SENATE DEMOCRATS ROLL OUT BUDGET AND JOBS INITIATIVES

            HARRISBURG, February 3 – Senate Democrats today called for a new job creation strategy that would retool underperforming economic development programs, establish a new jobs program for people unable to find work and generate more jobs in energy-related industries.  

Speaking at a Capitol news conference on their budget and policy initiatives, Senate Democrats also reaffirmed that they will not support a broad-based tax increase this year and will work to hammer out a budget on time and within the two-year framework agreed to last year. 

Democrats said that they would pay for their new initiatives through policy changes, new program efficiencies and by leveraging federal dollars.   

“We are making our policy positions clear before the budget process gets underway in earnest,” said Senate Democratic Leader Robert Mellow (D-Lackawanna/Luzerne/Monroe). “We have strong positions on many key issues that would save significant tax dollars, spur job growth, provide access to low-cost health care and work toward business tax fairness.”  

Senate Democratic Appropriations Chairman Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) added, “Even in a difficult economy, if we are smart and innovative we can help the private sector create good family-sustaining jobs by saving instead of generating new tax dollars. 

  “Through innovation, slight adjustments, and a more refined fiscal approach, we’ve been able to identify nearly 500 million in cost saving opportunities over the next two years,” Costa said.  “This will help us balance our books this year and create investment opportunities down the road.” 

Mellow and Costa were joined at the news conference by several Senate Democrats who said that they will focus on five general areas: passing a responsible budget on time, creating jobs and bolstering the state’s economy, continuing the progress on education, saving tax dollars and reforming the state’s campaign finance laws.   

Some of the specific issues Democrats plan to focus on include:    

• retooling a few underperforming Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA) programs and refocusing its job creation efforts;

• closing the “Delaware Loophole” and using those funds to reduce the state’s Corporate Net Income Tax;

• passing a job development bill that leverages federal monies to help people struggling to find work, those who exhausted unemployment benefits and young people;

• establishing smarter prison policies and promoting cost-effective alternatives for non-violent offenders;

• renewing the health care agreement with the Blues to help fund the state’s adult health care insurance program (adultBasic);

• ensuring that the state lives up to its long-term school funding commitment and adopting equitable standards to measure results and ensure student success; and

• utilizing state and federal dollars to create energy industry-related jobs in the fields of weatherization, alternative energy and green product development.

             Costa said Democrats examined corrections policies for refinement because of the explosion in costs over the past two decades.

            “The state’s budget for corrections has skyrocketed from $185 million in 1985 to an astounding $1.8 billion this year,” Costa said. “Since the Special Legislative Session on Crime in the mid-1990s, the state prison population has nearly doubled.

            “These are lost dollars for Commonwealth investment.”

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