Two area legislators absent from Pa. revenue package vote
State Rep. Pam Snyder interrupted a family vacation at the Outer Banks to fly back to Harrisburg on short notice in a futile attempt to vote on the state’s revenue funding bill last week.
Snyder said she purchased a round-trip plane ticket last Monday night when her Democratic leadership suggested she return for the expected vote Tuesday afternoon on the remaining $1.3 billion revenue package to finish the budget deal.
She arrived back in Harrisburg about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, but the vote was nixed when the session was adjourned 90 minutes later as the stalemate continued, prompting some state legislators to think it might be days until the vote would be taken. Instead, a bipartisan group hammered out the final details to allow a vote to be taken last Wednesday just after Snyder had boarded her flight to return to the family vacation.
“I tried. I did what my leadership asked me to do,” Snyder said. “They had no clue if this was coming back together. They ended up pulling it up again.”
Snyder, D-Jefferson, and state Rep. Peter Daley, D-California, were among 11 state representatives who were absent from the vote on the revenue bill. Six were Republicans and five were Democrats.
The revenue package, House Bill 1198, passed the House with by a 116-75 majority and cleared the Senate by a 28-22 vote.
Snyder, who was prepared to start her vacation late so she could be in Harrisburg for a vote if it came down last weekend, doesn’t know why it took so long to come to an agreement.
“My thoughts are we could’ve done this on June 30 because not much changed,” Snyder said. “It was just more disagreements and pulls and tugs and trying to get to a place on raising revenue.”
Daley, who announced several months ago that he would not seek another term, did not respond to phone calls Tuesday on his whereabouts during the revenue vote.
Daley, 65, has been a state representative for the past 34 years in the 49th Legislative District that includes part of the Mon Valley in Washington and Fayette counties. Daley ranks fourth in seniority among State House members.
The revenue package imposes another $1 per pack increase on cigarettes and includes new taxes on e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and roll-your-own cigarettes. The state’s 6-percent sales tax will also be imposed on digital downloads.
“They’ve put an additional burden on smokers, regardless of how you feel about smoking,” Snyder said. “But they raised the revenue we need to additional funding to public education and what we needed so we don’t have to raise personal income tax and sales tax.”
Still, Snyder had strong words for how the process played out and wants future negotiations to start earlier so both the budget and revenue package can be passed before the June 30 deadline. She pointed to last year’s budget debate that continued into this February – nine months late – after the Republican-controlled and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf could not agree to the terms.
“It was a moving target, as you can see from my life,” Snyder said. “They should start the process earlier. The debate we were having in July should’ve been happening in June.
“They wait and let the clock tick and then everyone’s under the gun.”
Staff writer Barbara S. Miller contributed to this report.