Following is a listing of executive and legislative action for week from July 27 through Aug. 2. At press time, members of the General Assembly stood in recess subject to the call of their presiding officers.

State Revenues

The Pennsylvania Senate on July 27 approved a measure to fund the spending priorities included in the fiscal year 2017-18 state budget. But the move was greeted coldly by many members of the House of Representatives. HB 542 passed the upper house on the thinnest of margins, 26-24, with Republican leaders joining most Democrats in voting to clear the measure.

A statement from the Senate Republican caucus said the revenue plan “includes limited borrowing and modest, targeted revenue enhancements that offer the promise of meeting the state's current and future financial obligations.”

Several House Republicans denounced the bill as a tax increase and vowed to oppose it. State Reps. Seth Grove, R-York, and Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, were first out of the box to issue statements condemning the compromise. According to the state House GOP caucus website, members of the Taxpayers' Caucus of the state House held a town meeting on Aug. 2 hosted by state Rep. Dawn Keefer, R-York, who said, “Every Pennsylvanian would be hit by these taxes. We must now find alternatives to tax increases.”

Budget Process

As the revenue fight dominated the legislative picture in Harrisburg, one state House Democrat introduced a bill he said was aimed at preventing future fiscal impasses.