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This is the final installment of stories recapping the last legislative session and highlighting what's ahead.
HARRISBURG -- Before legislators return today, two of the state's top Democrats took the time to reflect on the accomplishments and unresolved initiatives of the last session and to outline their priorities and anticipated challenges for the New Year, including what some lawmakers expect to be difficult budget negotiations.
Over the course of the session, beer and wine became easier to purchase, medical marijuana was legalized, funding for education was increased and laws to address the state's opioid crisis were passed.
And those were a few of the major accomplishments that came to the minds of House and Senate Minority Leaders Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny, and Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, in interviews.
"We can work together, sometimes we can," said Dermody of his Democratic and Republican colleagues.
The proof is in the passage of legislation that legalized medical marijuana for Pennsylvanians suffering from diseases like cancer and epilepsy and a legislative fix to the unemployment compensation system that restored benefits to seasonal workers, Dermody said.
The legalization of marijuana brought Pennsylvania in line with more than 20 other states that have passed similar legislation, and though the infrastructure of the new industry and overseeing body is still in the works, the plant-based treatment is expected to be available to patients in 2018.
Seasonal help restored
The unemployment compensation fix -- a change that all four caucuses cited as a success -- will allow 48,000 seasonal workers to again qualify for unemployment benefits.
House Democrats also praised lawmakers for passing bills related to enhancements to 911 emergency services; the authorization of ride-sharing networks like Lyft and Uber; clearing up ambiguities in the state's child abuse clearance law; restructuring the state's horse racing industry; requiring ignition interlock systems for certain DUI offenders; expanding the Human Services Development Block Grant program and allowing state correctional officers to carry pepper spray, among others laws signed by the governor.
Across the Capitol, Senate Democrats lauded the General Assembly for its bipartisan work to address the opioid crisis sweeping through the state.
Gov. Tom Wolf in November signed five bills into law, including measures that will strengthen the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and limit the amount of opioids prescribed to minors and emergency room patients. The opioid crisis was a priority for Wolf, who frequently travelled the state to speak to families and visit treatment facilities during his first two years in office.
Wolf and the Legislature also secured $20 million in the 2015-16 budget to open new treatment centers.
Costa, who has led his caucus since 2011, also pointed to the implementation of a fair funding formula for schools and greater investments in pre-K through higher education passed in the last two budgets. Between the 2014-15 and 2015-16 fiscal years, the Legislature allocated more than $600 million for education.
Some items unresolved
However, many priorities the Democratic lawmakers sought to accomplish at the beginning of the session were left unaddressed.
Among them, an increase to the minimum wage, charter school reform, greater investment in job creation initiatives and community human service programs, and campaign finance and election reform, the leaders said.
House Democrats would've also liked to see a funding transfer be approved for the operation of the state's Unemployment Compensation benefits system, Dermody said. Senate Republicans failed to bring up a bill that would've authorized a $57.5 million transfer to the system on the last day of session, which led to Wolf deciding to furlough more than 500 state employees.
Senate Republicans say they will take a look at it when they return to session but would like more information about how the Department of Labor and Industry spent more than $200 million in past transfers intended to update the system and how it would spend additional transfers, if approved.
Costa and his caucus were hopeful that the General Assembly would've passed legislation to address pharmaceutical companies' role in the opioid crisis, eliminate the state's statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases and include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under the state's anti-discrimination laws.
"Everyone you talk to talks about treatment being a major part of what we do going forward to address this issue," Costa said of the need to hold drug companies responsible for their role in the opioid crisis. "But yet we don't have the availability of resources to do it, and in my view, given that the pharmaceutical companies are, in part, one of the causes of this crisis, I believe strongly that they need to be a part of the solution. We've advanced legislation to that affect, but that hasn't happened."
With another two-year session beginning this week, the leaders are planning to reintroduce many of the same measures and are hopeful for a different outcome.
However, many of their priorities will likely be put on the backburner, as the early weeks of session will likely be filled with budget negotiationss.
Schools a priority
For House Democrats, those include more funding for pre-K programs and education, Dermody said. He also raised concerns about how the state will address possible cuts to social service programs under President-elect Donald Trump's new administration.
Like Dermody, Costa is interested in more education funding as well as greater investments in job creation, local communities and human services.
"One of the things we've heard too often in the commonwealth is a number of our communities do not have the sources to make investments to revitalize those communities," he said. "We need to be prepared to do that."
As for how to pay for their initiatives, Dermody says lawmakers need to look under every rock for extra dollars.
"Everything. We need to look at where we can save money, looking at cost cutting," Dermody said. "We've used all of the one-time sources of funding that are out there. We need to look at how we can raise revenues in a sensible way that makes sense in the long term. We need to restructure our tax structure probably and maybe restructure some of the programs that we fund."
As noted by the Independent Fiscal Office in its recent reports, Pennsylvania's demographics are changing and the Legislature needs to respond to those changes, he said.
"We need to look at how we run this operation and where the revenues are coming from, and who's paying. And how much they're paying," he said. "I don't know if we're going to be able to accomplish that this budget cycle, but I think that it needs to be long term for the future. We have to."
Unlike their Republican counterparts, Dermody and Costa did not focus on pensions as a cost saver for the next fiscal year, as Costa said, if the Legislature "allow[s] Act 120 [of 2010] to play itself out then we will get to where we need to get to."
"At the end of the day, there's no question that pensions will be a part of our conversation, all that we ask is that it is something that is fair and balanced and addresses retirement security and doesn't exacerbate our unfunded liability," he added.
Act 120 'working'
Dermody shared similar sentiments, saying "Act 120 is working" and lower payments are about to begin for the State Employees' Retirement System and for the Public School Employees' Retirement System the following year.
He also insisted that the Legislature address a $100 million hole in the current fiscal budget that was supposed to be filled with revenues from gaming legislation that never reached Wolf's desk.
It is a budgetary shortfall that can't go ignored, especially following recent reports from the state's budget secretary and IFO that the commonwealth's revenues are projected to be at least $600 million short of paying for the current fiscal year spending.
Without the option of raising "sin taxes," Costa said the Legislature has some tough decisions to make in the coming months.
At the time, he didn't have any specific ideas of how to create the revenue needed to pay for next year's spending and proposed increases, other than passing a fix to the local shares tax related to gaming.
However, Costa said his ears are open to any ideas that would generate more money or cut unnecessary spending.
"There's always the Marcellus Shale community and the pharmaceutical community to help in targeted ways. A more broad-based approach for folks who want to go down that path would be [personal income tax] and sales [tax increases]," Costa said. "I'm not saying we're going to do that, but what I am saying is there is only a handful of options we can look to."
Both lawmakers are hopeful that another budget impasse isn't in the cards, but their concerns are still apparent.
"Worry? Yes. I don't think it's likely. None of us -- I don't believe any of the leaders or the governor want do that again, and I don't think the people of Pennsylvania can expect that to happen and they certainly don't want to see it happen," Dermody said. "We need to do better, we need to work together to come up with a plan that works. And I'll do everything I can to make sure that happens. It's not good for anybody. It's a lose-lose."