HARRISBURG – Sen. Pat Stefano (R-32) voted today to advance a bipartisan state budget plan that will help grow Pennsylvania’s economy and make key improvements to the spending plan Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed earlier this year.
The $50.1 billion budget approved by the Senate and the House cuts nearly $1.4 billion in spending from Shapiro’s proposal, utilizes billions in lapsed funding in state agencies and special funds in the best interests of taxpayers, protects Pennsylvanians from the devastating consequences of Shapiro’s proposed electricity tax, and incentivizes job growth across the commonwealth by implementing key reforms to the permitting process and maintaining important tax cuts.
“Despite a long, tumultuous budget process, we’ve cut nearly $1.4 billion from the governor’s original budget proposal,” Stefano said. “Additionally, we’ve eliminated the looming threat of the RGGI electricity tax, thus preventing higher electricity rates, protecting energy and manufacturing jobs and taking a significant step in strengthening grid reliability.”
Preventing Pennsylvania from entering the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and stopping this tax protects consumers from more than a billion dollars in new electricity taxes and even more severe consequences, including the closure of Pennsylvania power plants, job losses and the threat of rolling blackouts in the years ahead.
The agreement includes new money to promote student achievement and empower families, including a $50 million expansion of the state’s popular Educational Improvement Tax Credit program to support more school choice opportunities for families in disadvantaged schools.
“Amidst the adversity, I’m proud to see increases in funding for aging programs and education on all levels, including expanding school choice options through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit,” Stefano said. “As chair of the Early Childhood Education Caucus, I’m proud to see the expanded support for Pre-K Counts, Early Intervention and the start of a Childcare Recruitment and Retention program that will help childcare providers better serve working families across Pennsylvania.”
Furthermore, critical reforms to Pennsylvania’s Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development (SPEED) program will make the commonwealth more competitive economically by requiring a wide variety of environmental permits to be deemed approved after a certain period of time, ensuring applicants know the time frame for consideration of their application and can appeal any permits that are denied. This provides certainty to the process and ends the current practice of dragging out the permitting process for many months without resolution.
“Expanding the SPEED program to improve permit efficiency and accountability will drive innovation for current and prospective employers, marking a huge win for communities ready to grow,” Stefano said.
In addition to protecting the commonwealth’s emergency Rainy Day Fund, the agreement realigned spending on some line items to reflect actual expenditures to use taxpayer dollars more efficiently. An example is the $15 million cut proposed by Shapiro to workforce development programs that was restored, ensuring these programs can continue to help train Pennsylvanians for high-quality, family-sustaining jobs.
“Though this budget was a challenging and contentious process, I’m glad to see an end result where we’ve protected taxpayers, strengthened our energy future and made smart investments in education and childcare,” Stefano said. “By focusing on fiscal discipline, we’re empowering families, employers and communities across our commonwealth to thrive for years to come.”
CONTACT: Amanda Cuteri