Gerlach’s Pledge to Pennsylvania: No More 100-Day Budget Delays

By GERLACH FOR PA

EXTON (PA) – Republican Jim Gerlach said on Thursday that Pennsylvania’s badly broken budget process has become a national embarrassment and renewed his pledge for swift action on bold reforms to avoid 100-day budget delays.

“We do not need to waste any more time playing political games and pointing fingers,” said Gerlach, who was the first candidate this year to propose two-year budgeting cycles. “This dysfunctional process has resulted in a 100-day delay in enacting a budget. The Harrisburg culture of putting self-interest ahead of the public interest must end. The families of Pennsylvania understand the importance of paying your bills on time and not spending more than you can afford. For far too long Harrisburg has ignored these basic principles.

“That’s why I was the first candidate for governor to propose moving to a a two-year budget cycle to cut costs, increase accountability and avoid the annual budget soap opera, which for the last seven years has resulted in increased government spending and higher taxes. And we must stop rewarding politicians in Harrisburg for failure. If the state cannot meet the Constitutional requirement of enacting a budget by July 1st of each year, then the Governor, his Cabinet and lawmakers should lose a day’s pay for every day the fail to pass a budget.”

In September, Gerlach released a 17-point “Pledge to Pennsylvania” that is a contract to protect taxpayers and send a very clear message that the days of rewarding failure, ignoring runaway spending and tolerating a lack of accountability in Harrisburg are over.

The pledge included several proposals for budget reforms including:

Implement “Results-Based Budgeting” to Force Government Accountability

Require state departments and agencies to meet performance goals and outcomes before any additional increase in state funding is approved. If a government program has failed to meet its stated goals over a multi-year period, funding would be pulled. All state budgets will be built from a zero-base and government programs will have to prove their effectiveness at the beginning of every budget cycle.
Stop Paying Politicians for Failure – Cut Off Pay for the Governor, Cabinet, and Legislators if They Don’t Get a Budget Passed on Time

There are no surprises on the budget calendar – a new budget begins every year on July 1st. It is our elected officials’ collective responsibility in Harrisburg to pass a budget on time.. Should a budget miss the deadline, legislators, the Governor, and the cabinet would lose a day’s pay for every day the budget isn’t passed. During that time, operational costs of state government would continue at the current year’s spending levels to maintain services for taxpayers and to pay state workers.

Stop Unnecessary Incremental Government Growth

Protect Every Tax Dollar by Changing the State Budget Process to a Two-Year Budget Cycle. Twenty-one states currently use a two-year budget cycle, which provides a more focused, long-term analysis of the effectiveness of government programs and the use of tax dollars. Among the states using two-year budgets are Texas, Ohio and Virginia.
The entire “Pledge to Pennsylvania” is available here.

Jim Gerlach is a true Pennsylvanian, having grown up in the shadows of steel mills in Lawrence County in western Pennsylvania. Elected to Congress in 2002 from Chester County in southeastern Pennsylvania, after serving in both houses of the state legislature, Jim was the national Democrat Party’s top target in the country in 2006, enduring $7.5 million in spending and attacks from groups like MoveOn and ACORN.

Jim has won election from a Democrat district which gave nearly 60% of the vote to President Obama last fall and nearly 70% of the vote to Governor Ed Rendell in 2006. Jim Gerlach is the only candidate who has proven he can win against tough, well-funded Democrat opponents.

Jim announced his candidacy July 14th and is not seeking re-election to Congress. Jim has been endorsed by former Republican Lieutenant Governor Bill Scranton. He also has the support of current and former members of the Pennsylvania delegation in Congress, including John Peterson, Bill Shuster, Todd Platts and Phil English.

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