Budget Lawsuit Will Proceed

Commonwealth Partners
Contact: Gina Diorio, 862-703-6670
[email protected]

Court: Budget Lawsuit against Wolf Will Proceed
Judge Rejects Attempt by Gov. Wolf, Elected Officials to Evade Responsibility

HARRISBURG, January 2, 2018â€“Can elected officials be held accountable for breaking the law even after they’ve supposedly “fixed” their illegal actions? Yes, according to the Commonwealth Court, which has rejected an attempt by Gov. Wolf, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, Treasurer Joe Torsella, and Sens. Jake Corman and Joe Scarnati to have declared moot a lawsuit challenging them for violating the state constitution’s balanced budget requirement.

In her decision, Judge RenÃ©e Cohn Jubelirer wrote, “[T]here are sufficient legal and factual issues that remain in dispute, such that this Court cannot find Petitioners’ constitutional claims moot.” Among these is “whether or not the General Fund Budget is currently balanced.”

“We are extremely pleased the court recognized that Pennsylvania’s constitutional balanced budget requirement does not have an expiration date,” commented Matthew Brouillette, president and CEO of Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs. “When those charged with upholding the constitution flagrantly violate it, they shouldn’t be able to avoid accountability simply by claiming the violation has ended. Thankfully, the court agreed.”

Brouillette, along with Rep. Jim Christiana (R-Beaver) and Harrisburg-area small businessman Ben Lewis, filed the lawsuit in September after the General Assembly passed an unbalanced budget for the second consecutive year, Gov. Wolf allowed the budgets to become law, and the state treasurer and auditor general enabled deficit spending, all in violation of the constitution. The lawsuit asks the court to uphold the state constitution’s balanced budget requirement, which mandates that state spending must not exceed revenues.

In attempting to skirt responsibility for their actions, the governor, treasurer, auditor general, and two senators had claimed the lawsuit is no longer valid given the October passage of revenue bills which, in theory, balanced the budget. The court was not convinced.

“If lawmakers can repeatedly violate the constitution and get away with it scot free by saying they’ve taken corrective action before taxpayers get their day in court, then the law is meaningless,” Brouillette continued. “We are encouraged that the court takes a more serious view of the law than Gov. Wolf and the other defendants appear to do, and we look forward to continuing with this important legal action to hold our elected officials accountable to the constitution they took an oath to uphold.”

Legal Documents
â€¢ Court Order Denying Mootness Request
â€¢ Petition for Review
â€¢ Description of Legal Counts
Matthew Brouillette is available for comment. Please contact Gina Diorio at [email protected] or 862-703-6670 to arrange an interview.

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