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Thursday, July 31, 2003

By Johnna A. Pro, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

HARRISBURG -- Gov. Ed Rendell today is expected to ask lawmakers to return to the state Capitol in an effort to jump-start the administration's faltering budget negotiations with the Republican-controlled Legislature.

The governor has the power to order lawmakers back to Harrisburg, but will not exercise that option, at least not for now. Instead, in a public announcement slated for 11 a.m. today, Rendell is going to try to persuade elected officials to voluntarily return to the Capitol.

"He is doing a press event to discuss the budget process in general and to urge legislators to return to the Capitol to negotiate, but he will not call a special session," said John Estey, the governor's chief of staff.

The Senate recessed Monday but was told to be prepared to return with six hours' notice. The House has scheduled two token session days next week and members are on an eight-hour notice to return.

Estey had said earlier this week that the administration didn't feel that a special session was warranted at this point, in part because Rendell can't order the Legislature to take action once lawmakers are back in the Capitol. Theoretically, legislative leaders can gavel a session open and immediately close it.

"The governor is continuing to press for dialogue with legislative leaders," Estey said. "At the end of the day, we need a negotiated resolution."

Although there have been individual discussions between Rendell and various lawmakers, the last time the governor met with legislative leaders from the House and Senate as a group was July 17.

The state's $21 billion budget took effect July 1, but Rendell vetoed $4 billion for basic education out of the spending plan in an effort to force lawmakers to consider his broad but intricately linked agenda, which includes property tax reform and new education initiatives paid for with expanded gambling revenue and taxes.

Without the education funding, school districts may have to begin classes next month not knowing how much their state allocation will be.

Social programs, libraries and mass transit services, all of which took huge budget cuts, also are beginning to feel the impact of the financial situation. Lawmakers and the administration have failed to restore any of their funding and the funding they were allocated hasn't been authorized by the Legislature.

Steve MacNett, chief counsel to the Senate Republicans, said that Senate Republican leader David J. Brightbill, R-Lebanon, and other senior staff people have met this week with their counterparts in the House and with administration representatives, such as Education Secretary Vickie Phillips, to talk about budget-related issues.

"There's a lot of conversation flowing through the process. It just doesn't happen to be around the same table," MacNett said. "It may be more productive that way."\

It's Senate Republicans, more so than their counterparts in the House, who are viewed by the administration as stalling the process.

Senate Republicans staunchly object to any new or increased taxes, which the administration insists it needs to solve a structural problem in the budget. In addition, only a handful of senators support expanded gambling, the revenue from which will drive property tax reform.

MacNett said the Senate will come back "when there is something productive for the General Assembly as a body to do."

"The process is very much continuing and very much alive," he said. "There are major expensive issues that have lots of policy and some philosophical disputes included with them. They are big, they are complicated, but [the process] is on-going. I don't view it as a stalemate."

Even so, there has been little movement on any front.

Legalized gambling has been shelved for now, which in turn kills property tax reform; there is no consensus on new education initiatives or funding for them; and even a new economic development initiative that has broad overall support, is stalled because of disputes over details, such as how much venture capital money should be included.

Johnna Pro can be reached at jpro@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1574.