Apr. 23, 2019
HARRISBURG – Rep. Ryan Warner (R-Fayette/Westmoreland) has reintroduced his Taxpayer Protection Act to help keep state budget spending in check.
House Bill 1316 proposes an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution that would establish state budget spending limits that the Commonwealth – and lawmakers – would have to abide by each fiscal year.
“The hard-working taxpayers of Pennsylvania deserve better than what they are getting, which is a broken budget process that results in higher spending each and every year,” Warner said. “Higher spending equals higher taxes, and that leads to families and employers exiting the Commonwealth, leaving us with a smaller tax base to cover the costs of operating state government. This path is simply unsustainable.”
Warner noted that since 1970, total government spending, even when adjusted for inflation, has increased by 101 percent.
The proposed amendment would limit the rate at which the Commonwealth’s spending may increase, based on the sum of the percentage increase of the Consumer Price Index and the change in population growth.
In order to amend the state Constitution, identical bills must be approved by the General Assembly in two consecutive sessions and then be presented to Pennsylvania voters as a referendum. If established, this amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution only could be suspended by a 75% majority vote in both the House and Senate.
The 52nd Legislative District includes the city of Connellsville; Dawson, Dunbar, Everson, Perryopolis, Seven Springs, South Connellsville and Vanderbilt boroughs; Bullskin, Connellsville, Dunbar, Lower Tyrone, Menallen, North Union, Perry, Saltlick and Upper Tyrone townships in Fayette County, along with Scottdale Borough, and part of East Huntingdon Township in Westmoreland County.
Representative Ryan Warner
52nd Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Patricia Hippler
717.772.9846
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