PRINTER'S NO. 443
No. 4 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY PETRI, WATSON, CLYMER, O'NEILL, WRIGHT, BALDWIN,
BARRAR, BOYD, BROWNE, CALTAGIRONE, CAPPELLI, CURRY, FABRIZIO,
GINGRICH, GODSHALL, GOOD, GOODMAN, GRUCELA, HERSHEY, JAMES,
M. KELLER, LEH, MACKERETH, MAITLAND, R. MILLER, NICKOL,
PHILLIPS, READSHAW, REICHLEY, ROBERTS, ROSS, RUBLEY,
SCAVELLO, SCHRODER, B. SMITH, STERN, E. Z. TAYLOR, TIGUE,
YUDICHAK AND DALLY, FEBRUARY 14, 2005
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, FEBRUARY 14, 2005
A RESOLUTION
1 Directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study
2 existing State aid funding formulas.
3 WHEREAS, The Legislative Budget and Finance Committee is a
4 bipartisan, bicameral legislative service agency consisting of
5 12 members of the General Assembly established by statute to
6 conduct studies and make recommendations aimed at eliminating
7 unnecessary expenditures, to promote economy in State government
8 and to assure that Commonwealth funds are being expended in
9 accordance with legislative intent and law; and
10 WHEREAS, The Legislative Budget and Finance Committee is
11 authorized to conduct a wide range of research activities
12 pertaining to the operation and performance of State-funded
13 programs and agencies; and
14 WHEREAS, Existing State aid formulas do not adjust for
15 population or client growth, despite the inherent and increasing
1 unfairness this places on Pennsylvania residents and taxpayers;
2 and
3 WHEREAS, Notwithstanding a 1991 public hold-harmless
4 pronouncement, the State's funding formula for education has not
5 been adjusted since 1991, resulting in a tremendous and
6 increasing variance in per student school education funding; and
7 WHEREAS, The State's funding formula used by the Department
8 of Aging to allocate Area Agency on Aging moneys has not been
9 adjusted to incorporate the 2000 Census figures or population
10 growth since 1990; and
11 WHEREAS, The State's MH/MR funding formula has not been
12 adjusted for increases in client enrollment in more than two
13 years; and
14 WHEREAS, The State's PennDOT county maintenance allocation
15 formula has not been adjusted for population growth or vehicular
16 traffic growth since 1997; and
17 WHEREAS, Those counties in this Commonwealth which have
18 experienced the greatest increases in population growth have
19 incurred dramatic reductions in per person funding, per client
20 funding, or both, because State aid formulas have not been
21 adjusted to account for the population and/or client growth;
22 therefore be it
23 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives direct the
24 Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study all existing
25 State aid funding formulas and their impact on the 67 counties
26 of this Commonwealth; and be it further
27 RESOLVED, That, in furtherance of its study, the Legislative
28 Budget and Finance Committee:
29 (1) Identify existing State aid funding formulas
30 currently in use in this Commonwealth.
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1 (2) Determine the criteria used to distribute funding
2 under each of the current State funding formulas.
3 (3) Develop criteria to measure the impact of
4 population-based State aid funding formulas.
5 (4) Develop criteria to measure the impact of client-
6 based State aid funding formulas.
7 (5) Determine what data should be used to accurately
8 reflect population/client enrollment.
9 (6) Determine how and when to adjust State aid funding
10 formulas to accurately reflect population/client enrollment
11 shifts between the counties of this Commonwealth.
12 (7) Report its findings, conclusions and recommendations
13 to the House of Representatives within 120 days.
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