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The House Rules Committee in a late night Tuesday meeting rejected Philadelphia lawmakers' latest effort to get state authorization to impose a $2-a-pack cigarette tax in the city to fund its schools.

(Jan Murphy/Pennlive)

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter's hope of getting a $2-a-pack cigarette tax to keep class sizes from rising to 41 and preventing 1,300 teacher layoffs in that city's schools still remains unfulfilled.

Democratic lawmakers made a passionate, yet unsuccessful push on Tuesday evening during a House Rules Committee meeting to get the authorization for the city to impose that tax into a budget-related fiscal code that the House will act on today.

Under Nutter's watchful eye, the committee defeated by a party-line vote this latest, and likely last, effort to address this issue that has added to the legislative drama playing out before the summer recess.

Gov. Tom Corbett threw another plot line into the budget soap opera on Monday by announcing he was holding off signing the $29.1 billion state budget in hopes of convincing the lawmakers to get back to work on passing a pension reform bill. The budget bill remains unsigned; however the governor has a 10-day window to act. Corbett's spokeswoman said he is reviewing the bill.

In Tuesday's late-night meeting, the Rules Committee, by a party-line vote, perhaps added yet another twist to the soap opera by amending the Senate-passed fiscal code bill that is key to implementing the budget.

The committee agreed to remove extra funding to Allentown schools and seven new city revitalization improvement zones, among other changes, that House Republican spokesman Steve Miskin said was inserted into the bill without House GOP leaders' approval. Senate GOP spokesman Erik Arneson denied that to be the case.

In striking down the authorization to allow Philadelphia to have a local cigarette tax, House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, argued that the tax authorization was not germaine to the budget-related bill.

He argued that adding that language could put the entire fiscal code bill in jeopardy. But he pledged to have House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Adolph, R-Delaware, take the lead on working to grant the city the tax authorization in a separate bill. However, when pressed, Turzai refused to say how soon that bill might receive a vote.

After the House considers the fiscal code bill and takes care of a few other odds and ends today, it is expected to recess possibly until September unless Corbett vetoes portions of the budget or calls them back sooner for a special session on pension reform that they have left unresolved.

The Senate is not expected to return until next week when it will consider the changes the House made to the fiscal code, along with other bills, before it plans on recessing for the summer.

Given that, getting the Philadelphia cigarette tax authorization into the fiscal code bill may have been the last chance for the city to secure the funding that the school system was counting on to help raise $80 million to plug a $95 million hole in its budget.

Democrats challenged the germaneness argument, noting the bill covered a lot of territory ranging from funding for an Allegheny County industrial park project to a rural regional college in an underserved area of the state. They also voiced skepticism that the Adolph-led effort would bear fruit in time to avoid the havoc not getting this revenue source would wreak on Philadelphia schools in the fall.

"I think this is a very gray area we're playing in right now and it's too much at stake," said Rep. Ron Waters, D-Philadelphia. "We all know that. And I would feel that way if this went on in any of these 67 counties."

Rep. Cherelle Parker, D-Philadelphia, who offered the amendment to authorize the tax, implored the GOP committee members to forget this germaneness argument and accept her addition to the fiscal code.

With praying hands, Parker explained inserting it into the fiscal code may be the only remaining avenue "that would allow us to address the sense of urgency with this issue right now. ... The students, the children in the School District of Philadelphia, deserve our response now and they are germane to the future of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania."

Afterward, Nutter said the committee's decision was disappointing and baffling and will force the district and the School Reform Commission that runs it to begin making preparations to lay off staff, which, in turn, will hurt the education students receive.

"This is a very serious issue," he said.