State House Republicans are touting proposed reforms to a state economic development program as a way to cut down on the amount of government spending on “pet projects.” 

They agree the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) has helped fund job-creating projects across the state, but House Majority Leader Mike Turzai said the fund’s debt needs to be scaled back from its current four billion dollars over the next 20 years.

“We’re not going to not fund the projects that have been committed.  They’ve been committed,” said Turzai.  “We need to honor our obligations and our debts, and we’re going to continue the RACP program as well, because we do think if we get it back to where it was originally intended, then it can be a very successful program.”

The governor’s budget office would still have the final say over which projects are approved.  But Turzai’s proposed standards for approving projects that get RACP funding would that favor projects more likely to create jobs.  Less likely to be approved: museums and libraries, like the Arlen Specter Library approved for RACP funding under former Gov. Ed Rendell.

Under Turzai’s plan, before projects get the governor’s rubber stamp, they would need to be presented to the local community in at least one public meeting.  One House Democrat backing the measure said lawmakers should also get some input into whether initiatives get approved in their district. 

“We must take this process out of the dark ages and move it into the light,” said Rep. Rosita Youngblood, a Philadelphia.  She was spurred to join the Republican-backed effort to reform RACP debt and approval rules when a RACP project in her district flouted past zoning rules and displaced a grocery store without her input, or that of the surrounding community.

“If you represent an area and you’re a senator for an area, I think at the very least, you ought to have the ability to weigh in on a project,” said Republican Rep. Mike Vereb of Montgomery County.  “Not have it made in a back room where all of a sudden it’s against the wishes of everyone in the neighborhoods, but it’s wanted by a few.”

Turzai’s measure would cut the debt ceiling of the RACP program by about half a billion dollars immediately, and then make gradual reductions over the next 20 years.  The graduated reductions will allow the state to fund projects it has already approved.  By the end of the 20-year period, RACP’s debt ceiling would be back to the 1.5 billion dollar mark it was at before the Rendell administration.