Pa. House OKs Phila. cigarette tax

HERE WE GO AGAIN.

After a summer of political pingpong and inaction, the Philadelphia cigarette tax proposed to help fund the city's beleaguered school district appears on again.

The state House yesterday approved a simplified version of the bill that would authorize the city to levy a $2-per-pack tax, by a vote of 114-84, sending it back to the Senate, where a vote could take place as early as tomorrow. Sources in the Senate said the legislation should pass this week, but a spokesman for the top Republican would not go that far.

"The Senate will caucus on the bill and make a determination on how to proceed," said Erik Arneson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County.

If approved by both chambers, the legislation would head to Gov. Corbett's desk. He is expected to sign it quickly.

The school district desperately needs the funds - projected to generate at least $49 million this school year - to avoid further layoffs and narrow an $81 million deficit. School district officials gave lawmakers mild praise yesterday, knowing that they have been here before.

"We are grateful to the leadership in the House for sticking to their commitment and following through with their promise to move this bill quickly through the House," district spokesman Fernando Gallard said. "We are now looking at working closely with the Senate to make sure the bill also is approved there so it can be put into action as quickly as possible."

The "clean" version adopted by the House removes the economic-improvement zones and hotel taxes for other parts of the state, inserted by the Senate, which became a point of contention. The bill, however, still would allow charter-school applicants in Philadelphia to appeal to a state appeals board if turned down by the School Reform Commission, and would automatically expire in 2019 if not renewed.

The legislation appeared to be clearing its final hurdle back in July when the House initially approved it, but Senate leaders made amendments unrelated to Philly schools before sending it back to the House, where it sat during the summer recess.

Even with the cigarette-tax funds, which the district said it already has incorporated into its $2.5 billion budget, the system will face a shortfall as it tries to get back to last year's bare-bones staffing levels, which left many schools without full-time counselors, nurses, librarians and basic supplies. It hopes to get additional savings through a new contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, whose latest pact expired in August 2013.

Without the cigarette tax, Superintendent William Hite has said, the district would be forced to lay off more than 1,000 people, including teachers, leading to larger class sizes and affecting all 130,000 students. That decision would have to be made by mid-October.