PA: New transit bill with PRT provisions shakes up discussions on overdue Pa. budget

State leaders on Thursday were trying to figure out if a new transit- and transportation-funding bill passed by a House Committee on Wednesday — one with requirements tied to Pittsburgh Regional Transit — will break the logjam in state budget talks.

The deadline for a budget was June 30. Issues that have bogged down the talks include disagreements over new funding for mass transit, roads and bridges. There is a sense of urgency tied to transit because SEPTA, the state's biggest transit agency, has service cuts scheduled to take place later this month.

Republican Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward of Westmoreland County dismissed the bill passage as "a play" so the Democrats who run the committee "can say they have done something." The Democratic minority leader in the Senate, Jay Costa of Allegheny County, said the Legislature should pass the bill because it covers all bases on the issue: new funding for mass transit, road and bridge money, and provisions for accountability.

The House Transportation Committee voted 16-10 to pass the bill Wednesday afternoon, and it now goes to the House for consideration. It provides $292.5 million in new transit funding — the amount contained in Gov. Josh Shapiro's February budget proposal — and items prioritized by Senate Republicans that affect PRT.

One is the creation of new minimum performance requirements for PRT and SEPTA, which, if not met, would trigger a loss of operating funds.

Mr. Shapiro made his initial $51.5 billion budget proposal in early February. His administration and leaders of the Democratic-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate have been meeting behind closed doors on the budget but all reports say progress is slow.

In a public appearance Thursday, Mr. Shapiro said 182 days have passed since he unveiled his proposal. He said he was "doing everything in my power to narrow the differences between the two chambers" and that it was time to act on transit funding.

He suggested that both chambers — but particularly the Senate — should meet more often than they currently do. Mr. Shapiro said the Senate has held 32 session days since his budget address. He hinted the budget process might be farther along had the Senate met more often.

Should the new Democratic-driven transit bill pass the House, its future in the Senate appears bumpy, at the least.

Asked about the new bill, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman of Indiana County, the lead negotiator for Republicans, said he met with Mr. Shapiro on Tuesday "and I continue to be optimistic that consensus on a responsible budget can be reached."

Ms. Ward flat-out rejected the bill. Noting that the proposed $292.5 million increase is derived from sales taxes, she said it would simply be taking money from other categories like "hospitals, nursing homes, education." If passed, Ms. Ward said, the new bill "will affect people's wallets who are paying the taxes."

The top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jim Struzzi of Indiana County, said Democrats who control the House were "doing what they can to move the process forward." While he had not given the bill a full review, Mr. Struzzi said he was concerned it would take money from the state's General Fund.

Mr. Costa said all 23 Democrats in the state Senate would support the measure, should it pass the House.

PRT has its own plan to cut more than 40 bus routes if it does not get more state money. Mr. Costa said, "PRT has taken a lot of steps to do more belt-tightening, and be more frugal." The agency, he said, would be able to handle the reforms called for in the new bill.

The bill includes the following:

An increase in the transfer of sales tax to the Public Transportation Trust Fund to generate about $292.5 million more for transit.
Authorization of bonding of $325 million for road and bridge projects. The bill also calls for a tiny fraction of state sales tax to be used to pay off the debt. It calls for $150 million from the state Motor License Fund in 2025-26 to be spent on highway and bridge projects on "three- and four-digit state roads" — which Democrats said were typically in rural areas.
Creation of requirements related to the state's two biggest transit agencies — the Philadelphia region's SEPTA and PRT. One requirement would be regular reviews of the agencies' audits by a legislative committee; another the submission of a "public-private partnership" project for consideration within 90 days; and another the development of new minimum performance requirements for SEPTA and PRT. These would affect things like improving bus routes and dealing with fare evasion.
Approval to use illuminated, digital or other sorts of advertising signs on public transit vehicles to let the agencies generate new revenue.