Governor Josh Shapiro gave his yearly budget address in Harrisburg Tuesday, focusing on his priorities for the upcoming year.
The $53.2 billion budget represents an increase from this year’s $50.1 billion budget, which was not agreed upon until November.
In his budget the Governor proposed items that have been common goals since he took office, such as raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, legalizing recreational cannabis use, and regulating video gaming terminals. Shapiro’s belief is that this will bring in new revenue.
In terms of new spending, Shapiro wants to create the Pennsylvania Program for Critical Infrastructure Investment, which would be a $1 billion initiative with funds raised through general obligation bonds and placed into the Capital Facilities Fund.
The budget also included expanding the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Enhancement fund by creating a housing action plan. But no dollar amounts have been accredited to this expansion.
Shapiro will look to ease energy regulations and tax credit requirements to help meet the growing demand and expanding market.
The Governor also highlighted the need for increased higher education funding such as $30 million for performance-based funding for state-related universities and additional $5.9 million for the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA).
Along with higher education the budget also calls for increases for the student teacher stipend by $5 million for $35 million annually.
The budget also would raise the Child and Dependent Care Enhancement Tax Credit, raising the state match from 30 to 100 percent of the federal credit.
The governor also proposed modernize ring services in Pennsylvania with increases of $3 million to modernize PA Link, Pennsylvania’s Aging and Disability Resource Center network, $658,000 to expand call-taker staffing and additional training for the ChildLine hotline, and increases
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