HARRISBURG: Today, Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-24) voted in support of a FY 2025-2026 state budget that places Pennsylvania on a stronger economic footing and positions the Commonwealth for growth and success in the years to come.
Senator Pennycuick issued the following statement regarding the budget.
“After many months of intense meetings, we were able to negotiate a more reasonable spending plan with important policy improvements with no tax increases on Pennsylvania families or businesses.
We were able to cut $1.4 billion from Governor Shapiro’s budget and use unspent money from numerous state agencies, saving $3 billion dollars.
We voted to increase funding for our kids’ schools while improving accountability by requiring them to adopt evidence-based reading instruction.
I was proud to lead cyber school reform efforts to get tough on truancy and residency requirements and save our schools $178 million.
Additional funding is also included for the Ready to Learn Block Grant program ($562 million increase), Basic Education ($105 million increase), Special Education ($40 million increase) and Pre-K Counts ($9.5 million increase).
We’ve expanded school choice options with an additional $50 million for the very successful education improvement tax credit program. This funding will be targeted to families in economically disadvantaged schools for students to learn in an environment that best suits their needs.
An additional $7.5 million will support the Grow PA Scholarship Grant program created by Senate Republicans last year to provide grants of up to $5,000 to students pursuing higher education for in-demand fields, provided they agree to stay and work in Pennsylvania after graduation.
A $15 million cut proposed by Shapiro to workforce development programs was restored, ensuring these programs can continue to help train Pennsylvanians for high-quality, family-sustaining jobs.
The budget protects programs designed to benefit older Pennsylvanians by providing a $100 million transfer to the Lottery Fund, as well as $90 million in recurring funding from i-gaming. An additional $10 million was also provided to Area Agencies on Aging.
We restructured Human Services spending to put it on a more stable fiscal path and avoided using our rainy day fund.
In addition, we are doing away with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) regulation which would have resulted in electricity taxes going through the roof.
To help businesses and to encourage companies to come to Pennsylvania, we substantially improved our permitting process. The reforms will require a wide variety of environmental permits to be deemed approved after a certain period of time, ensuring applicants will know the time frame for consideration of their application and can appeal any permits that are denied. This provides certainty to the process and ends the current practice of dragging out the permitting process for months without resolution.
Taken together, these bipartisan reforms will help Pennsylvania families and businesses continue to grow and prosper in the months and years ahead.”
CONTACT: Lidia Di Fiore (215) 541-2388