HARRISBURG – A negotiated, bipartisan $30.5 billion state budget was approved today by the state Senate and now is headed to the House of Representatives for its consideration, according to Sen. John N. Wozniak (D-Cambria/Bedford/Clearfield).
Wozniak, who voted in favor of the budget bill (Senate Bill 1073), said the spending plan offers significant investments in education, human service programs and job creation. The plan would also eliminate the $1.3 billion structural deficit that was left behind by the Corbett administration. It does not call for a broad-based tax to pay for the new investments.
The measure passed the Senate on a 43-7 vote. Wozniak offered the following comments about the budget bill that passed the Senate:
“The Senate budget bill serves as an excellent roadmap for the future. It addresses funding needs in education by making an historic investment of $460 million, restores critical job creation and economic development funds and clears a $1.3 billion structural deficit that has weighed-down state budgets and hobbled policy choices.
“This budget agreement builds a bridge to the future and creates opportunities for policy changes that will positively benefit citizens for years to come. The plan includes a 5 percent higher education funding boost for state system universities, community colleges and state-related institutions and it begins to restore county human services dollars that were cut.
“The budget is nearly six months overdue and it has taken too long for a bipartisan spending plan. Now that the Senate has passed this measure, I hope that the state House will consider the spending plan and bring the long budget impasse to an end.”
