Dear Friends,
In this final budget update email, I want to highlight how this year’s state budget keeps Pennsylvania safe, sustainable, and prepared for the future, while also being candid about the opportunities we missed and the work that still lies ahead.
This year’s budget increases funding for both the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) by 6% and 5.6%, respectively. These investments help protect our air, drinking water, and outdoor spaces while supporting conservation, environmental monitoring, and recreational access — the natural assets that make Pennsylvania such an extraordinarily beautiful place to live.
On the public safety side, this budget makes targeted investments to protect Pennsylvanians and strengthen law enforcement across the Commonwealth. While food security and strong social safety-net programs help reduce crime and support community stability, it is also essential to provide adequate funding for the personnel and resources that keep our neighborhoods safe. This year’s budget increases Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) funding by $58.4 million, adding resources for training and operations and supporting four additional cadet classes. Although our region relies less on state police coverage, more than half of Pennsylvania’s 2,500 municipalities have no police department, and among those that do, 72 percent have ten or fewer full-time officers—making statewide coverage critical. The budget raises PSP’s General Government Operations funding by $69.3 million, a 6.5 percent increase that strengthens personnel support, recruitment, training, and administrative functions. To ensure PSP is equipped to meet modern challenges, the budget includes $27 million for information technology upgrades, including tools to respond to cybersecurity threats. It also invests $15 million to support traffic enforcement aimed at preventing crashes and saving lives.
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) was allocated $715,000 for general operations, along with additional funding for the Office of the State Fire Commissioner. The budget also provides $5 million for State Disaster Assistance and $6 million for Urban Search and Rescue, ensuring that our first responders are fully prepared when disaster strikes.
Fire safety and emergency preparedness remain top priorities, with $7 million allocated for Capitol Fire Protection—a 40% increase—and new support for local response coordination, partially in response to the actions of the individual who set fire to the Governor’s residence. The Department of Corrections also receives an $82.5 million (2.6%) boost to strengthen staffing, rehabilitation, and safety within our correctional institutions.
The state budget makes significant investments in community safety across Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) will receive a 10% increase in the Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) line item, including $62.2 million for community-based violence-prevention grants. The budget also continues support for the BOOST (Building Opportunity through Out-of-School Time) initiative, which strengthens afterschool and summer programs that keep kids safe while providing meaningful enrichment. BOOST funding is available to school districts, career and technical schools, libraries, statewide youth-serving 501(c)(4)s, and community-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits, with an emphasis on programs offering mentoring, career exploration, and other structured out-of-school programming for at-risk youth in underserved communities.
Eligible applicants for VIP funding include community-based nonprofits, higher-education institutions, municipalities, counties, and district attorneys’ offices, with priority given to projects in ZIP codes experiencing the highest levels of firearm-related violence or in counties with rising homicide rates. The budget also provides $7.5 million for indigent defense, $10 million for nonprofit security grants, and $20.7 million for school safety and security. Additional funding supports the Attorney General’s efforts to combat human trafficking, while the Judiciary receives a modest increase to help keep Pennsylvania’s courts accessible and responsive. Together, these investments protect our neighborhoods, support first responders, and ensure that justice is served fairly and efficiently.
While this budget moves Pennsylvania forward in several important ways, there were also significant missed opportunities that could have strengthened our economy, improved public services, and set our Commonwealth on a more sustainable long-term path. One major example was the legislature’s decision to withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which my Republican colleagues required in budget negotiations. Experts estimate that RGGI could have generated hundreds of millions of dollars annually for Pennsylvania to invest in clean-energy technologies and job creation—an impact far exceeding the additional $25 million allocated this year for the second year of Solar for Schools. Participation in RGGI would have reduced harmful emissions while helping shift our energy market toward renewables.
While some may contend that since Governor Shapiro had publicly declared that he would not support the cap-and-trade program as written and that there was some question as to whether the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would uphold the program, that we gained more than we lost, I remain committed to identifying bipartisan strategies to grow our green energy economy without leaving workers or communities behind.
We also missed a critical opportunity to support public transportation. Despite the House sending over five separate transit funding bills, the Senate chose not to include any new public transit support in the budget. Most recently, the Senate failed to act on House Bill 1788, a Democratic bill that incorporates key Republican transportation policy requests and addresses Pennsylvania’s growing transit and infrastructure crisis without raising taxes. HB 1788 would have increased the share of sales-tax revenue directed to the Public Transportation Trust Fund from 4.4% to 6.15%, generating an estimated $292 million annually in new transit funding, most of which would support SEPTA. It would have also authorized $325 million in borrowing for highway, road, and bridge projects, along with an additional $275 million for rural road improvements. By failing to act, the Senate left communities across the Commonwealth without the necessary investment to stabilize and expand our transportation network.
The Senate also declined to advance several commonsense policies that would have created new revenue streams and strengthened Pennsylvania’s long-term fiscal health. These included raising the minimum wage, which would not only support workers but also increase state revenues; closing the Delaware Loophole by adopting combined reporting—a reform supported in the Governor’s proposed budget and projected to generate $264 million in additional corporate tax revenue at a time when recent Corporate Net Income Tax (CNIT) cuts have already reduced business taxes by more than $1.5 billion over the past two years and are projected to reduce them by $10.5 billion by 2029, significantly impacting future revenues; and regulating skill games, of which an estimated 70,000 machines operate with no oversight. Unregulated machines have already cost the state Lottery an estimated $200 million over the last five years—funds that support essential senior services like prescriptions and meals. Finally, the Senate missed the chance to establish a regulated adult-use cannabis market, which independent analysis shows could generate $1.3 billion in the first five years of sales, $4.2 billion in economic output, more than 33,000 new jobs, and $420 million in recurring annual tax revenue that could help fund transit, higher education, and other underfunded priorities.
All is not lost. These bills and issues, having passed the House, remain with the Senate, which has every opportunity to engage on these topics and help propel our economy forward. As always, there is more work to be done. We must continue strengthening our teacher workforce, make college more affordable for working students, and chart a forward-looking energy policy that balances reliability with sustainability. These are the challenges we will continue to face and the opportunities we will keep fighting for.
Even with its imperfections, this budget represents real progress. It is balanced, fiscally responsible, and compassionate—the kind of governing Pennsylvanians deserve. I am proud to have supported a plan that protects our communities, supports our families, and invests in the future we are building together. It is also a product of compromise, reflected in what we chose to fund and what we did not, as well as the opportunities we pursued or missed.
Thank you for following along over these past few weeks. My office is always here to answer your questions or help you navigate state programs. Please don’t hesitate to reach out anytime.
I would also like to wish you and your loved ones an incredible Thanksgiving! I remain grateful representing you and continuing to have the opportunity to help and serve others, and I am thankful for your continued faith in me.