Harrisburg, Pennsylvania– Billions of dollars could soon begin flowing to Pennsylvania’s public schools and social services after months of delays, as lawmakers on Wednesday adopted a nearly $50 billion spending plan to break the state’s budget impasse.
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro was expected to sign major budget bills by the end of the day.
Compromising to help seal a deal would mean Democrats agreeing to Republican demands to roll back a regulation aimed at making Pennsylvania a state The only major fossil fuel producing country To force power plant owners to pay for the greenhouse gas emissions that cause the planet to warm.
Democrats will not get that amount of money Shapiro originally sought In his initial budget proposal, but the deal — after weeks of closed-door negotiations — is expected to provide significant new funds for public schools, as Democrats sought, as well as an earned income tax credit for low-income earners.
It will also bring relief that the stalemate has ended.
“The win is that, hopefully before the end of the day, we will have a funding plan for the commonwealth, and that is a win for everyone who has been waiting for state resources,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jordan Harris, D-Philadelphia, told reporters in the Capitol lobby on Wednesday morning.
Advanced votes in the politically divided Legislature arrive weeks after counties, school districts and social service agencies He warned of increasing layoffsBorrowing costs and the increasing damage to the country’s safety net.
School districts, rape crisis agencies, and county-run social services They went without state help Since July 1, when the state lost some of its spending authority without a signed state budget in effect.
The agreement to undo the regulation of carbon dioxide caps and trading in power plants comes six years after the then government’s approval. Tom Wolfe has made joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative a goal Centerpiece For his plan to combat climate change.
Wolf’s regulatory plan bypassed opposition Republican lawmakers in an attempt to make Pennsylvania — the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer — the only major fossil fuel-producing state to adopt a carbon cap-and-trade program.
I have It has not yet entered into force While the state Supreme Court is considering a legal challenge questioning whether the carbon pricing plan amounts to a tax and is therefore unconstitutional absent legislative approval.
The regulation’s supporters included environmentalists as well as solar, wind and nuclear power producers who called it an “environmental law.” The biggest step ever taken In Pennsylvania to fight climate change.
It was opposed by Republicans, fossil fuel interests and labor unions that work with pipelines, refineries and power plants, who warned that the cost would drive energy companies to other states to build new gas-fired power plants.
Shapiro was too He expressed his doubts about thisand The alternative plan he suggested It has yet to gain traction in the legislature.
Under the $50.1 billion budget agreement, new authorized spending would rise by about $2.4 billion, or 5%, including some cash going onto last year’s books.
Almost all of the overall increase in spending will go toward… Medicaid and Public schools.
Billions of dollars in surplus cash will be needed to balance the plan, marking the second year in a row that Pennsylvania has run a multi-billion-dollar budget shortfall.
The agreement also includes the state’s first refundable earned income tax credit, which reduces or eliminates state income tax for people who make less than a certain amount of money, depending on how many children they have. It’s something most other countries have on their books.
Pennsylvania’s plan is expected to cost about $200 million annually. If it had been in effect this year, the average qualifying family would have received an exemption of $650, lawmakers say.
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Follow Mark Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter.