Sen. Judy Ward: The message is clear – Pennsylvania is open for business!
HARRISBURG – Sen. Judy Ward (R-30) voted today to advance a bipartisan state budget plan that makes Pennsylvania’s economy more competitive, funds essential services, reforms our welfare system, and prevents a $1 billion tax on electricity.
The newly enacted budget, approved with strong majorities in both the Senate and the House, cuts nearly $1.4 billion in spending from the governor’s original proposal and incentivizes job growth across the commonwealth by implementing key reforms to the permitting process and maintaining important tax cuts.
“While no budget is perfect, this budget package – which contains several important policy changes to promote economic growth and fund essential services – sends a clear message that Pennsylvania is open for business,” Ward said. “The budget we passed today will fund our schools and counties, while keeping energy costs low and reforming our welfare system. And we did all of this while not touching our Rainy Day Fund or raising taxes. The repeal of RGGI will prevent a disastrous cap-and-tax program from increasing energy bills across Pennsylvania, and the permitting reform measures will cut red tape and create a more business-friendly environment. This budget also continues to cut the Corporate Net Income Tax, to help make the commonwealth a destination for business.”
As part of the $50.1 billion budget agreement, the regulation mandating Pennsylvania’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) – a multi-state pact that would have added more than $1 billion dollars in new electricity taxes on Pennsylvania families and job creators – was eliminated.
In addition, critical reforms to Pennsylvania’s permitting process will make our state more competitive economically by requiring a wide variety of environmental permits to be deemed approved after a certain period, ensuring applicants know the time frame for consideration of their application and can appeal any permits that are denied.
Other key components of the budget include reforms to limit cost increases in human services programs; rebasing spending on some line items to reflect actual expenditures to use taxpayer dollars more efficiently; and protecting the state’s emergency Rainy Day Fund by slashing the governor’s proposed spending level and using approximately $3 billion in lapsed funding to fill budget gaps.
The budget continues policies championed by Senate Republicans to make Pennsylvania more competitive for business development and job growth, including continuing the phase-down of the Corporate Net Income Tax and preserving the increase to the Net Operating Loss deduction.
The agreement includes new money to promote student achievement and empower families, including an expansion of the state’s popular Educational Improvement Tax Credit program to support more school choice opportunities for families in disadvantaged schools.
CONTACT: Nathan Akers, 717-787-2421