on the floor of the House,” Diamond said.
Diamond said budget talks should start earlier to avoid cram sessions before summer recess.
“I think they can change the entire budget process,” Diamond said.