Current:Home > StocksPennsylvania House passes legislation to complete overdue budget. Decisions now lie with the Senate -Wealth Legacy Solutions
Pennsylvania House passes legislation to complete overdue budget. Decisions now lie with the Senate
View
Date:2025-04-15 22:13:27
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats who control Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives are making another attempt to send hundreds of millions of dollars to four Pennsylvania universities and get around a partisan dispute that has delayed the money.
To get around the opposition, House Democrats shifted the money into a grant program in legislation whose approval, they say, requires only a simple majority vote. They passed the legislation by a 115-88 vote late Wednesday, with Republicans calling the effort unconstitutional.
The funding was part of a flurry of tying up loose ends for the state’s $45 billion budget, which has dragged three months into the fiscal year without all of the elements of the spending plan in place.
House Republicans predicted that the GOP-controlled Senate may give the efforts a chilly reception. Democrats waved off those concerns.
The universities — Penn State, Temple, the University of Pittsburgh and Lincoln University — are in line to receive about $643 million total, an increase of about 7% from last year. The universities are not state-owned, but receive state subsidies.
Traditionally, the schools have received hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars annually to subsidize the tuition of in-state students. The lawmakers have typically given approval through a two-thirds majority vote to satisfy a requirement in the state constitution for direct appropriations to the institutions. However, the money has been held up this year by Republican lawmakers objecting to the institutions’ tuition increases.
Without state aid, though, the universities have said it is difficult to keep tuition flat. Since July, the universities have had to plug the gap, and have planned their budgets around the prospect the funding would come through eventually.
Beyond the universities, Democrats are attempting to tie up loose ends that have left about $1 billion worth of funding in legislative limbo. Legislation also passed by the chamber late Wednesday night would allow funding to flow to a number of Democratic priorities, including home repair subsidies, adult mental health services and subsidies for public defenders.
Legislation for public schools would provide stipends for student teachers, give extra funding for the state’s poorest districts and produce ID kits should a child go missing.
It increases funding for tax credit scholarships by $150 million, money typically embraced by Republicans as it allows students to use public funds to attend private school. But on Wednesday, they chafed at measures introduced that Democrats say increase transparency to the program.
Republicans were rankled by the Democrats’ proposals.
“We have yet another legislative goodie bag. We have budget implementation language wrapped in a few special interest giveaways with one-sided Democratic caucus priorities in a behemoth bill to carry legislation that otherwise would not pass,” said Minority Leader Rep. Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster.
But House Democratic leadership called it an “honest attempt” to address the gaps left in the budget system.
“Yes, this is unorthodox, but this is the reality of governing in uncharted territory,” said Majority Leader Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery.
The bills now go on to the state Senate, which is due back Oct. 16.
__
Brooke Schultz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
veryGood! (26468)
Related
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- Dozens more former youth inmates sue over alleged sexual abuse at Illinois detention centers
- Northern lights in US were dim compared to 'last time mother nature showed off': What to know
- Watch local celebrity Oreo the bear steal snacks right out of resident's fridge
- Megan Fox's ex Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'
- Jeremy Renner's 'blessing': His miracle 'Mayor of Kingstown' return from near-death accident
- Let's (try to) end the debate: Does biweekly mean twice a week or twice a month?
- Climate solution: Massachusetts town experiments with community heating and cooling
- Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
- Florida Panthers return to Stanley Cup Final with Game 6 win against New York Rangers
Ranking
- Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
- Arizona tribe temporarily bans dances after police officer is fatally shot responding to disturbance
- Katy Perry Shares Fixed Version of Harrison Butker's Controversial Commencement Speech
- Massachusetts teacher on leave after holding mock slave auction, superintendent says
- Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
- Black bear found dead in plastic bag near walking trail in Washington, DC, suburb
- Stock splits: The strange exception where a lower stock price can be better for investors
- Shocking revelations from 'Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson' Lifetime documentary
Recommendation
Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
Bystanders help remove pilot from burning helicopter after crash in New Hampshire
Inside Shiloh's Decision to Remove Brad Pitt's Last Name and Keep Angelina Jolie's
Hour by hour: A brief timeline of the Allies’ June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of occupied France
Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
1 family hopes new law to protect children online prevents tragedies like theirs
World War II veterans travel to France to commemorate 80th anniversary of D-Day
World War II veteran awarded Pennsylvania high school diploma 2 days before his death at age 98