HARRISBURG – In a letter to Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, Sen. Lisa Baker, R-20th, has requested financial and performance audits of the Service and Infrastructure Improvement Fund (SIIF) and the unemployment compensation system to assess how more than $178.4 million has been spent over the past four years and whether continued funding is justified.
Originally created as a temporary resource to assist in replacing aging infrastructure, funding is set to expire at the end of the year. The Senate has been asked by the Department of Labor and Industry to approve another $57 million transfer of state funds. As the Wolf administration has so far been unable or unwilling to provide the type of detailed accounting taxpayers deserve, Baker is urging DePasquale to take swift action to help provide the necessary answers.