Harrisburg, PA – Today, Governor Josh Shapiro delivered his 2026-27 Budget Address to the General Assembly and to the people of Pennsylvania.
Governor Shapiro's 2026-27 Budget Address as Prepared for Delivery:
Lieutenant Governor Davis, Speaker McClinton, President Pro Tem Ward –
Leader Bradford, Leader Pittman, Leader Topper, and Leader Costa –
Thank you for giving me the honor of addressing another joint session of this General Assembly as your Governor.
Before I begin, I want to recognize my outstanding cabinet and senior team, led by Dana Fritz, who I have the privilege of working alongside every day to move our Commonwealth forward.
I’m proud that my dad, Dr. Steve Shapiro, and my inlaws Ellie and John, are here with us today — and I especially want to welcome Lori, the love of my life and Pennsylvania’s First Lady.
To the Senators and Representatives gathered here, thank you for your service.
And to our fellow Pennsylvanians who entrust us to do this work and join us today, welcome.
At the beginning of every year, we convene in this beautiful Chamber to begin our work together.
And this year — as I lay out my vision to build on the progress we’ve made — I want you to know that I am just as motivated today as the day I started.
I’m humbled by the history that walks these halls where we are blessed to work.
The eyes of history are literally looking down on all of us today, as the great Apotheosis of Pennsylvania reminds us.
Painted into the rock just above where the Speaker sits and serving as the foundation for the temple above me is a passage from Deuteronomy:
“Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father and he shall show thee, thy elders, and they will tell thee.”
I recall as a young State Representative looking up at this mural and seeing the likes of Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Thaddeus Stevens.
These are our elders and their example should guide and inspire us.
Men like Franklin and Paine and others gathered in Philadelphia 250 years ago to begin this grand experiment in the greatest system of governance the world has ever seen.
And that work has been passed on from generation to generation.
But I’m not just inspired by our history, I’m inspired by the stories I hear from Pennsylvanians each day as we consider the years of many generations yet to come — and the Commonwealth we will leave behind for them.
These are the people that give us our direction.
The people I listen to.
And the people for whom I’m hungry to continue making a difference — this year… and for many more years to come.
Because I know government can be a productive force for good in people’s lives.
I know because I’ve seen it over the past three years.
Our kids are getting a better quality education, our workers have more opportunities to chart their own course, our economy is growing, and our communities are safer.
We’ve done that work, together.
And we’ve done it in a way that shows we respect all people — no matter what you look like, where you come from, who you love, or who you pray to, or choose not to pray to.
We’ve increased funding for education by nearly 30 percent.
We’ve expanded vo-tech, CTE, and apprenticeships to open new pathways of opportunity.
School attendance is up, graduation rates are up, and more young people are finding their passion in the trades.
For 31 straight months, our unemployment rate has remained lower than the national rate.
It’s a point of pride that we have more young farmers under the age of 35 than any other state in the nation.
We’re producing more energy today than ever before — 240 million megawatts — because our all-of-the-above energy strategy is working.
Since we last gathered, we landed the largest private sector investment in the history of our Commonwealth in Luzerne and Bucks counties.
And just last Friday, we won the biggest life sciences deal in Pennsylvania history and the largest economic development deal ever in the Lehigh Valley.
We now have the only state economy in the Northeast that’s actually growing, according to Moody’s.
And Forbes rated us one of the best states in the country to start a business.
The investments we’ve made are paying off — our economy is growing and in the first seven months of this fiscal year, we’ve collected $417 million more in revenue than estimated.
Our bond rating has gone up not once but twice, resulting in taxpayer savings of more than $200 million.
What we’re doing, together, is working.
We’re solving problems and getting stuff done to improve people’s lives.
And Pennsylvania is on the rise.
Here’s another problem we’re tackling head on, together — public safety.
Over the last three years, we’ve funded nearly 2,000 more cops on the beat and expanded afterschool programs and violence intervention initiatives centered in our communities.
As a result, violent crime is down 12 percent — and fatal gun violence is down 42 percent.
And last year, Philly and Pittsburgh experienced the fewest homicides in decades!
We’re building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
I’m the former chief law enforcement officer of this Commonwealth — I know what it takes to make our communities safer…
…And so does Captain Tom Lenox from the Erie Police Department, who joins us here today.
Captain Lenox leads Erie’s Police Athletic League, where he helps coach and mentor 1700 young people from the community.
He gets to know these kids and is a real source of inspiration for them.
We need more of that in our Commonwealth, so let’s continue our work together by funding another four classes of PSP troopers and increasing our commitment to violence prevention rooted in our communities.
Lieutenant Governor Davis leads the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, and he’s been strategic in driving $97 million out to Erie’s PAL and other violence prevention organizations.
And it’s working.
We’ve more than doubled state funding for these initiatives.
This year, we’re building on that progress by further increasing that funding and expanding afterschool programs through the LG’s BOOST initiative.
And consider this, dollar for dollar, we’ve invested just as much in violence prevention as we have in training new PSP troopers under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens.
Because we know our two-pronged approach is the smart way to ensure public safety.
But while we here in the Commonwealth, Democrats and Republicans alike, have worked together to make our communities safer —
We’ve had to beat back attempts from our federal government to undermine that progress.
When the Trump Administration cut $18 million for homeland security funding — money that PEMA Director Randy Padfield and our local communities use to detect threats and keep people safe — I went to court to protect Pennsylvanians.
And we won.
But understand, this isn’t an ideological fight — it’s about making sure Pennsylvanians get back what they are owed.
You see, Pennsylvanians pay $158 billion in federal taxes every year — and we expect to get something for that money.
And the federal government hasn’t just tried to unlawfully withhold funding for public safety — they’ve also tried to do that with dollars for plugging abandoned wells, providing health care for rural communities, improving school infrastructure, and even providing food benefits through SNAP.
They’re breaking the compact they made with the people of Pennsylvania.
That’s why I took them to court 19 times and won each time — bringing billions back to our Commonwealth.
I know this is uncomfortable for some of you in this room to hear.
But now is a time when we need to stand up together for our Commonwealth — and be prepared should they try to take away more of what is owed to us.
That’s why I’m proposing to create a Federal Response Fund seeded with $100 million to help mitigate any future actions — or inactions — by the federal government that threaten services Pennsylvanians rely on.
Remember, we’re here today talking about one-third of what the state spends — our discretionary budget.
But another 40 percent comes from the federal government.
We need to prepare ourselves should they continue to walk away from those commitments.
I sit on the Council of Governors — a group of 10 Governors: 5 Democrats and 5 Republicans.
In fact, I was appointed by President Trump.
In our conversations, the federal government has made clear they want to shift the cost burden for emergency preparedness and response to the states.
Which is why our state fund is so needed right now.
In addition, we have to keep investing in our first responders.
These guys and their teams literally dive into frozen lakes and run into burning buildings to keep us safe.
I’ve borne witness to that.
Today we’re joined by one of these heroes — Lieutenant Jeremy Warmkessel of the Allentown Fire Department.
The historic firehouse they work out of is 100 years old.
It’s the largest and busiest in the city — but the walls are literally falling down and the heat often doesn’t work.
The Commonwealth already provides some funding for fire companies under the leadership of Commissioner Cook, but the current system doesn’t allow them to make major investments like repairing a building.
$30 million in competitive grants would change that — and give Allentown the opportunity to upgrade this firehouse.
Public safety is at the heart of our work as elected leaders — and if our communities are safe, we provide a strong foundation for real growth.
I hope you’ll join me in standing with our first responders to make these investments.
A safe community is a critical ingredient for economic growth.
On my watch, we’ve experienced record economic growth.
In just three years, we’ve created over 21,500 jobs and secured over $39 billion in private sector investment — more than the previous 15 years, combined.
Remember when I said we’ve collected $417 million more in revenue than we projected — this is a big reason why.
On Friday, I was in the Lehigh Valley where Eli Lilly —the most valuable pharmaceutical company in the world — announced they’re investing $3.5 billion to build a state-of-the-art manufacturing hub and create nearly 3,000 jobs.
We couldn’t even compete for that kind of deal a few years ago — but now we’re winning them.
Because we have a plan, we have resources to back it up, and we are moving with speed.
This is a testament to all of us coming together and prioritizing economic development under the extraordinary leadership of Secretary Rick Siger.
We’re seeing the results all across our Commonwealth.
In Lancaster County, where Eurofins is creating the largest biomedical testing laboratory in the world…
In Erie County, where Colton and Zack Troyer — 4th generation potato farmers — are developing a new brand of organic potato products and creating 50 local manufacturing jobs…
And in Beaver County, where Mitsubishi Electric Power Products is building a factory and creating 200 new jobs to help manufacture critical components that go into power plants and industrial sites.
And you know what, we won that Mitsubishi deal over friggin’ Ohio.
I'm pleased to see so many chamber leaders and CEOs joining us here today because they know what we're doing is working.
They know we’re focused on targeted investments in our small businesses, our main streets, our downtown centers, our rural communities and our suburban office parks.
And they know we’re cutting taxes — not raising them.
And while we’ve made great strides — we’ve got a lot more to do.
Like making sure everyone has a way to get to work.
Whether that’s on a rural road or over a suburban bridge — or yes, whether that’s on mass transit.
Last year, Secretary Carroll and I stepped in to provide a bridge for our two largest transit systems for two years.
This budget calls for sustainable, recurring funding for mass transit to begin in 2027.
I bought us two years — but we have to keep working at this, because this isn’t a problem we can ignore.
Mass transit helps drive our economy — this is an issue of economic competitiveness.
You know I’m competitive as hell — and I want to win.
And to win, we need to innovate.
We’ve always been a hub of innovation since the days of Ben Franklin.
That’s why, as Secretary Russell Redding knows, having the only Ag Innovation fund in the country has been so successful — funding 88 projects in 45 counties and giving farmers the tools they need to succeed and grow.
Let’s learn from that experience and build on our success by creating Innovate In PA 2.0 to support our startups and help them grow too.
This isn’t a new idea but we have a chance to make it even better.
Back in 2013 under a Republican Governor, this body launched the Innovation fund — seeded with $100 million in tax credits.
A Democratic state senator sponsored it and 99 percent of Republicans in the House and Senate voted for it.
Let’s fund that again — and be even more targeted, using those dollars to provide capital for promising start-ups, fund clinical trials for the life sciences, and develop a workforce and education pipeline to help these companies succeed.
This works!
Jake Loosararian received $10,000 in seed funding from our Commonwealth for Gecko Robotics and turned it into a $1 billion company based in Pittsburgh, with hundreds of employees.
Our support for Gilson Snow helped them become one of the hottest snowboard manufacturers in the United States — and provided a new market for our Pennsylvania hardwoods.
We know the need is there and this seed capital can help.
Pennsylvanians are innovators.
We’ve got to believe in that potential, and invest in it.
When it comes to innovation, no sector of our country’s economy is growing faster than data centers and artificial intelligence.
The United States is locked in a battle for AI supremacy against China.
I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather the future be controlled by the United States of America, and not communist China.
Pennsylvania is well-positioned to play a leading role in that effort.
We are the second largest energy producer in the country.
We have leading researchers in AI and machine learning at Penn State, CMU, and Penn and elsewhere.
We have the talent and we’re already investing in the workforce needed to build, maintain, and operate these facilities.
And under my Administration, we are delivering the speed and certainty in our permitting process these massive projects require thanks to the work of Ben Kirshner and the Office of Transformation and Opportunity.
It’s no wonder why, last summer, Amazon chose to invest $20 billion in our Commonwealth — the largest investment in our history.
At the same time, we need to be selective about the projects that get built here.
I know Pennsylvanians have real concerns about these data centers and the impact they could have on our communities, our utility bills, and our environment.
And so do I.
So today I’m announcing GRID — the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development standards —
Developed by my Administration, in consultation with the community, to hold data center developers accountable to strict standards if they want our full support.
Let me explain —
First, developers must commit to bringing 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.
Second, developers must commit to strict transparency standards and direct community engagement.
Too many of these projects have been shrouded in secrecy, with local communities left in the dark about who is coming in and what they’re building.
That needs to change.
Third, these projects need to hire and train local workers.
They need to enter into community benefit agreements that fund important local priorities and support the towns that host them.
And fourth, they must commit to the highest standards of environmental protection, especially water conservation.
If companies adhere to these principles, they will unlock benefits from the Commonwealth, including speed and certainty in permitting and available tax credits.
I know everyone in this room wants to see our economy grow and create more jobs and more opportunity.
But I also know this is uncharted territory —
So let’s come together, codify these principles, and take advantage of this opportunity.
We can play a leading role in winning the battle for AI supremacy — but we have to do it in a way that puts the good people of Pennsylvania first.
The tools these data centers enable are really powerful.
They’ve made their way into businesses, hospitals, and also into the hands of our kids.
Today, new technologies are allowing students to be creative, build worlds, and explore their own power to innovate and problem solve.
We want to encourage them to do that — but we’ve got to ensure they’re safe and protected.
Because these new technologies also present a host of new risks.
Here’s one example —
AI companion bots are proliferating across the internet.
You can go on the app store right now and download one, complete with a bot who will have a full conversation with you.
For kids who are lonely, or having a hard time, it can feel easier to turn to one of these apps for advice than to a real life friend or parent or teacher.
30 percent of teens report using an AI chatbot every day.
But this space is entirely unregulated and there are no protections.
You can find bots that will tell you they’re real people.
Some will tell you they’re real doctors and give out medical advice — we’ve even discovered bots that say they’re licensed to practice medicine in Pennsylvania!
That’s dangerous — and I would argue, illegal.
I’ve directed the departments of State and Health, the Pennsylvania State Police, and my Office of General Counsel to explore all legal options to hold the developers of these apps accountable.
But it’s not just our kids — these chatbots and the companies behind them are preying on our seniors and those who are most vulnerable, and even encouraging them to engage in self-harm.
While my Administration will take action to protect our kids and seniors and other vulnerable members of our society, we need to put real safeguards in place.
So I’m asking all of you to come together in a bipartisan manner to put commonsense protections in place.
Here’s a few things we should do right away:
Let’s require age verification and parental consent, because some kids are just too young to understand the difference between AI and a real person.
Let’s require these companies to detect when children mention self harm or violence against others and immediately direct them to the appropriate authorities.
Let’s force these companies to periodically remind users that there’s not another human being on the other side of the screen.
And let’s prohibit AI chatbots from producing sexually explicit or violent content featuring kids.
This space is evolving rapidly. We need to act quickly to protect our kids.
And look, this General Assembly has a track record of looking out for our kids.
We’ve invested a record amount of money in public education, and created a brand-new formula that drives that money out to the schools that need it most.
And we pledged to keep doing it until we meet our obligation set forth in Article 3, Section 14 of our state Constitution, which guarantees every Pennsylvanian access to a “thorough and efficient system of public education.”
As a result of the investments we’ve made so far, and, thanks to Dr. Rowe and her team at the Department of Education, schools have served more than 224 million free breakfasts.
3,000 more students are enrolled in career and technical education courses.
The number of new teacher certifications is increasing, after more than a decade of decline.
Regular attendance and graduation rates are up.
And Consumer Affairs now ranks us as one of the top states for quality public education in the entire country.
This budget proposal builds on that progress.
It again increases our investment in basic education — and special education.
At a time when there are people attacking those with special needs, we are investing in them, respecting them, and believing in their potential.
I want to thank you for the bipartisan consensus we have here in Pennsylvania to do that.
This budget again directs $565 million more to the schools that need it most through the new adequacy formula we created together.
And it builds on the work we started last year to reform our cyber charter system — bringing savings for public schools up to $250 million this year.
We’ve funded mental health services in nearly 800 schools — and helped hire more than 200 new mental health counselors for our students.
This budget will allow even more schools to follow their lead — and my plan expands on that work even further by ensuring those dollars can also be used to hire substance use disorder counselors.
I was in Tunkhannock the other day with Secretary Bogen and Secretary Davis-Jones, hearing from professionals on this — and we’re delivering.
Supporting our kids means investing more dollars in our schools and also ensuring they have a healthy, productive learning environment.
One way to do that is to get the distraction of cell phones out of their classrooms.
I am calling on you to put a bill on my desk to ban cell phones while kids are in school.
I know there are bills in both chambers to do this — come together and send a bill to my desk.
Students need to spend less time focused on their phones and more time focused on learning, on talking to their friends face to face, and on developing the critical skills they’ll need later in life.
Here’s another thing we can do to strengthen student wellbeing.
Let’s give students the opportunity to take a break during the day, and get some exercise if they’re able.
To clear their heads, and not feel the pressure of being in a classroom for 5 or 6 hours in a row.
I’ve directed the State Board of Education to develop recommendations for schools to guarantee recess for our students.
I made a promise three years ago to put two parents on the state board of education.
We’ve done that.
Tre Hadrick and Kathy Christiano join us here today.
Thank you for your important work and thank you for finding ways to bring recess into our classrooms.
Recess isn’t just an extra block on the schedule.
I would argue it’s just as critical as learning math, science, and English.
It’s fundamental to kids' growth, and their ability to interact with one another, play together, and learn to settle disputes.
I’ve heard about the need for recess from teachers, but more importantly from students who are asking for ways to develop these life skills.
These are foundational skills no matter which path they choose after high school.
For those who choose to go to college, we came together to make the first significant progress on higher education in 30 years.
We should be proud of that work.
Together, we created the Commonwealth’s first ever State Board of Higher Education and that board is developing a strategic plan for higher education in Pennsylvania.
We also created the Performance-Based Funding Council, which established a formula to deliver new funding to Pitt, Penn State, and Temple.
That formula drives more dollars out to the universities based on things like how many of their students graduate, how many degrees they grant for in-demand careers, and how many transfer students they accept from community colleges.
We’ve got this important tool in place. We established the metrics. Now it’s time to fund it.
We need to invest in higher education to grow our workforce — but as you’ve heard me say, college isn’t the only path to success.
Some Pennsylvanians will find success by joining the military.
Some will serve right here in our Commonwealth by joining the Pennsylvania National Guard, and I want to welcome Adjutant General Pippy here today and thank him — and all 17,000 servicemembers for their dedication to our Commonwealth and our country.
Some Pennsylvanians will enter the workforce after high school and begin building their career right away.
Some will enroll in an apprenticeship and join the Trades.
And some, after spending time in the workforce, will go back to school to learn new skills and further their career.
We’ve shown that we respect all paths to success, and invested in each of them.
We increased our investment in vo-tech, CTE, and apprenticeship programs by 50 percent compared to when I took office!
As a result, we have thousands more students taking CTE classes —
We’ve registered 231 new pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships —
And more than 39,000 Pennsylvanians have participated in an apprenticeship during my time as your Governor, in fields ranging from welding to nursing to dairy herd management.
Those investments are making a meaningful difference, creating more pathways of opportunity.
Pennsylvanians like Juana Caudillo Savala, who started charting her course at the Reading Muhlenberg CTC back in high school.
She discovered a love for engineering and went on to earn degrees from Thaddeus Stevens and Penn State Berks.
She now works as an engineering technician — all because she had the opportunity to go to a CTC back in high school.
Juana is home with her newborn baby watching on the livestream.
Juana, we’re very proud of you.
I want to help more Pennsylvanians chart their own course like Juana did.
Because there’s still more demand for these classes — more and more students see themselves working alongside electricians like Rob Bair and other members of the skilled trades.
That’s why we need to increase CTE funding by another $18 million this year, bringing our total investment to over $200 million.
And while we increase our investment, let’s also cut red tape for CTE students so they don’t have to repeat classes that they’ve already taken as part of their gen eds.
Together, we can make it easier for kids taking CTE classes to graduate with all the credits they need.
I’ve seen that look on a young person’s face when they discover the thrill of being a beautician, or that sense of purpose when they realize they want to become a chef.
Let’s give more students that opportunity.
The way for Pennsylvania to continue to be competitive is to provide the skills and the training we need right now given our demographic challenges.
Today, our kindergarten classes are 26 percent smaller than our high school graduating classes.
With fewer students going through the pipeline, we have to be hyperfocused on outcomes and giving them the skills they need.
And we can’t lose sight of the fact that there are literally hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians who could be added to the workforce, if we take care to give them the tools to succeed.
Take the 614,000 Pennsylvania adults who don’t have a high school degree, for example.
That’s a ton of untapped potential.
Right now, almost 7,500 Pennsylvanians are sitting on a waiting list to get into adult education initiatives that lead to their GED.
And the need is all across our Commonwealth.
In fact, at the Luzerne County Community College alone, there are 700 people on the waitlist.
There are Pennsylvanians who want to advance their careers — but need help developing the reading, writing, and math skills most jobs require.
We can provide that help — and by investing just $2.5 million, we can get them off the waitlist and help them get into our workforce.
There’s another group with untapped potential, and not enough people appreciate what they have to offer — Pennsylvanians with disabilities.
Lori and I care deeply about making sure Pennsylvanians with disabilities find jobs and the companies that hire them find great value in the work they do.
We recognize the unique strengths they bring to our communities — that’s why we’ve taken care to support 76,000 workers with disabilities through our Office of Vocational Rehabilitation under the leadership of Secretary Walker.
Lori has met with CEOs from 20 Pennsylvania companies to discuss the benefits of hiring people of all abilities.
Each of them agreed and this budget invests more in the work OVR does.
Another way we can grow our workforce is by making sure people have the basic necessities of life.
Think about it — it’s almost impossible to hold down a job if you’re worried about where you’re going to sleep that night or where your next meal will come from.
That’s where our Investments in Health Initiative comes in.
For the last three years, led by Secretary Arkoosh, we’ve been working with our federal partners on an initiative to ensure those basic needs are met.
We won their approval to use federal Medicaid dollars for this pilot program.
Even Dr. Oz expressed his support for our initiative.
Our pilot has the potential to save our Commonwealth millions of dollars — and the best part is, the upfront cost is very little.
In fact, for less than $3 million we’ll be able to access more than double that in federal funding and potentially save millions of dollars — and expand our workforce.
We’re also making targeted investments to address some of our critical workforce shortages.
Let me give you an example.
Last year, we all identified a problem — we don’t have enough child care workers, and that’s because we don’t pay them enough.
So we came together to create the first state-funded Child Care Recruitment and Retention grant in Pennsylvania history.
We gave $450 to 55,000 child care workers across our Commonwealth — and showed them the respect they deserve.
People like Leah Lisowski, a teacher at Riverview Children’s Center in Allegheny County, who I met in December.
Leah has spent more than 20 years in this field.
It’s a passion for her.
And this bonus will help her and child care workers like her keep doing this vital work.
We’ve already received more than 4,300 applications from child care centers to pay their workers and recruit more.
The demand is overwhelming.
So this budget doubles down on that work, and includes an additional $10 million to raise that recruitment and retention bonus from $450 to $630.
More money in the pockets of our child care workers — and more available child care for Pennsylvania families.
As our kids get older, the need for well-trained, high quality professionals doesn’t end.
We also need more early childhood educators and pre-K teachers — kind, gentle souls who want to get our kids started on the right path but who have been paid too little for too long.
This budget delivers for them.
And as our kids enter the K-12 system, we will ensure there are more well-trained teachers there to meet them.
Three years ago, we came together in a bipartisan manner to create student-teacher stipends.
Because if you’re working full-time as part of your training to become a teacher, you should get paid for that.
In our first year, we invested in 2,000 aspiring educators.
People like Hallie Sill, who joins us here today.
She’s a teacher I literally ran into at Susquehanna Township High School, who got this stipend right before she graduated from Pitt, which led her into the classroom.
And she came here to Harrisburg to help advocate for more students to get it.
We need more Hallies in our classrooms, so let’s increase our commitment to this initiative that we know works.
As she and the other 2,000 student teachers show — if we put more money in people’s pockets, we can get them into the jobs they love.
You know how else we can put money in people’s pockets?
By finally raising the minimum wage.
Our minimum wage in Pennsylvania has been stuck at $7.25/hour for the last 16 years.
In that time, every single one of our neighboring states has raised the wage for their workers.
Four of our 6 neighbors are at $15 or more.
Ohio is on their way to $15.
Even West Virginia is ahead of us.
The House of Representatives has passed legislation to increase our minimum wage twice.
And each time, the Senate refused to act.
As Senator Tartaglione will tell you from the floor of the Senate later today, it’s been 7,150 days since Pennsylvania last passed legislation to raise the minimum wage.
That’s hurting over half a million workers who are still making less than $15/hour.
But you know what — clearly those arguments haven’t convinced our friends in the Senate to act over the last decade and a half.
So let me give you one more reason why we need to do this.
Because raising the minimum wage to $15/hour will save this Commonwealth $300 million a year on entitlement programs like Medicaid.
Not by adding arbitrary and cumbersome requirements that push people who still need help off the rolls but by literally raising the wages of nearly 61,000 people who currently rely on Medicaid and make less than $15/hour.
We can put more money in their pockets so they don’t need Medicaid anymore.
Listen.
If you aren’t going to do this because it’s the right thing to do…
Or because it would let more families put food on the table for their kids…
Then do it because it’s going to save us $300 million and shrink our entitlement budget by growing our workforce and putting more money back in our workers’ pockets.
I’m calling on lawmakers to put a minimum wage bill on my desk.
Whether you’re earning minimum wage or not — we see too many arbitrary barriers for people trying to get into our workforce.
My Administration has led the way on fixing this.
On my first day in office, I signed an Executive Order doing away with the college degree requirement for state government jobs.
We tore down that wall that had been erected over time, and instead built a bridge to opportunity.
Since then, nearly 60 percent of our new hires don’t have a college degree.
But it isn’t just Commonwealth employees who are benefitting from our focus on breaking down barriers — it’s everyone who needs a license, permit, or certification from the Commonwealth to practice their craft.
Let me give you some examples.
The Department of State under Secretary Schmidt’s leadership oversees 29 licensing boards that confer 170 different licenses.
When I took office, the processing time for many of these licenses was too damn slow.
It took 25 days for a nurse to get their license three years ago.
Today, it takes just six days.
For pharmacists, the wait was 26 days — now it takes just a day.
New barbers used to wait 12 days to get their license — now, they get that license the same day they apply for it.
Think about it, I talked to my barber, who cuts 12 heads a day.
At $20 a pop, an extra 12 days waiting for his license would cost him 2,880 bucks.
This is money back in Pennsylvanians’ pockets.
But there’s still too much red tape getting in the way.
For example, a barber in New Jersey needs to complete 900 hours of training to get their license.
But if they want to get their license here in Pennsylvania, state law requires them to complete 1,250 hours of training.
A pharmacist in Maryland needs to complete 1,000 hours — but for that same position here in the Commonwealth, our regulations require 1,500 hours.
We’ve put ourselves at a competitive disadvantage by incentivizing workers to go to another state.
Let’s work together, as we have on permitting reform, to get rid of arbitrary licensing requirements that make it harder for qualified people to get on the job.
In addition to these changes in law and regulation, I’ve directed Secretary Schmidt to conduct a comprehensive review of our licensing requirements and report back within 30 days to ensure Pennsylvania is competitive with our neighbors.
Look, everyone in this room wants their doctor to have completed their schooling and gone through a rigorous licensing process…
And we all want engineers to demonstrate that they know how to build a bridge.
But we also have to acknowledge that some of this red tape is unnecessary — and by eliminating it, we can tear down those walls that are keeping people out of our workforce and preventing people from getting the help they need and deserve.
Let me give you one more example.
The need for licensed mental health professionals is growing here in Pennsylvania.
Demand for licensed social workers is projected to increase by another 12 percent over the next 4 years.
Fortunately, there are amazing students like Paige Lombard, who’s watching at home, who are studying to do this work.
But right now, they have to complete their coursework — and also complete a licensing process that’s largely duplicative.
Secretary Schmidt has partnered with our social work schools and with the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers to support changes to our laws that will ensure final exams cover all the licensing requirements so that students can receive their diploma and their license on the day they graduate.
We need more of these critical professionals and if you pass this reform it will make Pennsylvania’s process to license social workers the fastest in the country.
And we know the need is real — because when people call our 988 call centers when they’re struggling, they’re connected to these licensed professionals.
Last year, 988 handled more than 145,000 calls from Pennsylvanians looking for help.
This budget recognizes that and provides dedicated state funding for 988 for the first time ever.
It also supports our walk-in crisis centers — the places that often handle our most difficult cases.
All of this builds on the investment we’ve made in county mental health services — recognizing that they are on the front lines of this work.
This work is bipartisan, let’s keep going.
Because there’s more we need to do to protect Pennsylvanians, especially our kids.
Over the last 8 months, Secretary Arkoosh and her team have been busy at work, meeting with a number of members in this room about how we can improve our child welfare system to better keep kids safe.
Our system is supposed to be a place someone can turn to when they see something wrong.
But right now, it’s overburdened and it’s not set up to offer services to families who need a little extra help.
Let me explain:
There are many parents who are doing everything in their power to take care of their kids but get caught up in the system because they just don’t have enough money to put food on the table.
They’re working hard — they just can’t make ends meet.
To me, that parent is not the same as the one who purposefully and intentionally withholds food from a child.
That’s abuse.
And those two parents shouldn’t be treated the same way.
But unfortunately that’s what’s happening now in our child welfare system.
We’ve got to do more to help folks who are trying to be good parents and not let them get caught up in the system.
I know this is a priority for many in this Chamber, which is why it receives increased funding in my budget.
Let’s make this the year we work together to enhance ChildLine, update the Child Protective Services Act, and provide real help to those parents who are trying their best —
While at the same time, holding accountable those who are abusing and neglecting our kids.
I held child abusers accountable as Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, uncovering thousands of cases of abuse by hundreds of predator priests and a cover up that extended all the way to the Vatican.
I put behind bars pediatricians and teachers and coaches who abused children, too.
Every year since then, I have urged you to open a civil window to give survivors a chance at real accountability.
The House has passed a clean bill 6 different times over the past 3 years.
But Senate Republicans have refused to act.
Stop cowering to the special interests, like insurance companies and lobbyists for the Catholic Church.
Stop tying justice for abused kids to your pet political projects.
And start listening to victims.
It is shameful that this hasn’t gotten done here in Pennsylvania when almost 30 other states have followed our grand jury report and passed it in their legislatures.
Pass statute of limitations reform this year — and give survivors of sexual abuse the chance to confront their abusers in court.
And just like we protect our kids, we’ve also got to make sure there are strong protections in place to guard against those who would exploit or abuse our seniors.
Under Secretary Kavulich’s leadership, the Department of Aging has completely revamped the system for monitoring our Commonwealth’s Area Agencies on Aging, or Triple As.
The Triple As provide a lot of the services that older adults in Pennsylvania rely on.
They also investigate when an older adult is the victim of fraud or abuse.
Secretary Kavulich has created a new system that judges every Triple A on a set of criteria across 11 different categories.
And for the first time ever, we are posting those results on the Department’s website.
That’s why the Secretary and his team have received national recognition from experts in the field for these reforms.
And my budget funds this important public safety initiative.
But we need more than just funding — we need to update our laws, too, to protect our seniors.
It’s been nearly 30 years since the Older Adults Protective Services Act was really updated.
It’s so outdated that it doesn’t even cover financial exploitation — the fastest growing form of elder abuse.
Reverend Keith Marsh, and his wife, Deb, who join us today, have unfortunately experienced this.
In 2024, criminals impersonating employees at their bank stole more than $850,000 from them — their entire life savings.
And despite sudden transfers from their bank account, none of the actual employees at their bank flagged the transactions for suspected fraud.
We need to put more safeguards in place — that’s why I’m calling on the legislature to update our laws to include financial exploitation as a crime and empower DA’s and the Attorney General to prosecute these crimes.
This is one of the many reforms we need to make to this law — let’s come together and get it done.
To protect our kids and our seniors, we need to make sure every dollar we appropriate for their benefit goes to them and doesn’t get fleeced from the system.
As Attorney General, I prosecuted dozens of fraudsters and those who stole public benefits.
Now, the Office of Inspector General — led by another former Attorney General, Michelle Henry — has continued that work alongside other state agencies.
We combat fraud wherever we find it — and we’ve put real resources into this effort because it’s important to ensure public dollars go to the people who really need them.
In 2024, Pennsylvania charged 119 cases of Medicaid fraud, and recovered more than $11 million dollars.
That’s good, but we can build on those strong safeguards, and give ourselves more tools to prosecute waste, fraud, and abuse by finally passing a False Claims Act in Pennsylvania, which allows us to collect additional damages and recoup more state dollars that would otherwise be lost to fraud.
I know there’s bipartisan support for this because I’ve stood with lawmakers of both parties advocating for a state False Claims Act.
Let’s finally get it done.
Not only are we working to get more money back for our Commonwealth, we’ve been successful in putting money back in people’s pockets.
I know Pennsylvanians are feeling the pinch of rising costs — from the tariffs imposed on our farmers to costs passed on to consumers as a result of Congressional inaction on health care.
Nearly 500,000 Pennsylvanians are seeing their health insurance premiums double this year because Congress failed to act.
Of that 500,000, over 85,000 Pennsylvanians have already dropped health insurance in just the first four weeks of this year because of those cost increases.
And the communities that are getting hit hardest are in our rural counties.
Look, I hear it every day — trips to the grocery store cost more —
Our utility bills keep going up — and for so many, the American dream of owning a home no longer feels possible.
That’s why here in Pennsylvania, we’ve come together to cut taxes seven times since I took office.
We’ve put money back in the pockets of seniors, small businesses, families with child care costs, and working Pennsylvanians struggling to get by.
Last year, we came together to advance the first new initiative in 54 years to address poverty and help working families.
Madam Speaker insisted on this.
And together, we created the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit.
This year, it’s going to put $193 million back in the pockets of 940,000 Pennsylvanians.
This budget doesn't raise taxes — in fact, it continues to cut taxes.
And it doesn't require a broad-based tax increase today, tomorrow, or at any point in the next five years.
Listen, I know some of you try to score political points by saying that it does — but saying that doesn’t make it true.
What this budget does do is finally regulate and tax skill games and pass comprehensive cannabis reform.
District Attorneys from across the Commonwealth are calling on us to regulate skill games and finally provide law enforcement with clear guidance.
We’re putting our communities at risk and losing out on billions of dollars in revenue by doing nothing on both.
Everyone knows we need to get this done.
So let’s come together and finally get it over the finish line.
We need to cut costs and be more competitive — and one of the best ways to do that is by reducing the cost of energy.
One of our challenges is that our regional grid operator, PJM, has moved too slow to generate more power.
Two years ago, I sued PJM when I found out they planned to jack up rates to the highest they’d ever been.
As a result of our lawsuit, we capped the price PJM can charge and saved consumers in the 13 PJM states over $18 billion so far.
Last month, I led a bipartisan group of governors to the White House, where we signed a statement of principles calling on PJM to speed up the connection of new energy sources and extend that price cap for another two years — which will save 67 million Americans an additional $27 billion.
PJM is one part of the problem, but we know that there are other factors that affect Pennsylvanians’ utility bills.
The amount that comes from the energy you use only represents about 20 percent of your typical bill.
Another big chunk comes from fees and costs that your local utility company charges to get electricity to your home.
Our utility companies in Pennsylvania make billions of dollars every year — while at the same time they’ve increased the cost for consumers with too little public accountability or transparency.
That has to change.
So last month, I called the four largest electric utility companies in Pennsylvania into my office and pushed them to do their part to help control rising costs for Pennsylvanians.
I made clear that if they were unwilling to act, the Public Utility Commission would step in and force them.
Following that conversation, PECO, Duquesne Light, First Energy, and PPL, all of whom join us here today, have agreed to take four important initial steps to rein in costs, starting today.
First, they will end so-called “black box settlements” and agree to set prices transparently, so Pennsylvanians will know exactly how much money they are earning, and how utility dollars are being spent.
Second, they will work with my Administration and the General Assembly to enact commonsense reforms that will ban deceptive contracts by retail providers which could save Pennsylvanians hundreds of millions of dollars.
Third, they will eliminate junk fees they charge low income Pennsylvanians to have their service reconnected — something that can be done with the press of a button at the utility’s control center — which will save Pennsylvanians millions of dollars on bills each year.
And fourth, they will work with both chambers to extend and expand Chapter 14 protections for low-income and vulnerable Pennsylvanians.
These steps will save consumers money immediately, and while I appreciate our utility leaders for working together to cut costs for consumers, this is just a start.
They have a lot more work to do.
That’s why I am taking three further steps today.
First, I am calling on the PUC to scrutinize utility spending.
I want the PUC to examine every single line of every single bill to ensure each customer dollar is being well spent.
We’re joined today by Chairman Steve DeFrank and members of the PUC, who’ve agreed to begin this work immediately.
Second, I’ve created a new watchdog within my Administration, a Special Counsel for Energy Affordability tasked with closely examining utility rate requests and taking legal action to stop utility companies from jacking up their rates and costing you more.
And third, we need to have a hard conversation about the amount of profit utilities and their investors can make on the backs of hardworking Pennsylvanians.
S&P Global Ratings currently ranks Pennsylvania as one of the top four states in the country for utilities to make a profit.
At a time when consumers are struggling with high costs, our utilities need to be more sensitive to the reality of their customers.
I’m working with the PUC to prevent excessive utility profits this year, but the General Assembly needs to take action to lower costs for consumers going forward, by giving the PUC a set of benchmarks to follow when determining how much utilities can make.
We grant these utilities a monopoly — and in exchange, they have a legal responsibility to keep their costs just and reasonable.
They shouldn’t get one dollar more than what they need to meet their customers’ needs.
Together, these steps will save Pennsylvanians over $500 million on their energy bills every year.
And if you act with legislation, the savings will be even greater.
But look, I recognize that the most consequential way we can lower energy prices is by generating more energy.
It’s simple supply-and-demand.
Pennsylvania is an energy leader — and I am an all-of-the-above energy governor.
For the last several years I’ve heard people on the other side of this building making excuses for why they couldn’t talk about energy.
And those excuses always centered on Pennsylvania’s entry into RGGI back in 2019.
We came together on a bipartisan basis last year to remove RGGI from the conversation, and remove your excuse for not moving forward.
Now is the time to act.
I’ve put forward my Lightning Plan — a comprehensive plan to build more energy generation here in the Commonwealth, reform our permitting and siting laws, and diversify our energy sector to generate more renewables.
My plan will save consumers an estimated $664 million and create 15,000 energy-sector jobs.
And it’s supported by labor leaders, environmentalists, consumer advocates, and even energy producers.
Look, this is my plan.
If you don’t like it — stop making excuses, put your proposal on the table, and let’s get to work.
Because Pennsylvanians can’t afford another delay from Harrisburg.
It’s not just the cost to heat our homes that is stressing folks out right now.
Housing prices and rent are also too high.
A lot of people are worried about whether they can afford a house at all.
Home prices and rents are rising faster than wages.
Over half of all homes are more than 50 years old, making them more expensive to repair.
And if we don’t take action now, we’ll be short 185,000 homes by 2035.
That’s why, today, I am proposing bold new steps to reform our zoning laws, build more housing, and protect renters and homeowners.
Like energy, one of the most effective ways we can lower costs is by simply building more housing.
That starts at the local level, where zoning laws and ordinances vary across our 2,560 municipalities.
Yet right now, we don’t even have a catalog of all those rules.
We need to make one, so that we can help local governments understand what works best to build more affordable housing.
That also means working with local communities to modernize the Municipalities Planning Code to build where it makes sense — and cut red tape where it’s unnecessary.
It means creating standards for accessory dwelling units, facilitating transit-oriented development, and streamlining mixed-use development on main streets and commercial corridors.
It means building on our successes after doubling the amount of money available for PHARE.
It also means making a major investment in building new housing.
To do that, my budget creates a new $1 billion Critical Infrastructure Fund, supported by the issuing of bonds, that will go toward housing and other needed infrastructure projects.
And, thanks to our improved bond ratings, the Commonwealth will save $25 million compared to what this would have cost just two years ago.
Rather than tinker with this, let’s go big and make a real impact.
We need hundreds of thousands of new homes.
This is how we build them.
But it’s not just about building more houses and apartments — it’s also about making sure those who live in them aren’t taken advantage of.
Right now, landlords are allowed to charge exorbitantly high fees just to submit a rental application.
Those fees are meant to cover the cost of a background check — but too often, landlords are charging two, three, or four times the cost.
I’m calling for a statewide cap on rental application fees, limiting them to the actual cost of screening, and prohibiting landlords from charging fees before a prospective tenant can view a property.
Out-of-state private investors are also raising housing costs.
Christine Ziemer, who lives in Berks County and joins us here today, knows this firsthand.
Christine and her husband, Joe, who passed away late last year, downsized in 2019 in order to move closer to their grandkids.
They bought in a manufactured home community — a community where they own the home, but a company owns the land it sits on and charges them rent for it.
That’s how the trouble started.
The fee Christine pays to that company has nearly doubled since she moved in 6 years ago — creating a huge financial burden.
This has become far too common across these kinds of communities — and there are 56,000 of these households across Pennsylvania, people living on land that more and more is being bought up by private equity.
I’m asking you to pass legislation limiting annual lot rent increases for manufactured home communities to protect grandmoms like Christine from predatory private equity.
We’ve seen bipartisan bills in the Senate introduced on this topic — and just yesterday, a bipartisan group of House members stood together to advance this issue.
Let’s pass those, together.
Together, that’s the operative word here.
We’ve shown what’s possible when we all work together.
Even when it takes longer than it should.
We all recognize it took too long last year — and that had real impacts on Pennsylvanians.
But we learned some valuable lessons through that process.
We learned that we all need to be at the table, and that we all need to be at the table sooner.
When we all sat together, majority and minority, we made progress.
In that spirit, I’ve invited the leaders of all four caucuses to my office tomorrow to begin this process in earnest.
And I appreciate that they’ve all accepted the invitation.
But despite the extended process, we all agree we made real progress last year.
Progress that unlocks two of the most powerful forces in our society — hope and optimism.
That’s what we’re beginning to see more of.
You can feel it on our farms and in our skyscrapers.
Along our Main Streets and in our classrooms.
At a time when dysfunction and chaos reigns elsewhere, Pennsylvania is showing that we can be a model for steady progress when we come together, treat others with respect, and find ways to extend a helping hand to our neighbors.
When William Penn arrived on the banks of the Delaware River in what is now Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1682, aboard a ship named “Welcome,” he set out to create a place that would be an “example to the nations.”
A place that would be open to all people — with free elections, free expression, and the freedom to worship as you wish as central tenets of our new home.
I know all of that feels at risk right now — to not only many in this Chamber, but to millions of Pennsylvanians.
At a time when it feels like others’ values are changing, ours remain the same.
While some are attacking our citizens based on what they look like, where they come from, who they love, or who they pray to — we’re showing respect to all.
As other states raise taxes, we are operating with a healthy surplus and cutting them.
When others put in place policies to make costs rise, we ease the burden.
And at a time when people from different parties can’t find ways to work together elsewhere, we know we have to get around the table here to make progress.
So, let’s come together, and make smart investments in schools, safety, and economic development.
Let’s cut costs and cut taxes.
Let’s protect our fundamental freedoms.
And let’s continue our rise.
So under the watchful eyes of our elders, learning from those Pennsylvanians who came before us and taking inspiration from their example, let us go forward with a sense of common purpose.
To build on our progress — and to continue getting stuff done.
Thank you, God bless you, and may God watch over the men and women of the Pennsylvania National Guard.