HARRISBURG, February 7, 2012 – State Sen. Daylin Leach (D-Delaware/Montgomery) released statements about today’s events, including the Senate passage of House Bill 1950 and Governor Corbett’s budget address.
House Bill 1950 would, if signed into law, impose an impact fee upon drillers for 15 years, distributing 60 per¬cent of earned rev¬enue to local municipalities and offering the rest to var¬i¬ous state agencies.
On H.B. 1950:
“It’s a fact that the entire state of Pennsylvania will be affected by the drillers taking resources from under the ground, and yet only certain municipalities will have the opportunity to recoup some of those losses. It’s becoming clear that, to the governor, remaining on the good side of the drilling companies is much more important than looking out for the best interest of all Pennsylvanians.”
Additionally, the governor released his proposal for the 2012-2013 state budget to a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives this morning.
On Gov. Corbett’s budget address:
“This year’s budget continues the trends set last year, most notably those forcing students and families to bear the burden of the governor’s refusal to bring in additional state revenue. He mentioned nothing about his plans for education in his speech despite evidence that the funding crisis is spreading: the issues faced by Chester-Upland are soon projected to affect at least ten other schools. When that happens, the students will suffer and the taxpayers will pay. I encourage the governor to offer concrete details about his plans for Pennsylvania's struggling school districts so we can begin to crunch the numbers and develop a more responsible fiscal outline of our own.”
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