Issue Position: Budget Reform

Issue Position

Pat has been a leader in the effort to institute performance based budgeting in Pennsylvania, enacting SR294 requiring the Joint State Government Commission to create a comprehensive listing of all evidence based practices used in the nation. He also was a cosponsor of Act 48, SB181, which institutes performance based budgeting for discretionary spending. This new law require all departments and agencies to justify their budget requests beginning with dollar one, for all existing as well as proposed programs for each fiscal year, before they can receive consideration for budget funding.

Pat is a cosponsor of Senator Scott Wagner's bill to enact Zero Based budgeting which will create a process by which every 5 years a department is stripped down and rebuilt to ensure that every dollar is being properly allocated and is still needed. This will help reduce the redundancy and the size of government.

After Governor Wolf held students and seniors hostage in the longest budget impasse in PA History, Pat had seen enough and introduced SB585 which would ensure when Harrisburg fails to do its job in enacting the budget that schools and social service agencies still receive their funding so they can continue to do their job. This bill would also place pressure on the legislature to get their jobs done by cutting off certain services and benefits to them.

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