HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BUDGET

# Highlights of the 2009-10 spending plan signed by Gov. Ed Rendell: THE BIG PICTURE: -- $27.8 billion in overall spending (includes $700 million in discretionary funds held up in House)
# -- Relies on taxes, fees, federal stimulus money and surpluses
# -- Cuts overall spending by 1.8 percent from last year's expected final spending of $28.32 billion
# -- Maintains current state tax rates on personal income and sales
# -- Relies on an estimated $200 million in fees and taxes from legalizing table games at slot-machine casinos
# -- Relies an estimated $60 million from anticipated leasing of state forest land for natural gas exploration
# SPENDING:
# -- Boosts spending on public school operations and instruction by nearly $299 million, or 5.7 percent
# -- Cuts Department of Community and Economic Development by 11 percent to $707.9 million
# -- Cuts Department of Environmental Protection by nearly 27 percent to $159 million
# -- Boosts Department of Corrections by 11 percent to $1.8 billion
# -- Cuts Department of Public Welfare by nearly 1 percent to $10.5 billion
# TAXES:
# -- Increases the state tax on cigarette sales by 25 cents a pack, to $1.60, to raise $97 million
# -- Imposes a new sales tax on "little cigars" at the same rate as cigarettes to raise $16 million
# -- Raises the capital stock and franchise tax that some businesses pay from 1.89 mills to 2.89 mills to raise $374 million
# -- Imposes a new 5.9 percent gross receipts tax on some managed care organizations to raise $316 million, replacing an expiring assessment
# -- Redirects 2 percent of slot-machine gambling revenues into the state's general fund for four years; the money currently benefits Pennsylvania's race horse industry
# -- Transfers revenue generated by an existing 25-cent portion of the state cigarette tax from a special fund that helps doctors and hospitals buy medical malpractice insurance coverage to raise $171 million
# SURPLUSES:
# -- Transfers $755 million from the "rainy day" contingency fund
# -- Transfers $808 million from medical malpractice insurance coverage funds
# -- Transfers $143 million from the Oil & Gas Lease Fund
# -- Transfers $150 million from the Tobacco Endowment account
# -- Transfers $44 million from an automobile insurance fund
# ONE-TIME REVENUE ITEMS:
# -- Accelerates the deadline for sales tax collections to raise $217 million in 2009-10
# -- Accelerates the deadline for income tax collections to raise $159 million in 2010-11
# -- Generates an estimated $190 million from a program that allows the repayment of back taxes without the penalty fees or half of the interest payments that normally apply
# CONSIDERED, BUT DISCARDED:
# -- Imposing a new severance tax on natural gas extraction based on both the value and volume of the gas
# -- Legalizing and taxing video poker terminals in restaurants and bars
# -- Imposing a new sales tax on the price of admission to live stage performances, museums, zoos and parks
# -- Raising the state personal income tax by 16.3 percent for three years
# -- Imposing a new excise tax on sales of loose tobacco and chewing tobacco
# -- Raising the weekly limits on small games of chance fundraisers and imposing a 20 percent tax on ticket sales
___ Sources: Rendell administration, Senate Republicans.