Copyright Mechanicsburg Patriot News
Most of Pennsylvania’s legislature was back in Harrisburg Tuesday night to work on a deal to end Pennsylvania’s 19-week-long budget impasse. The Republican-majority state Senate is set to take votes this evening to advance elements of the deal, while the House’s Democratic majority held a closed-door caucus meeting ahead of session time scheduled for tomorrow morning. The deal circulating Tuesday night totals $50.1 billion in spending from the general fund, the state’s main operating account. This would be a 4.7% increase over the 2024-25 budget, but a compromise from Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed $51.5 billion. The spending proposal keeps most of Shapiro’s increases in K-12 public education subsidies and makes mostly inflationary adjustments to other appropriations. The deal might also include other elements outside of general fund spending, including Shapiro potentially dropping the legal case for Pennsylvania’s attempt to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-trade program to control power plant pollution. Republicans have opposed the program, saying it will bear too hard on the state’s natural gas industry, and dropping RGGI would significantly sweeten the deal for conservatives, at the same time as progressives have openly warned against such a deal. Online sports-betting companies have also opposed any tax increase on internet wagering, although it’s unclear if this idea remains on the table. Also under discussion is the creation or expansion of a state tax credit for low-income families, which would appeal strongly to Democrats. While state workers continue to be paid during a budget impasse, other public agencies have started to feel the heat since their 2024-25 appropriations lapsed on June 30. Schools have been short-changed $5.3 billion thus far, according to the Pennsylvania State Education Association, and counties have warned of having to pare back their social services and enact hiring freezes.
