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Harrisburg, Pa. â The Pennsylvania legislature on Friday advanced a $40 billion budget package that sends more money to the stateâs poorest school districts, includes no new taxes, and saves billions of federal relief dollars.
Unlike in years past, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-controlled legislature headed into this Juneâs budget season with a financial windfall: $7.3 billion from the federal coronavirus relief plan signed in March by President Joe Biden, and another $3 billion in tax collections after an unexpectedly strong recovery from the pandemic reversed projections of a multibillion-dollar deficit.
The plan squirrels away much of that revenue surplus â $2.5 billion â in the stateâs rainy day fund. It also makes use of just over $1 billion in available federal relief funding for nursing and personal care homes, after-school and summer enrichment programs, and road and bridge projects.