Thursday's early afternoon budget update

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

June 23, 2011 | 12:01 PM

Good afternoon –
Your severance tax/impact fee update du jour: Senate Democrats introduced an amendment yesterday that would restore Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati’s impact fee to its initial structure. The measure initially calculated a fee based on a well’s production, and the price of gas. It was changed to a flat fee in committee, but the Democrats would rather have a fluctuating price.
Meantime, budget talks continue, with no firm word on whether an impact fee would be part of the final agreement. Governor Corbett dodged a question last night of whether or not he’d veto a fee-infused fiscal code. His Shale point men, Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley and Energy Executive Pat Henderson, were seen walking out of a negotiating session, though, furthering speculation a fee could be part of the deal.
But for every hint a fee deal is in the works, there’s evidence to the contrary. On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Mike Turzai said the GOP “might” caucus on a fee behind closed doors. Two House Republicans told me the issue didn’t come up in Tuesday or Wednesday caucus meetings.
More speculation and intrigue as we hear it.