The Senate has finally passed HB1437 by a vote of 33 to 17 with the help of 6 Democratic Senators.

The Commonwealth's spending plan was amended last night by the Appropriations Committee with a party line vote of 16 to 10.

Key provisions include a 32.5 million dollar increase over the Governor's original proposal for Basic Education Funding. The Pre-K Counts and Head Start Assistance programs will also receive a combined total increase of $6.5 million.

Senator Rob Teplitz announced that Harrisburg's Fire Department will receive 5 million dollars for providing fire protection and emergency services. A figure that provides full compensation to the City's Fire Department to protect approximately 40 tax-exempt state-owned buildings within the City. This figure equates to an additional 2.5 million dollar increase over the Governor's proposal and a 4.5 million increase over the original version of HB1437.

Governor Corbett issued a press release shortly after the Senate's passage of the budget asking the Senate to pass HB790 which provides for the privatization of our State's Liquor Stores.

The Senate has been waiting on the House to pass SB1 (transportation funding) before they'll send HB790 back to the House for consideration.

Shortly thereafter, Senator Scarnati released the following statement urging the House of Representatives to act on SB1.

Last night, House Majority Leader Mike Turzai indicated that his caucus did not have a sufficient number of votes to pass SB1, "With respect to transportation, we're going to have a caucus on that issue."

Remaining items to be considered on Monday include modifications to the Welfare Code, The Education Code, The Tax Code and The Fiscal Code. At this point, SB1 and HB790 are still alive, although their consideration before the fall seems unlikely.