Bala Cynwyd State Legislator Criticizes State Budget at 'Town Hall Meeting'

State Rep. Pam DeLissio, who represents Bala Cynwyd as well as other parts of Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, held a town-hall style meeting in Bala Cynwyd on Thursday night in which she criticized the state budget and legislative processes in Harrisburg.

The meeting, attended by some 20 residents and Lower Merion Township Commissioner George T. Manos, was held in the Conservatory of Laurel Hill at .

In her opening remarks, Delissio, D-194^th District, said during the seven months she has been in office, she has been impressed by the process, puzzled by the process and sometimes puzzled and impressed simultaneously.

In recalling what happened during the budget approval process last month, DeLissio said that House legislators were not given enough time to review the budget before voting on it.

DeLissio said the state Senate voted on its final version of the budget June 27.

“So the earliest you can see it is the 28^th of June and we debated it on the 29^th,” DeLissio said, illustrating her point by handing members of the audience thick stacks of budget documents she said House legislators were given a day to review.

DeLissio said there are a “couple of things that are particularly problematic” with the $27.3 billion approved state budget.

One concerns the consolidated line items in the budget, she said.  There are new line items but no one knows what the corresponding programs are, and there are “literally millions of dollars in this budget” which have been approved and but there’s no enabling legislation yet, DeLissio said.

The other problem is that, according to DeLissio, the budget has been maneuvered such that she estimates the budget will exceed the approved $27.3 billion by about $300 million.

DeLissio used long-term care funds as an example.  She said $77 million in long-term care funds will not be paid in the fiscal year 2012 and will instead be paid late, pushing the payment into 2013, just one week after the budget ends for fiscal year 2012.

“That’s accounting maneuvering,” DeLissio said. “I don’t care what anyone says.”

Although she is a freshman legislator, DeLissio made it clear that she is not shy in Harrisburg.

DeLissio said there are 29 new members in the House.  “I think I have a record among them of speaking the most on the floor,” DeLissio said, adding that her comments reflect the calls and e-mails she receives from her constituents.

Both during and after DeLissio’s remarks, the audience was given the opportunity to ask questions and address concerns to DeLissio.

A woman who said she was a retired Philadelphia school teacher said her chief concern was what is going on with education in Pennsylvania and other states.

The retired teacher said the Philadelphia school system “is being destroyed by No Child Left Behind.”

“It’s become almost a way to teach,” the former educator said.  “If you test them they will learn.  And it really scares me.”

Manos asked DeLissio for clarification on the capital budget and asked if it would include funding for the Revitalization Assistance Capital Program.

Manos said he was concerned about the state funding for the program in general as well as whether there will be Revitalization Assistance Capital Program funds for the Bala Avenue Streetscape Plan.

DeLissio said she would check on the status of funding for the Revitalization Assistance Capital Program.