<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania State Capitol is reflected on the ground June 30, 2025, in Harrisburg. Associated Press<\/p>\n
HARRISBURG \u2014 Billions of dollars for Pennsylvania\u2019s public schools and social services could soon start flowing after four-plus months of delay, as lawmakers on Wednesday approved key elements of a roughly $50 billion spending plan to break the state\u2019s budget impasse.<\/p>\n
A concession to help seal the deal meant Democrats agreed to Republican demands to undo a regulation aimed at making Pennsylvania the only major fossil fuel-producing state<\/a> to force power plant owners to pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro signed several key budget bills shortly after they passed, approving hundreds of pages of budget legislation that had barely been public for a few hours after weeks of closed-door negotiations.<\/p>\n In a Capitol news conference, Shapiro called it a \u201cgreat budget\u201d that came from negotiations with a politically divided Legislature where \u201cwe stayed at the table and we all stood up for the things that mattered most.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the $50.1 billion no-new-taxes budget deal, new authorized spending would rise by about $2.4 billion, or 5%, including some cash going onto last year\u2019s books.<\/p>\n Republicans said scrapping the power plant emission rule was a major policy victory for the energy economy in the nation\u2019s No. 2 natural gas-producing state.<\/p>\n Butler County reps split<\/p>\n The overwhelming feeling among Butler County\u2019s representatives in Pennsylvania\u2019s General Assembly was relief after the state finally pushed through a budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year on Wednesday, Nov. 12 \u2014 134 days past the deadline.<\/p>\n \u201cThis budget is incredibly late and still does not reign in government spending enough,\u201d said state Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th. \u201cHowever, as a compromise, it is about as good as we can expect to get from the current cast in Harrisburg. …Therefore, I voted \u2018yes\u2019 on the final budget proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n The proposal in question passed by the Democratic-controlled state House by a 156-47 vote on Wednesday, and shortly thereafter the GOP-controlled Senate voted in favor by a margin of 40-9 (with one abstention). Shapiro signed the budget on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n Mustello was the only Butler County representative in the Pennsylvania House to vote yes on the budget proposal, which appropriates just over $50 billion for the state to spend over the next fiscal year. This total is a decrease form the $51.5 billion originally proposed by Shapiro earlier this year.<\/p>\n The other three representatives \u2014 Aaron Bernstine, R-8th; Tim Bonner, R-17th; and Stephenie Scialabba, R-12th \u2014 all voted no.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile this plan includes several positive elements, I could not support a budget that spends $6 billion more in recurring spending than we have in recurring revenue,\u201d Bernstine said in a news release. \u201cThat kind of imbalance will ultimately force future tax increases on Pennsylvania families, and I cannot support a budget that places that burden on hardworking taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI voted against the general appropriations bill because it\u2019s $6 billion underfunded,\u201d Scialabba said. \u201cI objected to the overall amount of spending.\u201d<\/p>\n Senators weigh in<\/p>\n Butler County\u2019s Senate delegation was split. State Sen. Elder Vogel, R-47th, voted yes, while state Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-21st, voted no.<\/p>\n Despite voting no on the budget, Scialabba was glad to have the 4.5-month impasse behind her, and she voted yes on the accompanying code bills that enable spending for the budget.<\/p>\n \u201cI objected to the overall amount of spending, but once the amount was set, then I voted in favor of the code bills,\u201d Scialabba said. \u201cI think I and a lot of my colleagues recognized that people are tired. Our schools and our senior homes and our veterans\u2019 homes, they all need funding. So I was not going to hold up that funding with code bills, so I voted for the code bills.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Scialabba and Mustello cite the decision by Pennsylvania to exit the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative \u2014 a longtime sticking point for state Republicans \u2014 as one of the key reasons why legislators were finally able to bridge the gap on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cGetting rid of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative will be a huge victory for households in helping to control skyrocketing energy prices, and it will serve as a catalyst for job creation across the state,\u201d Mustello said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is going to do wonders for domestic energy production, for our trades, for people who are now coming up on the holidays and having to pay for utilities,\u201d Scialabba said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got the widespread adoption and deployment of AI with all the data center work coming up. We\u2019re trying to have this be a boon year for Pennsylvania. RGGI was a crucial step in putting Pennsylvania back.\u201d<\/p>\n In an email to constituents, Vogel said the budget that passed Wednesday was better than the governor\u2019s original proposal.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough these critical reforms, we have prevented Pennsylvanians from being affected by Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s proposed plan, which would have increased our spending by 7.5% and in turn set our state on the path toward mass broad-based tax increases next year,\u201d said Vogel. \u201cAfter months of intense negotiations, we were able to agree on a more reasonable, fiscally responsible solution that invests in our schools, our workforce and our farmers all while protecting Pennsylvania taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n With the 2025-26 budget wrapped up, Scialabba\u2019s attention is already turned toward 2026-27.<\/p>\n \u201cSeeing how this dragged on, I think we need to already start focusing on next year so that we don\u2019t get delayed like this again,\u201d Scialabba said.<\/p>\n Democrats won\u2019t get the amount of money that Shapiro originally sought<\/a> in his initial budget proposal, but the deal delivers substantial new sums to public schools, as Democrats had sought, and an earned income tax credit for lower earners.<\/p>\n It will also bring relief that the stalemate is over. Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, called it an \u201cimperfect product\u201d that reflected the difficult compromises of a politically divided government.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile it may have taken time, more time than any of us would have preferred, we have brought a divided government together and proved that it is not dysfunctional government,\u201d Pittman said during remarks on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n The state lost some of its spending authority on July 1 without a signed state budget in force, forcing vendors to go without payment, unable to pay workers. Without state aid, counties, school districts and social service agencies warned of mounting layoffs<\/a>, borrowing costs and growing damage to the state\u2019s safety net.<\/p>\n Cap-and-trade program<\/p>\n The agreement to back off the carbon dioxide cap-and-trade regulation on power plants comes six years after then-Gov. Tom Wolf made joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative the centerpiece<\/a> of his plan to fight climate change.<\/p>\n Ending it is \u201cone of biggest policy wins in the past 10 years,\u201d Sen. Wayne Langerholc, R-Cambria, said.<\/p>\n Wolf’s regulatory plan had sidestepped resistant Republican lawmakers in a bid to make Pennsylvania \u2014 the nation\u2019s second-largest natural gas producer \u2014 the only major fossil fuel-producing state to undertake a carbon cap-and-trade program.<\/p>\n It had yet to take effect<\/a> while the state\u2019s highest court considers a legal challenge that questions whether the carbon-pricing plan amounts to a tax, and is thus unconstitutional without legislative approval.<\/p>\n Backers of the regulation included environmental advocates as well as solar, wind and nuclear power producers who had called it the biggest step ever taken<\/a> in Pennsylvania to fight climate change.<\/p>\n It was opposed by Republicans, fossil fuel interests and the labor unions that work on pipelines, refineries and power plants who warned that the cost was sending energy companies to other states to build new gas-fired power plants.<\/p>\n Shapiro had also expressed misgivings about it<\/a>, and an alternative plan that he proposed<\/a> has yet to receive traction in the Legislature amid Republican opposition.<\/p>\n Almost all of the overall spending increase will go toward Medicaid<\/a> and public schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the budget didn\u2019t deliver what Shapiro had sought in higher public transit aid, what counties had sought for mental health services or what providers such as nursing homes, insurers and home-care providers had sought in Medicaid reimbursements.<\/p>\n The budget plan holds the line on tax rates and fees, lawmakers say. But it uses more than $4 billion in surplus cash to achieve balance, the second straight year that Pennsylvania is running a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, reflecting a slow-growing economy and a shrinking workforce that delivers relatively meager gains in tax collections.<\/p>\n The agreement also includes Pennsylvania’s first refundable earned income tax credit, which reduces or wipes out the state income tax for people who make less than a certain amount of money, depending on how many children they have. It\u2019s something most other states have on their books.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania\u2019s plan is projected to cost nearly $200 million a year. Had it been in effect this year, the average eligible family would have gotten a $650 break, lawmakers say.<\/p>\n Eagle staff writer William Pitts contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pennsylvania State Capitol is reflected on the ground June 30, 2025, in Harrisburg. 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