Gov. Josh Shapiro often brags about \u201cmoving at the speed of business.\u201d But his efforts to draw private investment to Pennsylvania rely heavily on corporate welfare, rather than addressing the burdensome regulations that bog down the commonwealth\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
On paper and at public events, Shapiro\u00a0says\u00a0the right things about regulatory reform. The governor recently\u00a0boasted\u00a0about how his administration \u201crepealed or modernized 10 outdated regulations.<\/p>\n
However, more than 164,000 regulations remain on the books, making Pennsylvania the\u00a014th-most regulated state, according to the Mercatus Center.<\/p>\n
And the governor\u2019s \u201creforms\u201d favor a select few. After a yearlong delay, Shapiro\u2019s primary permitting reform \u2014 namely, the Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development (SPEED) program \u2014 applies to only a small percentage of Pennsylvania permits.<\/p>\n
Shapiro\u2019s other half-baked reform, the PAyback program, promised a money-back guarantee for any delayed permits, licenses, and certifications. However, a Right to Know request by the Commonwealth Foundation revealed that PAyback\u00a0denied 95 percent\u00a0of its claims.<\/p>\n
The governor would prefer that Pennsylvanians focus on the \u201csuccess stories.\u201d During his campaign-style budget address, Shapiro touted Eli Lilly, the large pharmaceutical company, moving its manufacturing to Pennsylvania. But, to land this deal, the Shapiro administration put taxpayers on the hook for\u00a0$100 million in public funds and tax credits\u00a0for the global giant.<\/p>\n
The return on investment for this corporate welfare doesn\u2019t add up. The Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office\u00a0found\u00a0that most tax credits have a gross return of less than 25 cents per tax dollar spent.<\/p>\n
Also, for every Eli Lilly, there is a\u00a0FairLife. In 2024, the Coca-Cola subsidiary considered building a milk-processing plant in Pennsylvania, but our notoriously slow permitting process forced the company to\u00a0choose\u00a0New York instead.<\/p>\n
Corporate welfare\u2014whether it\u2019s tax breaks, grants, or sweetheart incentive packages \u2014 isn\u2019t genuine reform. It favors connections over competition, rewarding greased palms in Harrisburg, rather than elbow grease on Main Street or in the heartland.<\/p>\n
Yet, if we listened to the governor, Pennsylvania\u2019s economy\u00a0has never been stronger.<\/p>\n
But the numbers don\u2019t lie: Pennsylvania isn\u2019t as economically robust as the governor claims. Instead, our commonwealth certainly isn\u2019t at the top\u00a0most national rankings.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvanians aren\u2019t buying Shapiro\u2019s economic gaslighting. Polling reveals that only 3 out of 10 Pennsylvanians rate the commonwealth\u2019s economy as either \u201cexcellent\u201d or \u201cgood.\u201d<\/p>\n
This cynicism isn\u2019t just reflected in the polls; Pennsylvanians are also voting with their feet. In 2025, we lost nearly 3,000 residents to other states, according to the most recent U.S. Census data. Recent reports by\u00a0U-Haul,\u00a0United Van Lines, and\u00a0Vote with Your Feet\u00a0confirm this exodus from the commonwealth.<\/p>\n
And this most recent year isn\u2019t an anomaly. In\u00a015 of the last 16 years, our commonwealth lost more Pennsylvanians than it gained. If this trend persists, Pennsylvania\u00a0will lose another congressional seat\u00a0in the next census reapportionment, marking the third consecutive decade of electoral decline.<\/p>\n
Why are Pennsylvanians moving? Polling reveals that lower cost of living, lower taxes, and better job opportunities were the top three reasons Pennsylvanians have either relocated or considered moving. This explains why families are looking toward states like Florida, the Carolinas, and Texas \u2014 where tax burdens are lower and business climates are friendlier.<\/p>\n
To stop this exodus and create a Pennsylvania that increases opportunity and prosperity, we need real regulatory reform. Instead of favoring a select few, genuine reform cuts red tape and taxes for\u00a0everybody.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, we have made some headway. State lawmakers, primarily Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate, negotiated \u201cdeemed-approved\u201d permitting into the 2025\u201326 budget \u2014 a reform that automatically approves unprocessed permits, allowing businesses to start building faster.<\/p>\n
But we can\u2019t rest on our laurels; more reforms can steer the commonwealth in the right direction.<\/p>\n
One option for reducing our regulatory burdens is the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. The REINS Act would require legislative review and approval of new regulations, especially those with significant economic impacts. Currently, there are two proposals\u2014one\u00a0at the federal level, the\u00a0other\u00a0stalled in Harrisburg.<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania version,\u00a0Senate Bill 333, passed the Republican-controlled state Senate. However, the Democrat-controlled House refuses to put it to a vote.\u00a0Senate Bill 6, another comprehensive regulatory reform package with bipartisan support, has suffered a similar partisan fate.<\/p>\n
Yet, polls show overwhelming approval of such reforms. An astonishing\u00a088 percent\u00a0of Pennsylvanians support the REINS Act.<\/p>\n
Slashing red tape will pay significant dividends. Cutting only one-third of statewide regulations would add more than\u00a0$9 billion and 180,000 new jobs\u00a0to the commonwealth\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania stands at a crossroads. We cannot afford to settle for superficial PR victories. Real growth requires real reform, and if we want an economy that benefits the good people of our great commonwealth, we need policies that advance \u2014 not hinder \u2014 their entrepreneurial spirit.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvanians don\u2019t need Harrisburg picking winners and losers; they need it to get out of the way.<\/p>\n
Megan Martin, a former state Senate parliamentarian, is the chief operating officer and general counsel for the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania\u2019s free-market think tank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Josh Shapiro often brags about \u201cmoving at the speed of business.\u201d But his efforts to draw private…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1559,56385,28,30,29,1015],"class_list":["post-118854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-opinion","tag-opinion-columinists","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-top-stories-mer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}