State government: October 2009 Archives

Yeah, that was lame. Whatever.

When I talked to local state representatives yesterday, Republicans were waiting to see if an amendment by state Rep. Ron Miller, R-Jacobus, was going to pass before deciding if they could support a bill that would legalize table games.

Miller's amendment would have required any revenue from the games to go toward property tax relief. And no, it didn't pass in the Democrat-dominated House.

I've attached the press release. Miller's got a point. The legalization of slots five years ago didn't exactly make the state's property tax problem disappear overnight.

Here's a news release from some local Republicans regarding the state budget.

Last week, it was really looking like Rendell and the legislative leaders had reached a compromise. Then it pretty much fell apart over the weekend.

This morning, I stopped by the county commissioners' work session and talked to President Commissioner Steve Chronister about the situation. He and the other commissioners still have a tough choice on their hands -- borrow money and pay the resulting financing costs, only to risk having the state pass a budget the next day and make the whole thing unnecessary? Or refrain from borrowing money, and risk running out of funds if the state lawmakers don't approve a budget soon?

Chronister hopes that if this impasse continues, the governor will arrange for some kind of interim funding measure for human care agencies, like he did for state worker paychecks. If he's going to do something like that, it better be within the next week or so.

Anyway, here's the press release: