PCPA is reintroducing dedicated alcohol tax legislation in the Senate. This initiative would secure the current five line items for drug and alcohol (D&A) funding in the state budget. Senators Patricia H. Vance (R-Cumberland/York) and Jay Costa, Jr. (D-Allegheny) are spearheading this effort in the Senate. Other co-sponsors are Sens. Boscola, Browne, Kasunic, Madigan, O’Pake, Orie, Rhoades, Punt, Stout, Tomlinson, Washington, C. Williams, and Wonderling.
House Bill 1032 (dedicated alcohol tax) has been formally reintroduced in the House by primary co-sponsors Reps. Kathy Manderino (D-Philadelphia) and Katie True (R-Lancaster). PCPA thanks the 74 co-sponsors of the House bill.
Support
for Security of D&A Funding Widespread
Security of D&A funding is not a Republican/Democrat or House/Senate issue.
From the beginning, this effort to shore-up D&A funding has been bi-partisan
and bi-cameral. Therefore, both the legislative prime sponsors and PCPA are
seeking as many legislators as possible to co-sponsor and support the dedicated
alcohol tax legislation in both the House and Senate.
Synopsis
of the Dedicated Alcohol Tax Initiative
As outlined in the co-sponsorship memo, the alcohol tax in question has been
in existence since 1936 and is generally known as the Johnstown Flood
Tax or the Emergency Tax. This is an 18 percent tax on wine
and liquor only and is collected by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
Currently, the revenue is undesignated and goes into the state’s General
Fund. The proposed legislation would designate that approximately 75 percent
of these funds be dedicated to D&A treatment and prevention. The balance
of the revenue would continue to go into the General Fund.
This proposal is revenue neutral in that the request is not new funding for these programs. Rather, these programs which are currently funded from the General Fund budget would, in the future, be funded by dedicated funding from the alcohol tax. In future years approximately 75 percent of any increases in the revenue generated by this tax would be distributed proportionately among the five identified D&A line-items in the state budget.
How
PCPA Members Can Assist in This Effort
PCPA members are asked to contact their respective senators as soon as possible
encouraging them to sign the Senate co-sponsorship memo (if their names do
not appear in the list above) for the dedicated alcohol tax initiative. The
memo is currently in circulation
in the Senate. Information regarding identity and contact information for
individual senators can be found in the Legislative
Affairs Section.
