At a Sunday evening ceremony in Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed a $50.8 billion state budget for next fiscal year.
The spending package was approved 12 days after the deadline set in the state constitution and was tardy for the fifth consecutive year.
The governor originally proposed a $53.3 billion package, but Senate Republicans cut more than $1.1 billion from the governor’s spending proposal that would not require any payments from the state’s Rainy Day Fund.
“This is the fourth year in a row that, despite working with one of the few divided legislatures in the country where there are truly deep differences, we have stayed at the table and brought Democrats and Republicans together again to get things done,” Shapiro said.
“Pennsylvania is growing because of our work together. We have the only growing economy in the Northeast, and last week we jumped four places in CNBC’s ‘Best States for Business’ rankings – Pennsylvania’s highest ranking in 15 years – and working with the private sector, we have created more jobs than all but two states in the entire country.” As Democrats and Republicans said today, we have an extremely powerful fiscal position here in Pennsylvania.
“But this budget is more than just a bunch of numbers on a spreadsheet,” the governor continued. “It also provides common sense solutions to real problems facing Pennsylvanians. As I said at the beginning, I knew there would have to be compromises. But as we stuck with it and pursued the best possible compromise, there are a lot of bad things that would hurt Pennsylvanians that we didn’t discuss.”
“I promised to throw open the doors of opportunity for every Pennsylvanian who chooses to walk through them – and I’m proud to do that work every day alongside you. This budget continues that progress.”
Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Austin Davis concluded that the budget is a true bipartisan compromise.
“This is a strong budget that will continue to grow our economy, creating ladders of opportunity and making life a little more affordable for Pennsylvania families and seniors,” he said at the signing ceremony.
Senate President pro tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) said her caucus aims to strengthen the Commonwealth’s financial position.
“The Senate Republican Caucus has worked hard to protect Pennsylvanians’ wallets by avoiding tax increases and identifying more than $4.5 billion in unused funds for reallocation,” Ward said. “Senate Republicans fought to invest in the most vulnerable, increasing funding for nursing homes and child care enrollment, and providing long-overdue cost-of-living adjustments for police officers, firefighters and teachers who retired before July 2, 2001.
“It is important for Pennsylvanians to understand that House Democrats stormed Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget, which all but guaranteed a $2,000 tax increase for Pennsylvania families because the Democrats’ budget was unbalanced. We are pleased that Governor Shapiro and House Democrats finally understand that affordability means respecting the taxpayers who foot our bills by giving money back to hard-working Pennsylvanians.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives Joanna McClinton (Delaware/Philadelphia) expressed pride that this budget makes significant investments in our schools, public safety, health care and affordable housing.
“At a time when federal action has made life harder through deep cuts to programs and policies that have raised costs, in Pennsylvania we continue to provide help to every family, senior and child,” McClinton said.
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Armstrong/Indiana/Jefferson/Westmoreland) said he was proud of the product Republicans delivered.
“The 2026-2027 state budget is an imperfectly good plan that will keep Pennsylvania on a promising path into the future,” Pittman said. “Our Senate Republican Caucus protected Commonwealth taxpayers and kept the Rainy Day Fund intact. Through tremendous hard work, we identified and pulled $1.5 billion out of the red tape to balance this budget. The ultimate long-term solutions to our budget challenges are economic opportunity and economic growth. I am proud that the agreement includes numerous policies to support families, invest in our local communities and support needed economic growth.”
Majority Appropriations Chairman Jordan A. Harris (Philadelphia) stated that interested parties listened to its views and concerns throughout the negotiations.
“Throughout this process, we listened to Pennsylvanians, heard their concerns, and today we accomplished our goal. We delivered a budget that continues our investments in public education, maintains health care assistance without cuts, protects food assistance, supports seniors and veterans, and advances housing and public safety reforms without raising taxes on Pennsylvania families,” Harris said.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Scott Martin (R-Berks/Lancaster) said Republicans’ top priorities are protecting the state’s fiscal stability and ensuring the commonwealth grows.
“Senate Republicans achieved all of these goals in this budget,” Martin said. “We certainly have much work to do in the coming years to maintain fiscal responsibility, but I am grateful that we have identified numerous improvements to the spending plan unveiled by Governor Shapiro in February so that we can strengthen our economy with pro-growth policies that will build a stronger future.”
Senate Minority Appropriations Chairman Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia) stated that Pennsylvanians were at the forefront during the negotiations.
“This budget takes Pennsylvanians, their needs and their concerns into consideration,” Hughes said. “There are no new taxes and they continue to cut taxes. There is an affordability crisis in this budget. Our work is not done, but let’s take this matter to the governor.”
Pennsylvania House Republican Party Leader Jesse Topper (R-Bedford/Fulton) said the state must utilize the tools at its disposal to create an investment-friendly environment while getting government out of the way.”
“The budget passed by the General Assembly today continues our recent history of scouring every corner of state government for existing taxpayer dollars to avoid tax increases, cuts to government services or the use of the Commonwealth’s Rainy Day Fund,” Topper said.
Andrew Lewispresident and CEO of The Commonwealth Foundation, said lawmakers were able to protect themselves from some of Gov. Shapiro’s worst fiscal policies.
“This budget further addresses Pennsylvania’s fiscal problems,” Lewis said in a statement. “While lawmakers rightly rejected more than $1 billion of reckless spending by Governor Shapiro and preserved the Rainy Day Fund, this deal spends beyond the state’s means and ignores the structural deficit that threatens taxpayers and the commonwealth’s long-term fiscal health. Pennsylvania doesn’t have a funding problem – it has a spending problem.”
Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry Łukasz Bernstein thanked Shapiro and the General Assembly for enabling the Commonwealth to compete more effectively for jobs, capital investment and economic growth.
“State budgets provide an opportunity to increase Pennsylvania’s competitiveness, and we appreciate the elements of this budget that continue the Commonwealth’s commitment to improving the business climate,” Bernstein said in a statement. “Our improved tax climate, bipartisan permitting reform and other pro-growth measures introduced in recent years have catalysed billions of dollars in private sector investment across the Commonwealth, and we must continue to advance Pennsylvania’s competitiveness agenda to reach its full potential. Economic growth remains the most effective path to strengthening both Pennsylvania’s fiscal health and its future competitiveness.”
