{"id":244988,"date":"2026-07-16T16:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T16:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/244988\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T16:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T16:40:08","slug":"senator-haywood-highlights-key-wins-in-2026-27-state-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/244988\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator Haywood Highlights Key Wins in 2026\u201327 State Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-150824\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Senator-Art-Haywood.jpg\" alt=\"Senator Art Haywood\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>PHILADELPHIA, PA \u2013 July 16, 2027 \u2212 Senator Art Haywood (D-4) today highlighted key investments secured in the 2026\u201327 Pennsylvania state budget that will deliver meaningful resources to communities across the Commonwealth and the 4th District.<\/p>\n<p>Budget Wins<\/p>\n<p>Cost-of-Living Adjustment for Retirees: A long-overdue increase for more than 54,000 retired teachers, police officers, and firefighters who retired prior to Act 9 (July 2, 2001), ensuring those who served our communities can live with dignity.<br \/>\nHistoric Education Investment: $565 million for school adequacy and equity funding, including major increases for local districts: Abington (+$582K), Cheltenham (+$1.17M), Jenkintown (+$77K), Springfield (+$40K), and Philadelphia (+$157.3M).<br \/>\nHigher Education &amp; Workforce Development: $419 million for the PHEAA State Grant Program and $42.5 million for Grow PA Scholarships to expand access to higher education and retain Pennsylvania talent.<br \/>\nSupport for Seniors: $81 million in additional funding for nursing homes to strengthen care for seniors and support staff.<br \/>\nMental Health &amp; Public Safety: $979 million for mental health services (+$41M), $24.1 million for rape crisis centers (+$12M), and $62.15 million for Violence Intervention and Prevention Programs.<br \/>\nEconomic Growth &amp; Housing: Innovate in PA 2.0, generating up to $125 million in life sciences investment, and funding for a Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency public housing database to improve housing access statewide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese investments reflect our commitment to building stronger, safer, and more equitable communities,\u201d said Senator Haywood. \u201cFrom our schools to our seniors, this budget delivers real results and prioritizes the issues that matter most\u2014education, public safety, economic opportunity, and quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More Work Ahead<\/p>\n<p>Senator Haywood emphasized that while progress was made, critical priorities remain:<\/p>\n<p>Raising Pennsylvania\u2019s $7.25 minimum wage so working families can make ends meet<br \/>\nClosing the Delaware Loophole to ensure corporations pay their fair share<br \/>\nRegulating and taxing skill games to generate revenue and ensure oversight<br \/>\nLegalizing adult-use cannabis to create jobs and advance equity<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPassing a budget in this environment is never easy\u2014but protecting the progress we\u2019ve made matters,\u201d Haywood added. \u201cWe will keep pushing for more, but we will not go backwards. Holding the line is how we keep moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA, PA \u2013 July 16, 2027 \u2212 Senator Art Haywood (D-4) today highlighted key investments secured in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[103759,28,30,29,104927],"class_list":["post-244988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-2026-27-state-budget","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-senator-art-haywood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244988","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=244988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}