00:07 - We're joined today by Scott Martin chair of the senate appropriations committee

00:12 - describe the work of the appropriations committee.

00:15 - Well you know first and foremost.

00:17 - The

00:18 - everything that is to do with Pennsylvania budget

00:20 - comes through the appropriations committee and.

00:23 - There's probably a couple of different components

00:25 - i should focus on first is the fact that.

00:28 - We're responsible after governor makes his budget proposal

00:31 - to have hearings

00:33 - with all the different state government agencies

00:35 - that receive funding through that budget.

00:38 - News usually last about three weeks on a average and to the members of the committee

00:43 - which is the largest committee in each chamber

00:46 - and spend a lot of time up here trying to of

00:47 - really pull apart and find out more detail and

00:51 - secondarily.

00:53 - We are also very critical

00:54 - my role as chairman of the committee

00:56 - in negotiating the budget along with other senate leadership members

01:00 - and coming to that final agreement with the

01:02 - house of representatives and of course the governor

01:05 - and that's probably the most important thing.

01:08 - The role that position

01:10 - and finally

01:11 - One of the other big roles of the committees that every

01:14 - single piece of legislation that is introduced and moves here

01:18 - whether it comes from the house where it originates in the senate

01:21 - has to come through our committee so we can assign

01:25 - a fiscal impact

01:26 - and it's important because

01:28 - the actions that we take

01:30 - have a financial impact one way or the other

01:33 - whether it saves money or whether it increases costs

01:37 - and we need to understand.

01:39 - Fully what we're voting on and what that financial impact will be

01:43 - how are you chosen to be chaired the committee

01:45 - so the senate appropriations chair is

01:48 - elected senate leadership position by the members

01:52 - of the the senate republican majority caucus

01:55 - and

01:55 - there is a minority chair senator Hughes of

01:57 - Philadelphia who's elected by the senate democrats

02:00 - and of course the same is true

02:03 - in the house where they have a majority chair a minority chair that are

02:07 - elected by their peers why is it important that the state has a budget.

02:12 - Well it's critical are there there's there's

02:14 - various things that we are required to do is a state

02:17 - that impact not only

02:19 - our safety now

02:21 - and how we develop our young people for the future how we

02:25 - are

02:25 - take care of our environment our trash things

02:28 - of that nature of the quality of our water

02:31 - and

02:32 - it's important to have a budget

02:34 - cause you're investing in the things that your community needs to

02:37 - survive to adapt

02:39 - and

02:40 - to make our economy work you know there's probably nothing

02:43 - more important than the money's that we pass related to

02:46 - liquid fuel funds

02:48 - that fund

02:49 - our roads and Bridges and making sure that they're there so.

02:52 - There are some critical roles that are necessary

02:55 - and

02:56 - many of which could also be outside of education

02:58 - or transportation or corrections for safety

03:01 - is things related the human services you know kids with developmental disabilities or

03:05 - other assistance at that is needed so

03:08 - and

03:09 - passing a budget is very important to ensure that

03:12 - those services are received that those repairs

03:15 - are made

03:16 - and Pennsylvania economy continues to thrive and hopefully grow

03:20 - what aspects of the budget impact students the most.

03:24 - Well you know it's a it's a two part thing.

03:26 - You might hear from any people that the amount of money is what's most important and

03:31 - and quite frankly the statistics don't really

03:33 - bear that out

03:34 - so the policies that you pass related to what

03:36 - what's being taught how it's being taught

03:39 - how about recognize recognizing that

03:41 - all our kids don't learn the same exact way and

03:44 - it's not one size fits all.

03:46 - So the policies are just more important and impactful

03:50 - in terms of how you do it

03:52 - as opposed to how much money you're you're you're giving to it

03:55 - and

03:56 - but education's critically important because

03:57 - it's you know you're you're talking about.

04:01 - Really getting our students prepared

04:03 - hopefully for a family sustaining job in the future

04:07 - hopefully one that

04:08 - is in Pennsylvania and we plant our roots

04:11 - because that's your future workforce and your future tax base

04:14 - and

04:15 - and of course it's always perpetuating itself.

04:18 - How did you get involved with public service

04:20 - so so

04:21 - you know when i

04:23 - retired from playing football

04:25 - i really thought my life was going to be working with

04:27 - kids in the juvenile justice system and coaching and

04:32 - now the juvenile justice job i had happened to be in a county government department

04:36 - and worked my way up

04:38 - to being a department head

04:39 - and lo and behold i had to deal a lot with

04:42 - at the time was county commissioners.

04:46 - I'll probably say this the best way i could i didn't

04:48 - agree with them a lot as bosses and so i ended up having

04:51 - to reside my job

04:53 - as director of the youth intervention center and i ran for county commissioners as a

04:56 - young person i think i was thirty years old the first time I ran and

05:00 - and of course my involvement in government and my involvement in

05:03 - politics which is the vehicle to get into office

05:07 - Has been

05:08 - very rewarding and that's how i

05:10 - that's how i got in some people might say that's not the

05:13 - purest you couldn't stand the guys that you worked for

05:15 - but i knew that things can be done better for Lancaster county and

05:18 - and and

05:20 - you know spent though i spent a total of twenty one years and county government

05:23 - and

05:24 - you know

05:25 - eight of those

05:26 - were very fulfilling be a county commissioner.

05:28 - Lastly why should students care about state government.

05:32 - So

05:32 - you know state government

05:35 - in my mind

05:36 - is one of the levels of government that impacts your life more than any other

05:41 - and

05:42 - it sets the guidelines of how local governments operate

05:44 - it sets the guidelines of house school boards operate

05:48 - it sets a guidelines of what

05:50 - money's get appropriated to what

05:52 - and

05:53 - of course it passes laws related to how to keep

05:55 - our our community safe what the the the punishments

05:58 - may be for breaking so many kinds of laws

06:01 - and

06:02 - and so

06:03 - i could sit here and tell you a million different things in every everyday can

06:06 - bring something different here that the decisions that are made in Harrisburg

06:10 - impact your wallets impact the services your kids get whether

06:13 - it's school or behavioral health or whatever it might be.

06:18 - Impacts energy prices our ability to produce energy like there's there's so many

06:22 - things

06:23 - that come up here on a different basis and that i could just read off a litany of that

06:28 - get debated by

06:30 - the people's house and different perspectives from all over a very diverse state

06:36 - and we bring it all together to try to come up with a package that

06:41 - works

06:41 - one that we can get done

06:43 - and that

06:44 - doesn't harm people that is always a goal.

06:47 - Doesn't bankrupt the the commonwealth

06:50 - and so

06:51 - I've always found that to be fascinating and

06:53 - i realized when i was a county commissioner

06:55 - how much

06:57 - of what we did

06:59 - Was out of our hands like this because of state mandates and things like that and i

07:03 - thought there is a better way to do things and

07:05 - and be part of of those discussions here in Harrisburg senator Scott Martin chair of

07:11 - the senate appropriations committee thank you for your time.