FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2007
Contact:
David Atkinson
(717) 787-6535
 

Senate Appropriations Committee to Hear Budget Views
 From Advocacy Groups

Having just completed two weeks of the traditional state budget hearings featuring Cabinet officials, commission heads, and higher education leaders, the Senate Appropriations Committee is taking a different approach this week and reaching out for the perspectives of research and advocacy groups.

This special budget hearing will be held in Hearing Room One, in the North Office Building, on March 14, beginning at 1 p.m.

"Pennsylvania is confronting a tough set of financial circumstances and a substantial gap between revenue and spending levels, yet Governor Rendell has proposed the kind of ambitious state budget usually seen only in the best of economic times.  There are a lot of difficult decisions ahead, and we certainly can benefit from advice on where to cut back, where to defer increasing spending, or where to change priorities," Appropriations Chairman Gib Armstrong said.

"A number of Senators – Republicans and Democrats – have recently suggested holding a budget hearing that goes beyond what is normally done. This hearing reflects the new level of openness under which we are operating, with more public involvement before we reach the point of decisionmaking. It is a departure from business-as-usual," he added.

"We have invited groups who span the political spectrum. We expect that there will be widely varying views on spending, taxing, borrowing, and the relative value of the array of state programs," Armstrong noted.

Click here for the hearing agenda (PDF)