Government Affairs Update	Print Issue
July 15, 2008, Volume 55, No. 1

Penn’s Commonwealth Appropriation for FY 2008-09

On July 3 the Pennsylvania General Assembly gave final approval to HB 2326, Penn’s Commonwealth appropriation bill for FY 2008-09. This legislation was signed into law by Governor Edward G. Rendell as Act 20A of 2008. HB 2326, along with a new federalized physician practice appropriation through the General Fund, will provide $50,187,000 in funding to the University, an increase of 1.0% over last year’s funding (see chart).

This year was a very difficult budget, with the prior fiscal year revenues significantly lower than expected and Republican leaders taking a strong position to reduce overall spending. In the final budget agreement, the Governor and legislative leaders agreed to reduce the Governor’s proposed budget by approximately $600 million. As part of these cuts, all line items for state-aided institutions such as Penn were reduced 1.3% below the Governor’s proposal, with the exception of the Veterinary School. Legislative leaders objected to proposed cuts to the School, and the School’s primary line item (“Veterinary Activities”) was held at the Governor’s proposal level of $39,647,000. Total Vet School funding will be $42,837,000.

Despite these last minute reductions, three of Penn’s other line items–Medical School, Cardiovascular Studies and Dental Clinics–still received an overall increase of 5.1% when combining funding through the non-preferred appropriation and the new physician practice plan funding. Under this funding mechanism, half of the funding for these programs (beginning January 1, 2009) will be transferred to the Department of Public Welfare to allow the Commonwealth to access federal Medical Assistance matching funds for Penn’s physician practice plans.  Assuming federal approval, these three programs will receive a total of $7,099,000 in FY 2008-09.

In addition, the Legislature approved funding of $600,000 for Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center through the General Fund.

—Paul S. Cribbins, Assistant Vice President for Commonwealth Relations

University of Pennsylvania Non-Preferred Appropriation
(in thousands of dollars)

Federal and Commonwealth Quarterly Lobbying Disclosure

The University of Pennsylvania is required to disclose federal and state lobbying activities. Both the Federal and Commonwealth governments have recently enacted revised lobbying and ethics legislation that impact the University of Pennsylvania’s disclosure requirements. Under the new federal law (Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007) and Pennsylvania’s lobbying disclosure law (Act 134 of 2006), the University must file quarterly expense reports by July 21, 2008 for the reporting period of April 1 to June 30, 2008.

Compliance guidance and reporting forms have been recently distributed to all deans and senior administrators. Staff who have had interactions with elected or other government officials on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania may be required to disclose that contact. Please contact the Office of Government and Community Affairs (OGCA) at (215) 898-1388 or ogca@pobox.upenn.edu for additional information.

Please note: In the past, OGCA has mailed lobbying disclosure requests to more than 200 offices throughout the University via intramural mail. We are committed to making the reporting effort more efficient and will now e-mail these quarterly requests for lobbying expenses to deans and senior administrators only. They are asked to respond on behalf of all individuals, centers, institutes and offices that report directly to them.

 —Jeffrey Cooper, Vice President, Office of Government and Community Affairs