Aug. 25, 2016
HARRISBURG – Offering realistic solutions to stop Harrisburg’s spending madness, Rep. Ryan Warner (R-Fayette/Westmoreland) announced that he is sponsoring the
Taxpayer Protection Act (House Bill 472) and the
Zero-Based Budgeting Act (House Bill 2286).
Warner indicated that both of these bills are designed to stop the influx of excessive state government spending in Harrisburg.
“Unfortunately, the process that was once again repeated with the enactment of this year’s $31.6 billion state budget, which irresponsibly increases the cost of state government by $1.6 billion and imposes more than $750 million in increased consumer taxes, is not a new phenomenon,” Warner said. “Since 1970, total state government spending, even when adjusting for inflation, has increased by 85 percent! The first thing we need to do to stop Harrisburg’s spending madness is to build a Constitutional wall to hold back the flood of spending by placing a Constitutional limit on the annual growth of the state budget.”
Currently awaiting consideration on the House floor, Warner’s
Taxpayer Protection Act would amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to establish spending limits that the Commonwealth must abide by each fiscal year. The proposed constitutional amendment would limit the rate at which the Commonwealth’s spending may increase, based on either the Consumer Price Index or a change in population growth.
House Bill 472 would need to be approved by the General Assembly in two consecutive sessions and then be presented to Pennsylvania voters as a referendum. Once established, this amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution could only be temporarily suspended in specific cases of declared emergencies, or by a 75 percent majority vote by the General Assembly.
“The ‘traditional’ method for developing a budget relies upon incremental adjustments to expenditures made in previous fiscal years and insulates governmental activities from the thorough fiscal review expected by taxpayers. Over time the budget is driven by inertia rather than by clear and defensible policy objectives,” explained Warner. “The second thing we need to do is to change the whole discussion and approach for crafting a state budget by implementing zero-based budgeting where all expenses must be justified and accounted for.”
Specifically,
House Bill 2286 would require certain state agencies (those with expenditures accounting for at least 20 percent of the General Fund budget) to prepare and submit a zero-based budget plan at least once every five years. Zero-based budgeting starts from a “zero base,” and every function within an organization is analyzed on both its needs and costs. Budgets are then built around what is needed for the upcoming period, regardless of whether the budget is higher or lower than the previous one.
“It is my sincerely held belief that implementing zero-based budgeting is sure to result in the elimination of out-of-date, obsolete programs, allowing us to invest taxpayer dollars more wisely and maybe even return some of the taxpayers’ hard-earned money to their own wallets,” said Warner. “Pennsylvania taxpayers can no longer afford for their government to spend without restraint. Enacting both Constitutional spending limits and zero-based budgeting would represent a long-overdue step forward to cutting off government’s spending addiction.”
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Representative Ryan Warner
52nd Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Ty McCauslin
717.772.9979
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