The state House sent a proposed $53.3 billion budget for the coming fiscal year to the Senate on Tuesday — the earliest it has initially passed a spending plan in nearly a decade.
The plan passed this week by the Democratic-controlled House has virtually no chance of making it through the Republican-led Senate and to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk as-is. But lawmakers, who have failed to pass a budget on time in 14 of the past 22 years, are at least moving the budget process forward earlier than usual.
“I’m actually going to praise what I believe is the intent of the majority party at this time,” House Minority Leader Jesse Topper, R-Bedford County, said in remarks on the House floor.
While Topper ultimately voted against the proposed spending plan, he said, “I think the intent of the majority party is to show that there is a path for an on-time budget this year, and I appreciate that.”
Last year’s budget impasse dragged on for 135 days, stopping billions of dollars in state funding from flowing to schools, counties and nonprofits across Pennsylvania.
“What this shows is the Senate, as well as taxpayers and voters at home, know what the House is doing and what the House can pass. Now it’s up to the Senate to show us what they can pass,” House Appropriations Chairman Jordan Harris, D-Philadelphia, said in a phone interview.
The budget passed the House on a 107-94 vote, with support from all Democrats and five Republicans.
It was the earliest the House had initially approved a budget since April 4, 2017, when the then-GOP-controlled chamber advanced a $31.5 billion plan on a 114-84 vote. Lawmakers would ultimately agree on a $32 billion plan. Last year, the House first passed a proposed budget in mid-July — two weeks after the state’s constitutionally mandated June 30 deadline to adopt a spending plan. Lawmakers wouldn’t reach a final budget agreement until Nov. 12.
The plan approved this week in the House mirrors the record $53.3 billion budget proposed by Shapiro in February.
The governor’s plan proposed using nearly $4.6 billion, or more than half, of the state’s largest reserve fund to balance. It also factors in receiving new revenue from legalizing marijuana for adult recreational use and taxing and regulating video gaming terminals that have become ubiquitous at bars, convenience stores, fraternal clubs and elsewhere.
The Legislature has yet to reach agreements on those two measures.
“We continue to have profound concerns about the level of spending in the budget proposed by Gov. Shapiro and passed by the House,” Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman and Senate Appropriations Chairman Scott Martin said in a joint statement.
“Moving a budget plan forward is an important step in the budget process, but much work remains to reach a final agreement which respects taxpayers both now and in the future,” the senators added. “We will continue to fight for a more fiscally responsible spending plan.”
The Senate is back in session Monday.
