Reps. Frank Ryan (R-Lebanon) and Seth Grove (R-York) revealed at a news conference Wednesday a plan to improve Pennsylvania’s financial situation.
Ryan and Grove noted that the plan aims to prevent Pennsylvania from going into default.
Grove and Ryan are members of the Commonsense Caucus, a group of Republican lawmakers who examine the annual state budget to identify unnecessary or wasteful spending.
“A few years ago, our caucus sounded the alarm on the Commonwealth’s need to act to solve its pension crisis and overall financial situation or face certain default,” Ryan said. “Great progress has been made by our leadership team in the past five years, but decisions made decades ago have inevitably brought us to where there are no longer any easy options available to right the ship. Tough choices must be made now to avoid a financial catastrophe, which will occur when another recession hits. We have time, but only if we act now.”
Ryan is sponsoring House Bill 1995, which would create the Keystone Solvency Operating Study (SOS) Commission to examine the Commonwealth’s financial situation. The commission would analyze risk factors related to unfunded obligations of municipalities, school districts, public pension plans, postemployment benefits of the Commonwealth and other elements. It would also determine lessons learned from the recent default in Puerto Rico and the reasons Illinois and several other states are now facing the threat of insolvency. It would conduct its study over six months and report its findings and recommendations to the governor and the General Assembly.
“It’s no secret we need to downsize state government, restore commonsense in our budgeting and pay down state debt,” Grove said. “The urgency for action grows each day. The package of legislation we are presenting today would enable us to deliver programs and services to Pennsylvania residents in a more effective and efficient manner while helping to achieve our financial goals and protecting the interest of taxpayers. Status quo financial management will not lead the Commonwealth into prosperity but will only trap it in a path to obscurity.”
Ryan and Grove are sponsoring the Lean State Government Act, House Bill 1053, which would require all state agencies with a fiscal budget of more than $100 million to undergo a performance audit by a qualified performance auditor contracted by the auditor general (AG) and adopt appropriate improvements based on the audits.
Ryan is also sponsoring House Bill 985, which would require auditors employed by the AG to be properly qualified for the audits they are performing. Qualified forensic auditors and fraud auditors hired after the bill’s effective date would be required to possess the proper certifications to conduct those audits. The AG would also be required to adopt policies to encourage current employees to become certified.
Grove is sponsoring a bill that would be the first rewrite to the Commonwealth’s budget process since 1978. House Bill 93 of the SMART Act would provide for priority-based budgeting, which is a merger of zero-based budgeting and performance-based budgeting.
Eight other bills sponsored or co-sponsored by Ryan and Grove are also included in the “reinventing government” package. House Bills 52-58 would merge eight existing state agencies into four new ones, eliminate boards and commissions, consolidate the management of Pennsylvania’s public pension systems and eliminate areas of inefficiency and redundancy in state government.
The strategic plan for the mergers would require a 20 percent reduction in administrative costs, improved delivery of government services to all residents, the elimination of redundant programs and improved use of state funding to reduce costs to taxpayers.
“The changes being proposed, and the results required will not come easy, but doing nothing is simply not an option,” Ryan said.