Sep. 24, 2015

HARRISBURG – Today, Rep. Jerry Knowles (R-Berks/Carbon/Schuylkill) joined the majority of his colleagues in voting to provide emergency state funding to school districts and agencies who are struggling to make ends meet after Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed the General Assembly’s budget in its entirety in June.

“This is a very serious situation,” Knowles explained. “We have schools, agencies and services in our state, including some in the 124th District, who don’t know how long they can keep their doors open without funding from the state. I have always been in favor of funding them; however, our governor has blocked every attempt my colleagues and I have made to get it to them. I urge him to sign this emergency funding plan.”

The funding plan the House passed today includes state appropriations amounting to $11 billion, retroactively to July 1 and carrying through to Oct. 31. In addition to four months (or 33.3 percent) of state aid based on House Bill 1192’s levels (which are higher than the 2014-15 state budget), the emergency funding bill would allow $24.3 billion in federal dollars to reach their intended recipients, and PHEAA grants and county child welfare funding will be disbursed at 50 percent.

“Based on the actions the governor has displayed recently, it doesn’t seem like we are close to a budget agreement, which makes this plan even more important,” Knowles said. “He publically threw a temper tantrum at the idea of the Senate passing this emergency funding plan last week. The reason for his actions is simple – he wants more business and residential tax revenue, and lots of it.”

Wolf vetoed the balanced, on-time state budget that was approved by the General Assembly in June. That budget called for no new or increased taxes. Wolf continues to call for nearly $5 billion in tax increases this year and an additional $8 billion in tax hikes next year. He proposed an increase in the state Personal Income Tax and a hike in the state sales tax. He also wants to apply the sales tax to more goods and services.

“Republicans passed a budget that the General Assembly agreed to nearly three months ago,” Knowles said. “This is the third time we have voted to give these groups their money; it’s also the third time the governor and his legislative allies have said no to our efforts. Some House Democrats have called this emergency funding plan a ‘Halloween Budget.’ They can call this attempt whatever they want, but if that is the case than I say let’s make it a Happy Halloween and give the struggling entities their funding so they can continue to operate.”

For more information about this, or any other legislative topic, contact Knowles’ district office in Tamaqua at 570-668-1240, or in Hamburg at 610-562-3411. Information can also be found online at RepKnowles.com or Facebook.com/RepKnowles.

Representative Jerry Knowles
124th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Krisinda Corbin
717.705.2032
kcorbin@pahousegop.com
RepKnowles.com / Facebook.com/RepKnowles
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