Supplemental Appropriations

SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS = OVERSPENDING

• Supplemental appropriation is another term for overspending. In theory, this practice covers unforeseeable expenses, but it has become a normal part of the state budget process.

PENNSYLVANIA HAS A PATTERN OF OVERSPENDING

• Since 2010, overspending has occurred in 8 of 11 budgets, totaling over $2 billion dollars.[i]
• According to the Democratic House Appropriations Committee this year’s budget is slightly over $36 billion with almost $11 billion coming from supplemental appropriations prior to accounting for the stop-gap budget, CARES funding, and FMAP. 
• In 2020-21, the Department of Human Services requested over $1 billion in supplemental appropriations, far outpacing any of the other agencies.  

DISGUISES BUDGET GROWTH

• Supplemental appropriations obfuscate total budget growth. When budgets are passed, growth rates are often based on the prior years’ enacted budget + supplementals, which conceals the true rate of growth.
• To make the Taxpayer Protection Act more impactful, lawmakers should specify within the bill that budget growth calculations exclude supplemental appropriations.