The Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg.

Shapiro: $45.5 billion budget delivers on his top priorities

Gov. Josh Shapiro this week signed into law a “commonsense, bipartisan budget” for fiscal year 2023-24 that he says delivers on his top priorities to create a stronger economy, safer and healthier communities, and better schools.

Shapiro said the $45.5 billion budget makes historic investments in Pennsylvania children’s education, supports businesses and speeds up permitting, helps older adults stay in their homes, protects and strengthens communities, and ensures law enforcement and first responders have the resources they need.

On Friday in Scranton, Shapiro signed into law a historic expansion of the Property Tax/Rent Rebate, making good on the commitment he made to Pennsylvania seniors during his campaign to ease the burden of rising costs.

“The people of Pennsylvania have entrusted me with the responsibility to bring people together in a divided legislature and to get things done for them — and with this commonsense budget, that’s exactly what we’ve done,” Shapiro said. “Throughout my campaign and in my first budget address, I laid out a vision for how the Commonwealth could create real opportunity and advance real freedom for all Pennsylvanians. With this budget and the expansion of the Property Tax/Rent Rebate, we’re making good on that promise by delivering the largest targeted tax cut for our seniors in nearly two decades, creating real opportunity for our workers by expanding voc-tech and apprenticeship programs, supporting our state troopers and local first responders, and making historic investments in our kids and their schools. This is what it looks like when government works together to make Pennsylvanians’ lives better.”

Here are some highlights of the budget:

Schools

Shapiro said the budget makes historic investments in K-12 public schools, including the largest increase in basic education funding (BEF) in Pennsylvania history and universal free breakfast for our public school students. Thanks to this budget, Pennsylvania will spend over $10 billion on K-12 public education funding.

The budget includes:

• $567 million increase in basic education funding for Pennsylvania school districts to be distributed through the BEF Formula, enabling all school districts to have the basic resources they need to provide a high-quality education for Pennsylvania students. This is the largest BEF increase in history.

• $100 million for school-based mental health counselors and resources for students.

• $100 million for Level Up to ensure more resources go to Pennsylvania’s most underfunded schools.

• $50 million increase in special education funding, reinforcing Pennsylvania’s commitment to equitable education for all students.

• A $46.5 million increase in funding to provide universal free breakfast to Pennsylvania’s 1.7 million public school students regardless of income and free lunch to all 22,000 Pennsylvania students who are eligible for reduced-price lunches through the National School Lunch Program.

• $10 million to provide Pennsylvania’s student teachers with stipends so the Commonwealth can get more well-trained teachers into our classrooms.

• $7 million to support dual enrollment opportunities for high school students allowing them to take advanced courses for college credit and chart their own course.

Community & Economic Development

Shapiro said the budget spurs job creation, fosters innovation, and provides the funding to make Pennsylvania more competitive on a national scale. This budget also invests in communities across the Commonwealth, improving state parks, supporting historically disadvantaged businesses, and helping Pennsylvanians maintain safe, healthy homes.

This budget includes:

• A $20 million investment to fund the Historically Disadvantaged Business Program to invest in small minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses in the Commonwealth and provide sustainable support.

• $112 million to improve our parks and forests and create a new Office of Outdoor Recreation to help connect our natural resources and parks with local businesses and put Pennsylvania on the map as a leader in outdoor recreation.

• A $50 million investment in the Whole-Home Repairs program to take the burden off the shoulders of those living paycheck to paycheck while ensuring they can afford to maintain their homes.

• A $13 million investment to make Pennsylvania more competitive on a national scale and help the Commonwealth become a leader in economic development, innovation, and job creation.

• A $2 million investment in the Municipal Assistance Program to help the local, municipal, and county governments that are on the front lines of supporting their communities and a $1.25 million increase for the Strategic Management Planning Program (STMP) to help local governments create long-term plans for financial success.

• A $1 million increase in investment for the Manufacturing PA Innovation Program, which connects Pennsylvania’s universities with businesses to spur innovation and job creation here in the Commonwealth.

Health Care

Shapiro said the budget makes critical investments in public health and wellness, including significant investments in mental health and the first-ever investment in addressing maternal mortality, including:

• A $66.7 million increase for Child Care Services allowing up to 75,000 low-income families to continue to be enrolled in subsidized childcare through the Child Care Works Program.

• $50 million for Hospital and Healthsystem Emergency Relief to support the vital work of hospitals.

• $20.7 million to increase mileage rates for ambulance services, protecting access to healthcare and ensuring that EMS workers and first responders are properly reimbursed for the critical care they provide.

• $20 million to increase base funding for counties to provide critical mental health services and address deepening workforce shortages.

• $2.3 million to expand maternal health programming to allow for implementation of prevention strategies to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity.

• $5 million in funding for the Help at Home (OPTIONS) program through the Department of Aging, to reduce the wait list of seniors seeking services that will allow them to stay in their homes.

• A $1 million investment in grants for Senior Community Centers to improve safety and accessibility, repair or replace essential equipment, and invest in technology supplies to continue creating safe spaces for older Pennsylvanians to gather and socialize.

Repairing infrastructure;

supporting law enforcement

Shapiro said this budget ensures that Pennsylvania police departments are well-staffed, well-funded, well-trained, and well-equipped and prioritizes public safety while making more funding available for our infrastructure needs, including:

Sustainable funding for the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) through the General Fund, reducing PSP’s reliance on the Motor License Fund (MLF) by $125 million annually over the next four years, putting those dollars directly into road and bridge projects.

For more information on the budget, visit — shapirobudget.pa.gov.

Meuser co-sponsors legislation to protect

supply chain, economy, national security

U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Dallas, this week co-sponsored legislation to protect the supply chain of electrical transformers, which has been of growing concern as the U.S. experiences a nationwide shortage.

The Protecting America’s Distribution Transformer Supply Chain Act would repeal the Department of Energy’s authority to finalize, implement, or enforce a newly proposed energy efficiency standard on distribution transformers for the next five years.

“This bill isn’t about opposing clean energy standards, it’s about ensuring certain policies don’t further disrupt the already suffering supply chain of transformers,” Meuser said. “A variety of industries are already struggling to meet current demand, which is having ripple effects across the economy. Implementing new rules and regulations on transformers at his time will further slow production, cost Pennsylvania 1,500 jobs, and have grave and broad consequences for Americans.”

Small distribution transformers are necessary, for example, to connect homes and businesses to the power grid. And while they used to be relatively easy to obtain, only taking a few weeks to arrive once ordered, the current wait time for some transformers is now nearly 18 months.

As a result of these significant delivery delays, the American Public Power Association says 1 in 5 housing projects in the U.S. has been delayed or canceled. Further, the American Association of Homebuilders says that the limited supply has caused the price of transformers to soar more than 400% in some cases.

“Not only is the lack of transformers perpetuating our country’s housing shortage and hindering the development of new small businesses, but it is also threatening our grid reliability and national security,” Meuser said. “The low supply of domestic transformers means more imports from China, which presents very real cyber-security risks. In Congress, I will continue to support legislation like this that protects our supply chain, economy, and national security.”