​Governor Shapiro’s 2025 Budget Proposal

On Tuesday, February 4th, Governor Josh Shapiro proposed his third budget address.  The $51.5 billion proposal is a 7% increase from last year’s budget and utilizes $1.6 billion out of the $7 billion surplus within the Rainy-Day Fund and the $3 billion of leftover funds.

Shapiro highlighted many of his accomplishments, including licensing reform, permit fast-tracking, Main Street funding, and industrial site expansion. He even mentioned that Site Selector Magazine named Pennsylvania the top state in the Northeast for economic competitiveness.
 
The Governor proposes accelerating the Corporate Net Income Tax reduction by 24 months but closing the Delaware Loophole. He also reiterated his new energy Lightning Plan, which he released before his Budget Address. The plan is a six-part package of legislation that attempts to “collectively cut carbon pollution, grow energy jobs, diversify Pennsylvania’s energy portfolio, and reduce costs on residents’ utility bills.”
 
The Governor asked the General Assembly to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, add $65 million in funds for innovation and life sciences, and spend approximately $20 million on hospital relief. Education was again a primary focus in his proposal, with an increase of $75 million in essential education funding and $40 million in special education funding.
 
The Governor gave his address to a joint Session of the Democrat-controlled House and Republican Senate, and Shapiro stated, “Despite all that change(d) in DC, the voters here in Pennsylvania returned a Republican-controlled state Senate and a Democratic-controlled state House – with the same margins – to continue working with me to get stuff done. The good people of Pennsylvania looked at all we’ve accomplished together and spoke clearly through their votes: Do more of that. Work together. Solve problems. Pass commonsense policies. To build on that progress. And go get more... stuff done.”
 
“We’ve done this work together,” Shapiro continued, “Each of the last two years, both Democrats and Republicans have voted for common sense budgets that solve real problems.”
 
Despite those comments, Republicans in the General Assembly criticized the plan as overspending and the cap-and-trade portion of his new energy plan, to name a few of their concerns. The next step for Governor Shapiro’s proposal is a series of hearings within the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, which will further review the plan before negotiations start in earnest with the Republican Senate and closely divided Democrat-controlled House to meet the constitutionally mandated June 30th deadline for the state to have a balanced budget. 
 
Please click here for more details on the proposal. A proposed budget line-item appropriation can also be accessed here.