15 days after Governor Tom Corbett held his budget signing ceremony all aspects are complete. House members returned to a special session from their summer break to pass the remaining Fiscal Code bill.
The bill was caught between a back and forth in the House and Senate for several days. The House of put language in the Fiscal Code on July 1st that the Senate interpreted as a promise to pass legislation authorizing payday lending legislation. Upon the Senate’s return July 3rd, the chamber stripped the language from the bill.
“The Senate didn’t agree to include this paragraph in the fiscal code, and we were surprised to see it there when we received the bill from the House,” said Erik Arneson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware) in Allentown Morning Call.
Upon its removal the House reconvened on Monday July 15th and passed the fiscal code. The bill passed on a party line vote of 108 R’s for it and 85 D’s against. 15 members did not return from recess to attend the vote
The bill included legislation guaranteeing $45 million in state aid to the ailing Philadelphia school district in an effort to close the gap on a $304 million budget shortfall.