HARRISBURG – State Reps. Matt Gabler (R-Clearfield/Elk) and Tommy Sankey (R-Clearfield/Cambria) today joined the majority of their colleagues in voting for and asking Gov. Tom Wolf to sign key budget-related legislation into law for the 2015-16 fiscal year.
Today, the State House approved and sent to the governor’s desk House Bill 1801, House Bill 1327 and a series of state-related university appropriation bills, which would restore the Dec. 29 cuts made by the governor to the currently enacted budget.
Gabler and Sankey issued the following statement after passage of House Bill 1801, the fourth 2015-16 budget bill that the Legislature has sent to the governor’s desk and that increases basic education funding by $200 million and restores support for agriculture – Pennsylvania’s No. 1 industry – and correctional facilities across the state without requiring tax increases:
“We call on Gov. Wolf to sign this legislation that would fund the core functions of government and restore the cuts he made in December. Without immediate release of state funds, a number of school districts across Pennsylvania are at serious risk of closing. We cannot allow that to happen. It is beyond time to release the tax dollars that Pennsylvanians have faithfully paid into the state treasury.
“The governor’s signature on this budget will enable us to provide funding for critical access hospitals, which are essential to rural health care. It will allow the Penn State Extension to continue operating the great programs that benefit our local communities, and it will finally fund agricultural programs and restore funding for hardwood development and research on which our economy depends and many local jobs rely.
“The practice of ‘governing by crisis’ is no way for state government to operate. Gov. Wolf needs to end the threats, release the hostages he took with his veto pen and close the budget gap he created on Dec. 29.”