Key Pa. Senate Republican shoots down recreational cannabis proposals during late budget update

• By Jaxon White / LNP | LancasterOnline

HARRISBURG — Senate Appropriations Chairman Scott Martin spoke optimistically as he updated reporters about the late state budget Thursday, despite highlighting lawmakers’ disagreements over Medicaid and education funding in Pennsylvania.

Martin, a Martic Township Republican, also shot down the idea of passing any recreational use marijuana bill through his key committee. That proposal, to legalize and tax marijuana sales, was pitched by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro as an essential offset to some costs within his proposed $51.5 billion budget.

“I would never run that through my committee,” Martin said bluntly, when asked about the multiple recreational-use bills stalled in the Senate. The Appropriations Committee must approve any budget-related bills before they can reach the Senate floor.

“It’s a damn shame” Republicans have not considered regulating and taxing recreational marijuana, Shapiro’s spokesman, Manuel Bonder, said Thursday, arguing that inaction is “leaving billions in revenue on the table while our neighboring states reap the benefits for their economies.”

It hasn’t been easy for the parties to find consensus in budget negotiations, Martin said. However, he added that he felt good about where conversations between Senate Republicans, House Democrats and Shapiro were headed.

“We know it’s going to be difficult because it’s divided government, but at the end of the day, the math has to work,” Martin said, speaking to reporters in the Senate gallery after floor votes concluded Thursday morning.

The state’s fiscal year began July 1 without a budget, and lawmakers have remained tight-lipped on the details of any agreements they’ve reached so far.

Adding pressure to budget talks is the law signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month that slashes federal Medicaid spending.

Martin said addressing the cost of Medicaid — one of the costliest programs in Pennsylvania, which regularly spends more than it gains in revenue annually — was always going to be a “front-burner issue” in the coming years, regardless of what Congress chose to do this year. Now, conversations over Medicaid spending are at the center of budget talks this year, he said.

Speaking broadly about the approved federal cuts to human services, including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Martin said they could “strengthen” the programs in the long term for people who rely on them.

Shapiro’s administration has estimated that more than 310,000 Pennsylvanians could lose Medicaid coverage and 144,000 could lose SNAP benefits under the GOP’s law. The first-term governor has stressed that the state cannot afford to replace the loss of federal funding for the programs.

Balancing act

“There’s a lot to balance” in the conversation on education funding, Martin said, though “empowering parents” in low-performing school districts remains a top priority for him.

Equally important for Martin is how state money is disbursed to the 500 public school districts across the state.

Last year, lawmakers addressed a Commonwealth Court ruling stating that Pennsylvania unconstitutionally underfunded its poorest school districts by allocating specific funds through a formula that factored in poverty rates and English language proficiency.

The budget passed by the House earlier this week, and gutted by Senate Republicans in Martin’s committee Wednesday, would have continued that adequacy funding.

But Martin, as other Senate GOP leaders have done this year, suggested the formula could change in a potential budget deal. He pointed out that some schools in his 13th Senate District, covering Lancaster city and spanning southern Lancaster County, did not receive any additional funding under the new formula that lawmakers crafted last year.

“Formulas matter,” he said. “The fiscal code matters.”

House Democrats have argued that — as Shapiro proposed — lawmakers can dip into the state’s reserved funds to help pay for increases to human services and education spending the state has seen.

Martin has continuously warned against doing so, arguing it could do long-term harm to Pennsylvania’s financial future.

Senators gaveled out of Harrisburg on Thursday morning without a specified return date before September, though they could be called back to the Capitol with a 24-hour notice whenever party leaders strike a deal.