PA Senate advances $47.7B budget, transit spending plan

With the commonwealth approaching two months without a state budget, lawmakers in the Pennsylvania Senate returned to Harrisburg to consider a $47.7 billion General Fund budget proposal and a separate transit funding plan on Tuesday – with both proposals ultimately approved along party lines. 

In spite of unanimous opposition from Senate Democrats, the Republican-led chamber was able to advance both measures, but there’s no guarantee they’ll be received favorably by Democrats who control the state House. 

GOP-led Senate advances transit funding plan along party lines

The transit funding saga came to a head Tuesday – just two days before the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is set to put drastic service cuts in motion for later in August.

The Republican-controlled state Senate approved an amended version of House Bill 257, which would pull dollars from the Public Transportation Trust Fund and interactive gaming revenue to provide a short-term funding plan for SEPTA and public transit systems in the state. The amendment would also require fare increases and put additional funds toward highway maintenance and construction in areas around the state. 

“Let’s not make perfect the enemy of the good,” GOP state Sen. Joe Picozzi said before passage of the amendment, later adding that it will provide for a “better, safer, more accountable transit system” that will ensure SEPTA will remain up and running through major events in 2026. 

State Sen. Nikil Saval, a leading voice in support of public transit, said the funding plan “robs money from urgently needed capital projects to pay for operating costs,” describing the move as “service cuts by another name.” 

“It’s taking money from capital funds that will make SEPTA and other transit agencies less safe, less secure and more difficult to run,” he said, adding that mandated fare increases would be “punishing their constituents because (the Senate GOP refuses) to adopt a serious funding proposal.”

"Now you know how we felt back in November when the governor absconded (with) $153 million from road projects and put it into transit,” Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman said, referring to previous efforts by Gov. Josh Shapiro to redirect funds from highway and bridge projects to provide short-term funding for public transit systems. “Now you know how we felt 15 years ago when Gov. (Ed) Rendell took road money and put it in the transit. Doesn’t feel so good, does it?"

In a statement, Shapiro’s office called the proposal “not a serious, long-term” solution.  

“While Gov. Shapiro appreciates Senate Republicans finally acknowledging the need to fund mass transit systems across the Commonwealth, this is clearly not a serious, long-term proposal that can pass both chambers,” spokesperson Manual Bonder said in a statement. “It’s time to get back to the table and keep working at it.”

Despite opposition from Democrats, the amendment passed along party lines and sets up the short-term transit funding plan to be approved in the state budget. Over a two-year span, the plan would use $419 million from the capital side of the Public Transportation Trust Fund and $173 million from gaming-tax revenues to the trust fund. The move to utilize capital funds, typically used for maintenance and ongoing construction projects, was not received well by SEPTA leadership. 

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Scott Sauer, SEPTA’s general manager, said on Tuesday that the proposal “might plug the hole, the immediate need to just continue to run service, but it creates new problems with our capital budget ... an already oversubscribed, underfunded program.”

Senate approves $47.7B budget proposal

Despite considering the idea of passing a six-month state budget in order to allow state funding to get driven out while negotiations on a full year budget continued, Senate Republicans opted introduce a $47.7 billion full-year budget proposal on Tuesday

Lawmakers voted 27-22 to approve Senate Bill 160, a spending plan that mirrors the 2024-25 state budget’s spending levels, according to Republican lawmakers. The General Fund total falls well below Shapiro’s $51.5 billion executive budget proposal, which the Democratic governor introduced in February. 

Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward said in floor remarks Tuesday that the GOP’s budget proposal is needed to ensure that state funding is delivered to hospitals, nursing homes, schools and other entities that rely on state appropriations.

“It’s the answer for the moment,” Ward said. “We have an immeasurable responsibility to ensure a statewide system that provides for the health, safety and welfare of our citizens. Our hospitals, nursing homes, human service agencies and schools should not suffer.”Republicans indicated that passing Senate Bill 160 would provide more time for lawmakers and the Shapiro administration to negotiate potential spending increases. “Tax revenues continue to be received regardless of whether there is a budget or not, and this bill will allow that money to flow while we consider whether or not there is a capacity to increase in particular areas,” Ward added. 

Democrats were united in their opposition to the bill. Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa said the bill doesn’t go far enough in terms of funding for education, human services and other programs. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t address funding for education, it doesn’t address funding for human service programming,” Costa said. “We had a job to do. We should have done it many, many weeks ago, but we weren’t able to do that. It’s now incumbent upon us to reject what we have in front of us and get back to the table and put together a strong negotiating team that’s going to allow us the opportunity to find that common ground.”

In a joint statement, House Speaker Joanna McClinton, House Majority Leader Matt Bradford and House Majority Appropriations Chairman Jordan Harris said the Senate “failed to do their job.”

“This budget does not fulfill our constitutional obligation to adequately and equitably fund our public schools and it fails to support critical programs and services such as mass transit,” the House Democratic leaders said. “We have a multi-billion-dollar surplus and the governor presented real opportunities to grow our revenues, which the Senate has ignored. We will continue to work with the governor and the Senate toward a real solution that moves Pennsylvania forward.”