Corbett diverts $$ from Tobacco Settlement to fund business loan program.

HARRISBURG -- The governor's proposed economic development loan fund would count on some money previously used for health care programs to help him to dole out business loans.

Of the $2 billion anticipated for the fund, $220 million would come from the annual payments Pennsylvania receives as a result of a 1998 lawsuit settlement with tobacco companies.

Gov. Tom Corbett said the new loan program, dubbed the Liberty Loan Fund, would combine several existing loan programs into one. He said the new loan program will be easier for companies to navigate and will boost job creation.

But critics say the governor would control who receives funding, by appointing a majority of those running the loan fund. They compared that project selection process to handing out "walking-around-money," the grants for legislative pet projects that Mr. Corbett criticized in his budget speech.



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A McKeesport woman who went 10 years without health insurance before enrolling in the state's adultBasic program in 2002 was one of three plaintiffs who kicked off a class-action lawsuit yesterday that seeks to reinstate the program.

Sheryl Sears, 63, said she's one of the many low-income workers in the state who are caught in a dilemma.

"I'm too young for Medicare, and I make a couple of pennies too much for Medicaid," she said.

Sears; Ronald Guiney, 54, of Butler; and Florence Spanos, 63, of Dormont filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court seeking to stop Gov. Tom Corbett and the General Assembly from carrying out the part of Corbett's budget that would take the money that normally funds adultBasic and depositing it in the state's general fund.



Read more: AdultBasic recipients sue Corbett, want program restarted - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_727405.html#ixzz1Gfka9bco