Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
An end to Pennsylvania’s protracted budget impasse has finally arrived. Passed with a 156-47 vote in the House and a 40-9 vote in the Senate, the $50.1 billion package moved through both chambers with bipartisan support. Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was a lead negotiator in the deal, signed the budget Wednesday afternoon, formally approving the spending plan and bringing an end to a budget stalemate that has dragged on for more than four months. Agreed upon initially by top state legislators and Shapiro behind closed doors Tuesday, the deal marks the first time Pennsylvania’s state budget has surpassed $50 billion. » READ MORE: Pa. lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro have approved a $50.1 billion state budget, officially ending monthslong impasse The budget marks a 4.7% increase in spending over the last fiscal year, but falls short of Shapiro’s initial $51.5 billion budget proposal. Here is what you need to know: Among the most significant elements are Pennsylvania’s exit from a a major regional greenhouse gas program designed to reduce carbon emissions, as well substantial new funding for schools. Public schools will receive more than $665 million in new funding, roughly $562 of which will be run through Pennsylvania’s adequacy and tax equity formulas. Created after a 2023 court ruling that found students from poorer districts were unconstitutionally deprived of an adequate and equitable education, those formals are designed to close a so-called “adequacy gap.” And roughly $178 million will be used to address how cyber charter schools are paid by local districts. Leaders from those schools on Tuesday warned legislators that funding cuts could bring layoffs numbering in the thousands, as well as the closure of several cyber charter schools. In a win for Republican legislators, Pennsylvania will exit the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which charges power plants based on the carbon emissions the released into the air. Entered into without legislative approval by former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in 2019, the program has long been viewed by Republicans as a significant economic growth inhibitor in the state. » READ MORE: Pa. budget deal kills major program to control greenhouse gases Additionally, a bill included as part of the budget calls for some oversight of PJM Internconnection, an independent organization that manages the electrical grids for at least portions of 13 states, including Pennsylvania. That move comes amid the proliferation of data centers, which has resulted in increased in energy bills for residential customers due in part to the centers’ energy demands. » READ MORE: Rise of data centers prompts Pennsylvania to take more oversight of regional grid operator Missing is any additional funding for mass transit services like SEPTA, which had long been a Democratic priority. Funding for mass transit was removed from budgetary negotiations in September, when a lawsuit compelled SEPTA to back away from service cuts, and instead use its capital funds to fill its budget deficit for the next two years. » READ MORE: Why there was no deal for SEPTA in Harrisburg after all Shapiro made his proposal in February for the 2025-26 fiscal year that began July 1. With no viable state budget on the table until Wednesday, the state had gone without an approved plan for nearly 4½ months, or 135 days. A number of proposed deals were floated, including two that were approved by state Senate Republicans. But legislators, it seemed, were not willing to increase the state’s budget above $50 billion. Democrats said the Senate-approved figures were not enough to cover the state’s obligations, or increase funding for public education, and rejected the plans. Shapiro in October called Senate Republicans’ proposal a “joke” that was “not designed to be serious or get the job done,” and urged GOP leaders to meet with top Democrats to forge a deal. Negotiations had largely stalled until late October, when renewed talks began with the inclusion of House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) and Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland), who are their respective chambers’ highest-ranking officials. The expanded talks took place behind closed doors in the governor’s office as legislative leaders, as well as Shapiro, remained mum on the negotiations’ status. A number of entities have seen significant effects from lacking billions in expected state funding, resulting in job cuts, loans, and service stoppages. Among them are school districts, some of which have said they would have run out of funds in January if a budget was not passed by then. The Philadelphia School District, meanwhile, in September authorized a temporary borrowing of $1.5 billion, but said that money would not last the entire school year. Nonprofits were also hit hard. In Delaware County, two homeless shelters, as well as a rental assistance program, were to temporarily close lacking funding from Harrisburg. SEPTA, meanwhile, was forced to utilize its capital funds in lieu of service cuts to keep its services running, leading to a prolonged, confusing saga of disruptions for commuters in the Philadelphia region. However, even with a budget in place, remedies to issues caused by the impasse are unlikely to be instant. As Kristyn DiDominick, executive director of Bucks-Mont Collaborative, which works with nonprofit agencies across Bucks and Montgomery Counties, put it, the damage, in some cases, has already been done. “The damage isn’t in just the delay, it’s in the cost of the repair,” she said.
