On Feb. 3, Gov. Josh Shapiro unveiled a $53.3 billion state budget proposal that would use emergency funds to boost basic and special education spending in identified underfunded public schools and to help Pennsylvanians affected by recent changes in federal Medicaid and nutrition programs.  Check here to track and see livestream of state budget hearings in the coming weeks.

The proposal preserves universal free school breakfast and the increases to the state’s major anti-hunger programs included in the late budget just passed in November, maintaining $30.688 million for the State Food Purchase Program (SFPP), which supports much of the food in our congregational and community pantries.

“We appreciate that the governor and General Assembly are tasked this year with protecting millions of Pennsylvanians by trying to fill a huge hole in the safety net caused by changes at the federal level,” said LAMPa Director Tracey DePasquale.  “We have a responsibility to make sure our local, state and federal policymakers know the real-life impact of these changes on people in their communities.  We will be looking to the ministries of our more than 1,000 congregations to tell share those stories.”  You can help. Send us a note to get started.

Again, Shapiro urged the General Assembly to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour from its current hourly rate of $7.25, saying it would not just help Pennsylvanians meet basic needs, but also save government spending on entitlement programs.

The state’s Independent Fiscal Office projects this year’s revenues to come in at $49 billion; hence, the governor’s request that the legislature dip into the state’s $7.8 billion Rainy Day Fund for the $4.6 billion difference, rather than increasing taxes.  To generate more revenue, Shapiro proposed regulating and taxing certain “games of skill,” and recreational cannibis, the latter of which his office estimates would generate approximately $200 million in annual revenues.

Shapiro addressed growing concerns, shared by LAMPa, about rapid development of data centers across the Commonwealth, particularly over energy demand, water consumption and transparency.  While embracing the potential for economic development, Shapiro acknowledged a need for better regulation and called on the legislature to support it. He announced the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development standards, or GRID,  that would set conditions for state support of large data center projects.

Under the proposal, developers would have to commit to their own power generation or “paying entirely for the new generation they’ll need and not saddling homeowners and businesses with added costs because of their development,” Shapiro said.  Further, they will have to commit to strict transparency standards and community engagement, hire and train local workers, enter into community benefit agreements that support the communities that host them, and commit “to the highest standards of environmental protection, especially water conservation.” In return, they would receive “speed and certainty in permitting and available tax credits.”  Interested in working with LAMPa advocates on this topic? 

The governor’s budget would also increase funding for public safety and emergency preparedness, adding funds to train approximately 250 new state police troopers as well as increasing support for the Violence Intervention and Prevention Program, which LAMPa advocates supported.  He credited investments in the program with reducing violent crime statewide by 12 percent and fatal gun violence by 42 percent and helping Pittsburgh and Philadelphia achieve “the fewest homicides in decades” last year.

His budget also doubles state spending on emergency preparedness and response for a total $40 million — a result of federal cost shift to the states, Shapiro said.