House Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor issued the following statement on the auditor general’s claim of finding $4.25 billion being diverted away from the Motor License Fund.

“For anyone, let alone the auditor general of the Commonwealth, to claim he ‘found’ $4.25 billion is, at best, misleading, as it has been published in the governor’s budget book every year. Since at least the 1960s, the Motor License Fund has helped fund the Pennsylvania State Police. The General Assembly has been actively working to reduce the funding dependence of the state police on the Motor License Fund so that we have more money for road and bridge repair. In fact, two years ago the General Assembly passed legislation that was signed into law to gradually reduce state police funding from the Motor License Fund.

“When he was a House member, the auditor general voted for many budgets which decreased the state police dollars coming out of the General Fund and increased the state police funding out of the Motor License Fund. Instead of seeking publicity for things we already know, it is time that the auditor general focus on investigating things like Medicaid fraud or why the Commonwealth has wasted over $1 billion on a radio system for the state police that never worked.”