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Lawmakers in Harrisburg passed Pennsylvania’s latest budget over the weekend, less than two weeks after a state constitution-mandated deadline.
On Sunday, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the $50.8 billion spending plan into law, calling it another example of bipartisan compromise in a politically divided Harrisburg while touting new investments in education, infrastructure, workforce development and mental health services.
While roughly $2.4 billion smaller than the $53.2 billion proposal Shapiro unveiled in February, it passed with broad bipartisan support despite opposition from members of both parties. It got approval from 211 of the General Assembly’s 252 lawmakers.
“This is the fourth year in a row where — despite working with one of the only divided legislatures in the country, where we have some really profound differences — we stayed at the table and brought Democrats and Republicans together to get stuff done, again,” Shapiro said shortly before signing the legislation. “We managed to find compromise — without compromising our core values.”
The agreement leaves several of Shapiro’s major policy priorities unresolved. Lawmakers did not reach deals on raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, establishing a long-term transit funding package or expanding affordable housing initiatives. The governor’s proposals to legalize and tax recreational marijuana and regulate skills games as a way of adding revenues, were also left out of the final agreement.
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Armstrong, agreed that the bill reflected a compromise, calling it an “imperfectly good budget.”
“But as we know, perfection should not be the enemy of good,” he said.
Republicans had expressed concerns that Shapiro’s original budget would eat into the $8 billion Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund — known as the state’s “rainy day fund” — but the newly passed version leaves it intact, which Pittman applauded.
“We have identified and pulled $1.5 billion out of the couch cushions of bureaucracy to balance this budget,” he said. “We have protected the taxpayers in this budget. Another reason to say yes in this budget is because we continue to cut taxes for job creators.”
Although this is the fifth late budget in a row, it was passed in time to avoid the same kind of long-term financial damage inflicted last year, when the budget was more than four months late. Although missing the deadline does not immediately shut down state government, prolonged delays can disrupt payments to schools, counties, nonprofits and other organizations that rely on state funding. In 2023, budget negotiations stretched into December amid a prolonged stalemate over school vouchers and education funding.
