| Gov. Tom Corbett Tuesday presented his 2013-14 budget to the General Assembly, telling lawmakers that thanks to two years of fiscal restraint, Pennsylvania is now on a solid financial footing for the future.
Click Here for the full budget document, proposed line-by-line appropriations and the Governor’s Budget PowerPoint summary. Public Safety “Public safety remains a top priority in my administration. Without safety, society cannot long endure,” Corbett said. This budget proposes funding for: – Three new cadet classes for the Pennsylvania State Police in the next fiscal year with a potential for 290 new state troopers. – In addition, the state police will hire 90 new civilian dispatchers, freeing our state troopers to get back out on the roads and into the communities where they are most needed. – The Justice Reinvestment Initiative, adopted last year, examined ways to make the state prison, parole and probation agencies more efficient. “Our Justice Reinvestment Initiative gets eligible offenders out of the system and works to re-introduce them as productive citizens,” Corbett said. The savings of about $139 million over five years will be moved to the “front end” of the justice system, where it can be used for victim services, local policing, county-based offender treatment and improved probation services. The proposed budget also calls for: – An increase of $1.3 million, for a total of $13.8 million, for the Domestic Violence Program, and an increase of $700,000, for a total of $7.7 million, for the Rape Crisis Program. – Providing $10 million for juvenile justice intervention, including academic and career training for delinquent youths, as well as strategies for delinquency and violence prevention. “We need to be tough on crime and smarter about preventing it,” Corbett said. Source: Crisci Associates Capitol Digest |
Written by Aaron Finestone
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