Spending control

==Background==
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* Rendell calls spending limits unlawful in July, 2006
===Pennsylvania has a spending addiction.===
Since 1990, Pennsylvania's operating budget has increased by 131 percent: from $23 billion to a proposed $54 billion in 2006-07. By contrast, inflation has increased by only 56 percent.
==Constitutional Amendment to Control State Spending==
===Background===
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 30 states have implemented spending controls, revenue controls or both. Pennsylvania is in the minority of states which have no spending or revenue controls.
===Specifics===
On Friday, September 23, 2005, Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill (R-48th District) and Senate Majority Whip Jeffrey Piccola (R-15th District) introduced a constitutional amendment designed to hold state spending increases to the rate of inflation.
Senate Bill 884 is a companion to the Taxpayer Fairness Act, introduced on May 26, 2005, as Senate Bill 4. Like the Taxpayer Fairness Act, the constitutional amendment would restrict the growth in state spending to the lesser of:
:*The average annual rate of change of personal income in Pennsylvania for the three preceding years; or
:* The average percentage change in inflation plus the average percentage change in state population for the three preceding years.
===Common-sense exceptions for the 2005 bill.===
In the event of an emergency or major disaster declared by the President, the spending limit may be exceeded by a simple majority vote.
In the event of other declared emergencies, the governor may request an increase in the spending limit; this would require a three-fifths vote.
For any other circumstances, the governor may request an increase in the spending limit; this would require a two-thirds vote.
===Supporters===
The Taxpayer Fairness Act – part of the Republican agenda known as the Playbook for Progress which was unveiled earlier this year by Sen. Brightbill, House Majority Leader Sam Smith and members of both caucuses – has been endorsed by Citizens Against Higher Taxes, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and the National Taxpayers Union.
=== Links ===
* PG reports on possible PA House spending cap in November, 2005,