Information on congressional committees, federal agencies and state governors. It cost 32. 95 plus shipping and handling. Every purchase helps support nonprofit operations. Preorder your copy today for delivery this spring. Pennsylvania governor josh shapiro gave his annual budget address before a joint session of assembly in harrisburg . He outlined initiative which include Education Funding, affordable housing, reducing gun violence and efforts to raise the minimum wage. He served six years prior as the attorney general of pennsylvania. The speech is about 90 minutes. [applause] [applause] thank you very much. Lieutenant governor davis, madam speaker mcclinton, madam president pro tem ward. Leader pittman, leader costa, thank you very much, Lieutenant Governor davis, madame speaker, madame president pro tem, leader pittman, leader bradford anne cutler. Thank you for convening the special session and given me the honor of addressing you today. I am grateful to see the house and senate gathered here today. I am also mindful that one of our colleagues is not able to be with us. Representative joe kerwin from upper paxton township is currently 7000 miles away on deployment with the Pennsylvania National guard. To represent kerwin and every member of the Pennsylvania National guard at home and abroad, thank you for your service to our commonwealth and our country. You are the very best of us. [applause] we are joined today by the love of my life, my best friend since the ninth grade, my wife and pennsylvanias first lady, lori shapiro. I love you. They are standing for you. [applause] i just want you all to know she will kill me for that. I am privileged to work alongside an incredible senior staff and cabinet led by dana fritsche who collectively represents one of the most aggressive impressive groups of Public Servant ever assembled in pennsylvania. Finally, i want to recognize the hard work of the folks who made this unique address possible. Today we gather for an historic address. In the 100 to 18 years 118 years since president Theodore Roosevelt stood here and dedicated this capital we have never had a joint session in this rotunda and the governor has never delivered a budget address here until today. I want to thank the madame speaker for designing to convene this session here and inviting me to deliver these remarks. Like many of you i walked through this building many times over the past two decades. When i am under this dome i try to slow down and look up. Every time something new catches my attention. If you look up right now, you can see the blue word circling the walls. Those words are a quote from our founder, william penn, written before he ever stepped foot in what would be pennsylvania. At a time when he was in prison for his religious beliefs, he wrote of his dream of a place where people of all religions, all backgrounds could live together in peace. There may be room for such a holy experiment, he said. For the nations one a precedent and we will make it the seed of the nation than an example may be set up to the nations that we may do the thing that is truly wise and just. Above those words theres a mural painted by philadelphia native edwin austin abby. The mural, the spirit of religious liberty shows ships leaving england in search of freedom and to new home. He had a vision of a place that would be an example to the nations. A place of tolerance, peace, and prosperity. Where leaders would make wise and just decisions in service to all people. The vision was a commonwealth that would welcome people from all backgrounds. A commonwealth where everyone would have the freedom to chart their own course and the opportunity to succeed. A commonwealth where the government is responsive to the needs of the people and works together to get stuff done. I am mindful that we are all part of that lineage. A long tradition that stretches back nearly 343 years. Governors and leaders of this commonwealth and General Assembly have all worked together to make progress and build a more just, inclusive society. A century after the mural was painted, that promise still rings true in these hallways. That is on all of us to carry this forward. My own faith teaches me that nobody is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it. That means each of us has a responsibility to get off the sidelines and do our part. That is what i want to talk to you about today. Although this is a unique setting for a budget address, it is not the only thing unique about the group that is assembled here today. Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation with a divided legislature. In these hyperpolarized times, we are the only state where one chamber is led by democrats and the other controlled by republicans. That Means Nothing gets done unless it has the support of members of both parties. We need to compromise. We need to give a little to get anything done. While we have had some challenging moments i think we have all learned from them. Myself included. Learned how to get stuff done and deliver the kind of Commonsense Solutions i talked about last year. Look what we have been able to do together. Because we Work Together children are learning on full bellies. There are more cops on the beat. We trained an additional 6000 apprentices last year. Because we Work Together, poultry farmers were able to get back up on their feet and businesses are looking at pennsylvania as a place of great opportunity. Because we Work Together, we cut cost for seniors and working families. We put money back in in their pockets at a time they are worried about high prices. Here in pennsylvania we get stuff done together. When we do accomplish something together here in harrisburg, when we move the ball down the field, when we put points on the board, lets celebrate that. Lets focus on the progress we are making not on the fact that somebody did not get 100 of what they were asking for. Lets build on that progress. One year after taking office i can report that the commonwealth of pennsylvania is on Strong Financial footing. Thanks to sound fiscal management all three major Credit Rating agencies improved our outlook or gave us an upgrade. As a result of that, those ratings improvements, taxpayers are saving nearly 100 million that otherwise would have gone to big banks and investment firms as a result of higher interest rates. Those savings are on top of the nearly 14 billion surplus available to us at the end of this fiscal year. Last year we cut taxes. This budget continues that. It does not call for a tax increase. Now is the time to invest some of that surplus squirreled away here in harrisburg. Hear me on this. It is not a badge of honor nor is it something to be politically proud of for some lawmakers out there to say i took more money from the good people of pennsylvania then i needed and bragged about how i kept it in some bank account. Of course, of course. It is true. Of course we need to prepare for an emergency and a rainy day. My budget does just that. In fact, even those ratings agencies have said theres too much money sitting in surpluses around the country instead of being used in our communities. I do not want to take anymore from the people of pennsylvania then we need to. Instead, i want to invest in them. I want to help the commonwealth overcome the challenges we face. We need to build a more competitive pennsylvania that starts in our classrooms, runs through the union halls and Small Businesses through the farmlands, highrises, college campuses, and leads to a lifetime of opportunity and retirement with dignity. We need to keep you safe, make sure they have access to medical treatments and care they need and build communities where they see a future of opportunity. With a competitive spirit, a fervent belief in our fellow pennsylvanians and excitement about our future, i present to you my budget. Lets start with our kids because real opportunity begins in the classrooms. This body had us already shown a commitment to investing in our students, teachers, and our future. Last year we made together the largest single year increase in basic Education Funding in pennsylvania history. We did not start there. Together we delivered universal free breakfast for 1. 7 Million Students so kids can start the day with a full belly, ready to learn. [applause]. We delivered 100 million to put more Mental Health resources and schools so our kids can get the help they need . We delivered 175 million for repairs to School Buildings so we can replace lead pipes, remove dangerous asbestos, and fund commonsense repairs to make sure classrooms are air conditioned in august and heated in january. We begun to address the Teacher Shortage by making sure those who are just Getting Started in the profession get paid for their hard work. All of those investments were new last year. All because we worked together. It was an Excellent First step. We all know and the court has ruled that we need a constitutional comprehensive solution to guarantee every student the thorough and efficient education they are entitled to under article 3 section 14 of the state constitution. [applause] so lets build on the work we have already done together. That same court that held our system of funding unconstitutional directed us to come up with a better system. It should be noted that everybody here, legislators from both parties and both chambers accepted the remedy the court put forth. By virtue of your decision not to appeal the ruling. With that decision, Republican Leaders agreed to come to the table and fix the way we fund education. So we began that Work Together. The basic Education Funding commission heard from folks across the commonwealth and communities big and small. Members of the General Assembly and their staff alongside members of my administration worked hard over the past year meeting with advocates, parents, teachers, administrators to prepare the report. Last month, they delivered that report. Now finding a path forward to deliver a comprehensive solution for k12 education in pennsylvania. Now following the general contours of that report, my budget invests 1. 1 billion in new funding this year for our schools. [applause] that is right. It makes sure that no school gets less than they did last year as they drive these dollars out in a more equitable manner. That will be sent to support schoolchildren under a new adequacy formula to ensure every school has the appropriate level of resources that they need. On top of that we increase special ed funding by 50 million because we recommend that all students need more resources and support. Investing in prek programs to help recruit and retain teachers that get our kids off to a great start. While we make these new investments, my budget builds on a progress we made last year addressing some of the big challenges in our schools. We are continuing to fund universal free breakfast during the school year but also making sure no kid goes hungry during the summer by funding the Summer Food Service program. That is something we should be proud of together. [applause] think about it. Think about this. At a time when some governors are issuing federal funding that would ensure kids are well fed over the summer we have already shown Pennsylvania Republicans and democrats alike, that we care about kids and are willing to come together to feed them. This budget includes more for student Mental Health. Students are quite literally calling out for help and support. We need to be there for them. It else on the down payment we made last year to fund school repairs. Consider this. The Scranton School district alone has identified within 300 million in necessary repairs. Everything from installing new fire sprinklers to removing lead paint. In mckees rocks they have at least 14 million worth of work that is needed. All three of their School Buildings need urgent roof repairs to repair leaks when it rains. The Panther ValleySchool District told the basic Education Funding commission that kindergartners are forced to learn in rooms without air conditioning because they cannot afford the upgrades. I could go on and on. You get my point. We need to invest a lot more to help these districts maintain safe and Healthy Learning environments for students. My budget builds on the progress we made setting aside 1 1 2 billion dollars including 300 million this year alone to make our schools healthy and safe. [applause] this is something impacting students and parents across pennsylvania. It has impacted one of your colleagues as well. A couple months ago i had a meeting with representative fiedler in my office. I was surprised when she showed up with two of her kids that day because their school was closed after asbestos was detected. I was happy to see her kids. Im sure they enjoyed their time in the capitol, but theres a lot of other families out there who would have had to miss part of a paycheck, miss a days work because we did not do our part to make sure their schools could stay open and safe. While we repair these broken pipes in the schools we also need to repair the pipeline of professionals who go into teaching. Right now the department of education in pennsylvania reports that there are about 5500 teacher of agencies vacancies. That is in large part because fewer people are choosing to become teachers. 10 years ago pennsylvania certified nearly 20,000 new teachers every year. Last year we certified only 5000 because of you applied. We have taken steps as a commonwealth to improve this. We sped up the time it takes to get new teacher certification stunt from 12 weeks to just under three. We are giving stipends to Student Teachers for the first time. [applause] here is the thing. Rebuilding that pipeline takes time and we need to do more. That is why my budget proposes additional investment of Student Teachers and agreement so we can expose more young people to the joys of teaching and nurturing our kids. Two months ago i was in hershey where i got to present the teacher of the year award. It was awesome to see so many teachers together in one room. They also talked about how they need more help and support. Thats why we put more Mental Health resources in our schools and are working to help kids improve reading ability and stem skills. I also heard how these teachers are confronting misinformation kids are finding online and bringing into the classroom. I think we need to address that as well. Im especially mindful of that during this black history month. Dr. Martin luther king jr. Wrote education must train one for quick resolute and effective thinking. To think incisively and to think for oneself is difficult. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of halftruths, budget is, and propaganda. Our children are being fed half truths, prejudices and propaganda nearly every single day on their phones and on social media. We give them devices with access to the entire world at a young age but we never actually teach them how to use it. Lori and i see this as parents. I want to be clear. I do not care whether our kids take a left position or a right position on an issue but i do care that they are able to discern fact from fiction. [applause] that is why i have directed the department of education to develop a toolkit for teachers and parents on Digital Literacy and critical thinking. This is important and follows on the good work we did together last year when you passed and i signed into law a bill that requires schools to teach financial literacy. We need to ensure together that our young people are prepared for the world that they are living in. We also need to update antiquated state laws that cost the School Districts too much money. Let me give you one example. When the Charter School law was first adopted back in 1997, the idea of going to a cyber school was new and relatively few parents send their kids there. Today, nearly 60,000 pennsylvania students go to Cyber Charters. However, weve never gone back and reevaluated how we fund the schools. Cyber charters get the same amount per student as brick and mortar schools and it varies district by district. And practice that means one district might pay 7000 to a Cyber Charter while another has to pay 10,000 to the same school. While Cyber Charters certainly need Adequate Funding to operate, logic would dictate that two students going to the same school get the same education would pay the same rate . Logic would also dig date that they need less than a brick and mortar Charter School simply because they do not have the same physical infrastructure. I know and i see it by your hands i know there is bipartisan consensus that these antiquated laws need to be updated. Lets come up with a uniform rate that reflects what it cost to send a kid to a cyber Charter School. Lets say for example we set a rate of 8000 per student. Thats the amount we set by up bill that passed last year in a bipartisan manner. If we do that we will level the Playing Field and as a result be able to return, get this, 262 million back to our Public Schools. [applause] that is right. It gets better. Stay standing. If you combine those savings with the new money i am proposing for 500 School Districts that would mean nearly 2 billion more for Public Schools next year. [applause] that is right. And look. This is ambitious. None of it is easy and all of it will require us to Work Together. To stay at the table. To keep having important conversations. One of those conversations will need to be about scholarships that let poor families and struggling School Districts put their kids in the best position for them to succeed. Whether that is paying for extra tutoring, books, and computers or going to another school. The Senate Passed a proposal last year that included important elements of that. It is something i support and consider to be unfinished business. I am grateful to the House Democratic leadership who is committed to examining and seriously consider this proposal to address the needs of our most at risk learners. We have left room for the house and senate to find common ground. Lets not shy away from the many Difficult Conversations around education. Lets stay at it. Our challenges around education are not going to be solved in one budget cycle but we can make Real Progress toward a lasting and equitable solution. We have a onceinalifetime opportunity to do right by our kids. Let us seize this moment. [applause] if we do this right we will not only set our young people up for individual success, but we will lift up the entire commonwealth in the process. Once those kids graduate from high school we need to be sure they have the freedom to chart their own course and determine for themselves the next step in life. I am sick and tired of hearing somebody say to a high school student, college might not be right for you. Maybe you should consider becoming a welder. Hear me on this. That elitist attitude is wrong and it hurts our commonwealth. If you are in the 10th or 11th grade and you are excited about being a welder or a plumber we should celebrate that and we should treat that career path with the same level of respect as someone who chooses to go to college. [applause] we have shown that kind of respect in my administration. On my first day of governor i signed an executive order announcing that 92 of commonwealth jobs do not require a Common College degree. One year later nearly 60 of new hires do not have a College Degree but do have the necessary skills to help our fellow pennsylvanians. Together we have made record investments in Apprenticeship Programs and onthejob training. Last year i signed an executive order creating the first in the Nation Initiative to train as many as 10,000 new workers in pennsylvania over the next five years. When the pittsburgh water and Sewer Authority needs to replace Service Lines in a neighborhood like esplen where i visited last summer we will fund those workers. Workers that hopefully went through our School Districts, into an Apprenticeship Program and can go out and use their skills to deliver clean Drinking Water to our families. I come back to today including these investments in my budget once again because what we did last year together was working. Since then, my administration has registered 33 new apprenticeship grams and enrolled nearly 6000 new apprentices statewide. We should be proud of that. [applause] thanks to our collective work more pennsylvanians are training to become steelworkers in york county and machinists in elk county. We are training apprentices and dairy herd management, cyber security, water operations. We are giving pennsylvanians the freedom to chart their own course an opportunity to succeed. Lets keep at it. Thats one of the reasons i want to create a new career connect program. To connect employers with talented young people and create thousands of internships over the next 10 years. Remember, there are many paths to success after high school. Some of our young people will go in the military. Some will go straight to the workforce. Some will enter the union Apprenticeship Program and some will go to college. We need to respect all paths equally and invest in them. So now lets talk about how we will help those that choose the path of college. In my budget address last year i proclaimed the higher ed system broken and called for a new blueprint. You may recall that was one of the moments were both sides stood up and applauded because we all recognized the need to come together and do something. Lets be honest. What we are doing now is not working. After 30 years of disinvestment, too many of our colleges and universities are running on empty. Not enough students have affordable pathways to college and into good jobs. Think about this. Pennsylvania now ranks 49th for state investment in Higher Education and 48 and Higher Education affordability. You want to be 1 not 50. Over the past decade, enrollment in the state system of Higher Education has dropped 30 and enrollment in Community College has plummeted 37 . The faculty, staff, and administrators at these schools are working really hard but have been dealt a lousy hand. Because of the legislature disinvestment, colleges are being forced to duplicate degree programs, drive up costs and reduce access. For the better part of the last decade, conversations around higher ed in this building have an about subtraction. Subtracting resources. Subtracting services and subtracting access. Pennsylvanians deserve better than that. We need to play a game of edition, not subtraction and focus on building a worldclass system of Higher Education. One that keeps our young people here in the commonwealth, helps students gain the skills that they need and provides businesses with the workforce they require to grow and be successful. A system that is focused on competitiveness, grounded in access and affordability. Last year i promised i would come back with a plan. After a year of gathering feedback from across the commonwealth im proud to present my blueprint for Higher Education. A blueprint that has earned the support of higher ed leaders from every sector from Community Colleges to hbcus and state universities. It is a bold forwardlooking vision that i believe we can make happen together. Let me walk you through my threepart plan. First, we will build a new system for Higher Education that unite our passion schools with the 15 Community Colleges. This new system will preserve local leadership while ensuring we are all going in the same direction. Together public colleges and universities will create pathways to affordable credentials and degrees opening up the doors of opportunity and meeting the commonwealth workforce needs. Last year we invested just under 850 million in our passion universities and Community Colleges combined. I am proposing an increase to support this system. We need to fix the way we fund, along with the oldest granting lincoln university. We have underfunded them. At the same time i know some pennsylvanians wonder what are they getting by investing in these institutions if they or a loved one do not go there. I propose that we fund these schools through the department of education and that we no longer write them a blank check. We should begin this new approach and increase their funding by 5 this year and pennsylvanians should know that we will pay for outcomes and performance. Let me explain what that means. Working together with members of the General Assembly and higher ed leaders we will create a predictable, transparent outcomebased funding system that will apply to schools in this new system and state related. That will incentivize outcomes that benefit all pennsylvanians like increasing the number of firstgeneration College Students enrolled. Ensuring more students stay here after graduation. That they go into the fields we need like agriculture, education, and nursing while ensuring transparency and increasing accountability for tax dollars. In the past we had to get a two thirds vote just to get a dollar. That could turn into 1. 10 or 1. 20 if they meet the metrics we all agree upon. As we pay for performance, we also need to make sure higher ed is affordable. Whether they that is the third part of the plan. When this new system is in place i will ask you to invest another 279 million directly in offsetting costs for students. No student our family making the Median Income or below will have to pay more than 1000 per semester for tuition and fees. We will increase grants for students by 1000. If we pass my plan and make the investments that i lay out in my budget we would jump from 49th in the nation today to 22nd in just five years. It is time [applause] it is time to build this new blueprint for Higher Education in pennsylvania and leave a Lasting Legacy on the commonwealth. If we can ensure pennsylvanians receive a great education from precray prek through an apprenticeship all the way through college if we can give pennsylvanians the freedom to chart their own course and opportunity to succeed, Economic Opportunity will follow. It is on top of that foundation of Educational Excellence that we will build an economy that is a leader in Economic Development, innovation, and job creation. I have made it clear, pennsylvania is open for business. Emd electronics have Global SemiconductorManufacturing Company has put 300 million in the economy and building the largest specialty gas facility in the world. Pure light is investing 190 million in Chester County to create the first usbased manufacturing line from biotech and pharmaceutical products. We convinced a leader in Photonics Technology to relocate from massachusetts to pittsburgh. A guy who absolutely hate as a guy that hates the boston celtics, it gives me great pleasure to take this company and welcome them to pennsylvania. Here in pennsylvania, investment is up and unemployment is down. We have cut down processing time. We eliminated backlogs. We have slashed red tape. Last year, pennsylvania issued 249,000 of the same type of Business Licenses for Companies Big and small. The day i took office, it took eight weeks to get one of those licenses. Today, it takes less than three days. We are moving at the speed of business. But we cant stop here because i want us to be the best. That is why last week, i announced that pennsylvania has eight conference of Development Strategy for the first time in two decades. This plan focuses our attention and resources on five sectors where we are poised to compete and win. Agriculture, energy, life sciences, manufacturing, robotics, technology. We have a strategy to deploy different tools and approaches to lift up each one of them. In order to execute this plan, we need to invest. Consider this. Over the last five years, our neighbors, ohio, new york, and new jersey, all committed more resources to Economic Development than pennsylvania did. Ohio has 1. 5 million fewer people than pennsylvania, and they invested over seven times more in Economic Development than we have. You know what . Lets be frank. Their investment is paying off. I am sick and tired of losing to freaking ohio. We need to catch up right now. Last year, my administration invited Site Selectors from across the country to our state capital for two days. We asked them for their honest feedback. These are the people that help decide where companies are going to help relocate or expand. They were bullish on our highly skilled workforce, our world class universities come in the way . Reform government to make it move more quickly. They like the fact that we are less than a days drive from 40 of our nations preparation, but, they told us it is nearly impossible to sell a company on this commonwealth because we dont have sites ready to go. Other states literally have paths that are shovel ready. Electrical hookups are good to go. It is time we catch up. It is important we start this work now, because it takes years to get some of these sites ready. That is why, thanks to the investment you made last year, we launched a Pilot Program for site development. We asked for applications and made 10 million in grants available so companies could begin the process. Over the course of a few weeks, we received over 100 applications, totaling more than 235 million for site development. The demand is there. The Business Community is ready. Other states are already doing it. It is time we catch up. That is why im proposing a major new investment. We will bond one half 1 billion to develop sites. When it works, we will use the added revenues we get from the companies that move to these sites to pay back that bond. There is power in these paths. Last may, they joined me to announce the redevelopment of a site in kensington to turn it into a center of hightech manufacturing and create 300 new jobs in the community that is oftentimes overlooked. That is just one site. That project is going to change the face of that community. Once it is up and running, the old factory that used to make aluminum will embrace innovation, producing parts for aircraft or batteries to support our clean energy sector. Bc. In my budget, a new, direct investment in the innovation economy. One that helps our startups grow, supports the dreams of entrepreneurs and inventors and gives them the resources they need to go after their next big discovery and go after it. Right here in pennsylvania. These sites are the key to regrowing her economy, and combating climate change. I know there are bills to pass and work to do to impact climate change. One of the most important things we can do right now is invest in our Clean Energy Economy and the jobs it supports. Our Development Plan will do that. It will help businesses succeed here in pennsylvania. When those businesses set up shop, we want to make sure that their new employees have great communities to live in. Our streets are lined with shops and businesses and housing is affordable. That is why im proposing 25 million to build off the keystone building off the Keystone Communities Program to support Small Businesses downtown and main streets across pennsylvania. At the same time, we will launch the Pennsylvania Regional competitiveness challenge, so local communities can Work Together to leverage Resources Available to them. We have met with local elected leaders to see how our investments can support their visions. This is exactly the kind of thing mayors and county commissioners have been asking for. As we build strong, thriving communities, we need to make sure folks can get around safely and affordably. We finally started completely decoupling Police Funding and infrastructure, which put them both in a stronger financial footing. That made an additional 150 million available for road and bridge repairs. My administration leveraged that funding to get even more matching federal donor dollars. We got 600 more miles than we had the year before. This year, my budget makes another 125 million available so we can do even more to make sure our roads are safe and well maintained. Not everybody drives to work or schools on our roadways. Nearly 1 million pennsylvanias pennsylvanians rely on Public Transit every single day. They count on buses and trolleys to get employees to and from offices. Our seniors develop on share Ride Services for 2. 1 million trips per year. Especially in our Rural Communities. Public transit provides freedom and opportunity. It makes us competitive, and it helps sell our commonwealth to others. From the companies i talked about earlier to the organizers and the fifa world cup and the mlb allstar game, right here in 2026, they all want clean, safe, and ontime Public Transit. That is what pennsylvanians deserve. It is what our economy needs. That is why im proposing the first major new investment in Public Transit in more than a decade. [cheering and applauding] across pennsylvania receiving 1. 5 billion it would mean 40 billion this year alone, in under my plan, transit systems across pennsylvania will receive 1. 5 billion over the next five years. That would mean nearly 40 million more for prt in Allegheny County , this year alone. Millions more for other systems across the state. I know this is important in southeastern pennsylvania. That is why my administration has been working for months to address their unique challenges and come up with a solution. I insisted that they address concerns about cleanliness and safety. And i asked the local counties whose residence benefit from that system to meet this moment with additional support. I can report that they have produced plans to address cleanliness and safety. While septa has worked hard to make good on those plans with the city of pennsylvania, i am prepared to increase our investment in septa by 161 million, bringing the total state funding to 1 billion. This investment this investment will trigger an automatic match of 15 from local counties, raising another 24 million for the system this year. Based on our discussions with septa, if you adopt on proposal, they will not cut service or raise fares. They will have a concrete plan for a cleaner, safer Public Transit system that creates Economic Opportunity in southeastern pennsylvania. Co, my administration is focused on creating Economic Opportunity in every community. Rural, urban, and suburban alike. Something you may have noticed is that for the first time, our economic Development Strategy is not limited in its focus to our highrises or suburban office parks. We understand better economic success is dependent on our Rural Communities in our farmlands. Last spring, i spent time on Silver Valley farm, a ninth generation family farm in lancaster county. I dont see that form is just part of our heritage. I see it as a critical part of our economic success going forward. Pennsylvania is home to 53,000 farms, nearly 600,000 of our fellow pennsylvanians work in our culture, which contributes 132 billion to our states economy. To ignore that is not only disrespectful to our farmers, it doesnt make sense economically. When we talk about life sciences, manufacturing, robotics, we should be talking about investing in our farms and our farmers. That is why it might economic Development Strategy fate places a special emphasis on ag. We want to take advantage of the latest technology. There is real innovation happening across our commonwealth, especially on our farms. Over the summer, i visited reinford family farms. You should me the digester that turns waste into electricity, not just for the farm, but for the neighborhood nearby. That is the ingenuity of pennsylvania farmers at work. The commonwealth invested in that. We need to do more of that on our farms across pennsylvania. This budget also invests in Animal Health and disease prevention by funding a new state Animal Testing Laboratory in western pennsylvania. Right now, we have a lab in central and eastern pennsylvania, but not in the western part of our state. That is a big oversight. My budget closes that cap to protect herds, flocks, and farms. Rails and gives this is a statewide economic Development Strategy that runs from our skyscrapers to our farmlands. On our roads and on our rails. It also gives everyone a chance shot at Economic Opportunity , no matter what you look like or where you come from. I talked to many about this. We need to do more of that. We need to make sure that there is opportunity for all to participate in our economy and for all to build generational wealth. That is why we have devoted new funding specifically to support historically disadvantaged businesses in our last budget. We are putting state dollars toward crating opportunities to folks that for too long have been shut out. I have heard from small and small Diverse Businesses how hard it is to compete for state contracts, despite doing the exact sort of work were looking for. The largest purchaser of goods and services in pennsylvania is our commonwealth. That is why i signed an executive order to help those Small Businesses work with us. We are already making progress. Dts put into place a policy that required contractors to pay themselves within 10 days of receiving payment. Reduce the business to work with the we raised the revenue cap so mo more small and small, Diverse Businesses could qualify. We reduced the time it takes to certify businesses to work with the commonwealth by 33 . Look. Im not just doing this because its the right thing to do, and it is. Im doing it because its the smart thing to do. When we open up these opportunities to more businesses, we can deliver better businesses with better prices for the people of pennsylvania. I want to give a hand up and create opportunity here in our economy that gives everyone a shot. In order to create that kind of opportunity, pennsylvanians need to earn a decent wage. And come on. Come on. Come on. Yall should be for decent wages. An man. Lets be real. Our minimum wage has been stuck at 7. 25 an hour for 15 years. 15 years. Ecretary. Its time we raise m you know what that is . It is time to raise the minimum wage to 15 per hour here in pennsylvania. We are falling right. Thats right. And you know what . We are falling behind. It is anticompetitive, and it is hurting our workers. It has remained a flat 7. 25 while every single one of our neighboring states has raised their minimum wage, as have 30 other states in the country. Up along northern tier, some workers in the hospitality sector go to work in new york and leave employers here in its opinion struggling to find. Raising the minimum wage is going to make us more competitive, and its going to create Economic Opportunity. The house passed a bill to raise minimum wage to 15 an hour. Im encouraged to see the comments of the leaders in the senate who have shown a willingness to engage on this issue. So lets finally get this done together. You know, wages arent the only place where we are falling behind other states. Remember when i talked about losing ohio . Well, last year, 57 of voters in ohio supported an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana. And now, ohio, new york, new jersey, delaware, and maryland practically all of our neighbors have legalized marijuana. We are losing out on an industry that would bring nearly 250 million in annual revenue. Our failure to legalize and regulate this only feels the black market and drains muchneeded resources for Law Enforcement. Its time to catch up. I ask you to come together and send a bill to my desk that legalizes marijuana. Now, that bill that bill should ensure that the industry is regulated and taxed responsibly, that we create jobs and build wealth here in pennsylvania, especially in communities that have been disproportionately harmed by criminalization. That bill should contain a provision for those convicted for nonviolent possessions of marijuana rather records expunged. [cheering and applauding] and that bill should also contain a provision for those that have been convicted for nonviolent possession of small amounts of marijuana to have their records expunged. Lets stop hamstringing ourselves and start competing again in pennsylvania. And listen. While we take steps to be more competitive, we have to be mindful. We have to cut costs for folks. I traveled all across this commonwealth. I have heard first hand from pennsylvanians that are struggling. The cost of everything is making it harder for people to make ends meet. Relief is on the way because we took two giant steps forward last year to cut costs. Together, we put money back in the pockets of working families by expanding the child care tax credit. We delivered the largest tax cut this year, 210,000 families will get hundreds more dollars back to help pay for child care. On top of that, we delivered the largest targeted tax cut for seniors in nearly 2 decades by expanding the property tax. That program hadnt been updated since 2006. Lawmakers complained about it for a while, but together, we got it done, and not 175,000 more seniors qualify for relief, and for those that already qualified, many will see their rates nearly double. We have tied the income level to the cost of living so no senior will be press that in the future. Pennsylvanians have to work hard to pay their bills. We should work as hard for them as they do for themselves. So lets work harder together to cut costs more. We can do that by helping pennsylvanians stay in and take care of their homes. Almost 60 of all homes in pennsylvania were built before 1970. Many of them were in dire need of repairs. A lot of homeowners just cant afford the cost of those repairs. Her foreignness gave out at the age of 72. She couldnt afford a replacement. Instead, she used space heaters and her oven to heat her home. Imagine that was your mother or grandmother, living alone, turning the oven overnight and leaving the door open just a state farm. We cant accept that. This body came together and created the whole home repairs program. Inga was one of the first recipients of this initiative and received a grant to replace her furnace. We distributed all of the initial money allocated for the program. Demand was so strong that there is a waitlist in most counties, especially in rural counties. Potter county, for example, as of last month, they have allocated all of their funding. There are eight times the number of people sitting on the waitlist. Indiana county received more than 75 applications. We cant leave struggling homeowners out to dry. Lets support them by investing another 50 million in the hole homes repair program. This is a smart investment. We know it works. We need to make housing more affordable. One of the most effective tools we have for that is that Housing Trust fund. It subsidized the construction and rehabilitation of many houses. My budget will increase the capital of the fund to 100 million over the next four years, helping to build homes to cut costs for pennsylvanians. We have lowered costs for families with children but we have a plan to lower costs for renters. You know what else is taking too much money out of peoples pockets . The cost of healthcare. Folks are hurt by the high cost of Health Insurance. There are folks in this commonwealth that are working really hard. They have a job. They are supporting themselves. They make just enough money that they dont get government assistance for Health Insurance. They still dont make enough to afford the price of private Health Insurance premiums. There are 100,000 of our fellow pennsylvanians that fall into that category. These are people who are doing everything right. They just need a little bit of extra help. Lets be there for them. My budget will invest 50 million to allow them to keep on working in our economy and purchase Health Insurance. At the same time, this investment also lowers the premiums for an additional 400,000 pennsylvanians. If we do nothing here, these folks will be priced out of Health Insurance and what do we have . Folks that are uninsured it only drives up the cost of healthcare for all of us. So we can invest this money now and save us all money later. Or we can do nothing and subject ourselves to higher costs down the line. Again, this is common sense stuff. Folks are also getting screwed by the high cost of prescription drugs. Drug Companies Keep raising prices and oftentimes, we dont know why, because the middlemen negotiating these drug prices between Health Insurance companies and the drug manufacturers, they dont have to report enough information to the insurance department. As middlemen, they are called pharmacy benefit managers, or pbms, and they have made record profits on the backs of pennsylvanians. It is some to do the operations of the pbms here. We need legislation to go through. We also need to help pennsylvanians who are being crushed by credit medical debt. 1 million pennsylvanians carry some kind of medical debt. This issue disproportionately impacts our Rural Communities. In fact, hear me on this, the counties with the highest share of medical debt are worn, green, bradford, karen, and mccain. In Warren County alone, the dent is affecting their credits. This debt is an anchor Holding Families and communities back. They cant afford to pay it off. Your credit score suffers and it makes it harder to Reach Financial stability because hospitals then sell off this debt to Collections Agencies for pennies on the dollar, with an investment of just 4 million to my budget, we can start wiping out medical debt for pennsylvanians and give them the chance they need to succeed financially. The crisis and in the past 20 years, 33 rural hospitals reduce services or close completely. Now listen. Listen. This is an issue that disproportionately impacts our Rural Communities. At the same time, we face a crisis in rural healthcare. In the past 20 years, 33 rural hospitals in pennsylvania have reduced services or closed completely. My administration has been working with elected officials from both parties as well as healthcare and Community Leaders to put our rural Healthcare Providers on stable footing moving forward. I expect to come back to you in the next several months with a plan to address this crisis, because as we cut the cost of healthcare, we need to make sure it is available and accessible for everyone. But unfortunately, thats not the case for everyone. Imagine you are among the 1 million pennsylvanians with medical debt, and you have a furnace on the fritz. You are 60 years old, caring for your adult child with disabilities in not getting any support to offset your costs. I have listened to those families. I have seen the exhaustion and the desperation in the eyes of parents and caregivers who are doing everything right, but they still cant get their kids the services they need. It is heartbreaking. One of those parents and her son joins us today. Cindy and her adult son matthew live in limits point they visited me back in june. Matthew requires 20 4 7 support, something that cindy has not been able to find because her state does not pay direct support professionals enough. Instead, cindy, a single mom who battled her own Health Challenges that have limited her ability to care for matthew is forced to provide care for herself, along with maddies grandma, judy. Listen. You have heard from people like cindy, judy, and matthew. They have walked these halls. They have rolled their wheelchairs into the offices youre after year to ask you to step up and help them. And yet, nothing has changed. The biggest reason why people cant access care is because there arent enough caregivers. And the reason there arent enough caregivers is because they arent getting paid enough. Professional to do this incredibly difficult laborintensive work and their paycheck yields about 12 an hour. We are asking a professional to do this incredibly difficult Skilled Labor intensive work at the state rate that helps determine their paycheck. It yields about 12 per hour. Consequently, these caregivers, who, remember, cut into these fields because they want to help people, they find work elsewhere because they dont get paid enough. My budget invests 216 million, which allows us to draw down another 266 million in federal dollars to provide more resources than ever before for home and communitybased service providers, so in turn, they can pay competitive rates to attract staff to provide these lifechanging services. O couldnt find the services imagine if this was your kid. Seriously. Imagine if this was your kid, if you couldnt find the services they need and found out the only reason why a caregiver isnt available is because they are not getting paid a decent wage because the state refused to raise our rate. I know some members here dont have to imagine it. They are living it. Lets make this the year that we get it done for cindy, judy, and matthew, and the thousands of others like them across pennsylvania. Lets do this Work Together. And lets also show that this budget isnt just a bunch of numbers in a spreadsheet. It is a statement of our values. Of our principles, of our commitment to our fellow pennsylvanians, especially when it shows how we care for our most vulnerable. That is why this budget invests in Early Intervention and child care because our kids deserve the support they need to grow and develop before they are in school. It raises the minimum snap benefit for families because every pennsylvania dutch pennsylvanian deserves a meal at home. Look. This is something this is something we dont often talk about. Its something we dont often talk about, but the first lady has spent time this year meeting with these young women and hearing their stories. Lori has spoken to girls who have literally missed school days because they got their period and had to run home at the end of the day because nothing was available to them at school. This makes Feminine Hygiene Products available at no cost in our schools because girls deserve to have the peace of mind so they can focus on learning. Thats right. This budget also increases support for Healthcare Providers that provide high quality familyplanning tools and Reproductive Healthcare services because women and girls deserve to make their own choices about their own bodies. K for mortality especially among black voters. [cheering and applauding] we ought to double down on our work to prevent maternal mortality, especially among black mothers. And this and this budget does that. Fulfilling a commitment i made to the black Maternal Health caucus and a priority of our commonwealth second lady and a new mom, by the way, blair holmes davis. We are going to do this together. This budget invests more in the hand of our aaas for more services. For the first time ever, it establishes an alzheimers Disease Division at the deferment of aging to support families dealing with that terrible disease. And all of these investments are being made as we get ready to implant the first everett master plan on aging because our seniors deserve support so they can live out their golden years with dignity. Today, is nearly one in four pennsylvanians are seniors. By 2030, it will be one in three. Now is the time to plan for that. A budget is a statement of our values, and as we think about our values, lets remember that what happens between your ears is just as important as what happens to the rest of your body. We have done meaningful work to address this. This budget matches those investments and goes even further by increasing support for county level mentalhealth services, investing to keep to the 988 crisis hotline. And as we think about our values, we also need to think about those who have been abused or left unprotected by the law. We need to finally do right by the survivors of sexual abuse and give them a chance to confront their abusers in court after decades of injustice. Decades. Look. Come on, gang. Gang, yall have passed this before. You have passed it. Hear me. It shouldnt need to be some part of a political deal with strings attached. We should do it because it is right. It is right, and it is time. We should recognize the dignity of every pennsylvanian. We should be proud of what penn set in motion here. A place that is welcoming to all. A place with no secondclass citizens. Back in 1974, right here in harrisburg, governor milton schaff, working alongside marc siegel, became the first governor in the nation to meet with the lgbtq community. When your later, he became the first to ban discrimination against lgbtq state employees. Thats a history we should be proud of. We were leading the nation when it came to lgbtq rights. Now, we are falling behind. It is ridiculous. Here in pennsylvania, two women can get married on a sunday and then fired from their job on monday just because they are in love. That their landlord can legally throw them out of their apartment just because he is bigoted. The house passed the fairness act to fix this. The senate should our legacy of tolerance and pass that bill and put it on my desk. I got a lot of bipartisan clamps for that. We should all Work Together to implement common sense reforms that make our system more fair and more just for everyone. We began that Work Together last year, passing clean slate and probation reform. Lets continue that work. Every pennsylvanian has a constitutional right to defense. Pennsylvania was one of two states in the nation that didnt provide any state funding for public defenders. Last year, we came together to lose that shameful distinction and delivered 7. 5 million for poor defendants. That is just a down payment. We need to do more because the need is great. My budget invests another 10 million in our public defenders. Understand. Criminal defendants arent the only ones in need of legal help. The pennsylvania Legal Aid Center provides pro bono defendants for those with disabilities. My budget increases their funding by 50 . And for the first time ever, this budget ensures pennsylvanians facing eviction will have access to legal counsel. Philadelphia has done exceptional work with the diversion program, nationally you know, philadelphia has done exceptional work with its own eviction Division Read an initiative started during the pandemic. We should expand that work statewide. As we continue to make our legal system more fair and just, we have to think about the victims of crime and those communities that are impacted by gun violence. Let me tell you about one of those victims. Nicholas elizalde. He had a Bright Future ahead of him until a gunman killed him after a football game. I talked to his mom, meredith, several times. Many of you have heard from her, too. Since nicholass death, she has been an advocate testifying before the House Judiciary Committee for laws that wouldve saved her sons life and could save more lives in the future. We are honored to have nicholass mom here with us today. Unacceptable levels ands long past time to take action. With gun violence at unacceptable levels in our communities, it is long past time for us to take real action. Lieutenant governor davis knows this well. He has been leading on this issue since his time as a kid, when he saw someone get shot on his book. Thanks to his leadership at pccd we are going to fund a statewide office of gun violence. Im proposing we invest 100 billion for all across pennsylvania and we will increase nonprofit security grants or places like and im proposing that we invest another 100 million to invest in gun violence across pennsylvania. We will increase nonprofit security grants for places like mosques and churches and synagogues. And we will give our local Law Enforcement agencies and district attorneys offices or resources to investigate and prosecute gun related crimes. But we cant stop there. You see, this year, we have an opportunity to pass the first significant gun reform legislation in two decades. Handson. Just close the loopholes. [che why are awe okay with loophole on background checks that allow criminals to get their hands on guns. Just close the loopholes. You know. Close the loopholes. Some of yall some of yall crack me up. You like to talk a big game about law and order. So lets strengthen our laws and bring about more order in pennsylvania and save lives. Ha bipartisan manner the house the house passed the package of bills to do that in a bipartisan manner. The senate should do the same. The community is crying out for us to act. Lawenforcement is on the side of the community, not the inaction in this building. You all should be, too. You know, our Police Officers do a dangerous job in dangerous conditions. We need to have their backs. Last year, we provided funding to help local Police Departments recruit more officers. We made a massive investment in the Pennsylvania State police, creating four new state trooper cadet classes, which they are hiring for. We need an additional four cadet classes. Now is the time to do it because psp has seen a 258 increase last year and that number of applicants taking the test to become a state trooper. E i think we should be supporting those who take up that call to service and invest in them. We made sure they have the equipment, resources, and funding they need to do their jobs as safely as possible. Its not just the cops that need resources and technology. It is our first responders, too. Last year, we took a step forward when we helped Fire Companies invest in more equipment and better training to prepare to fight dangerous wildfires, expand efforts to recruit and retain more firefighters. We made sure the railroad paid to replace all of the firefighting equipment used up or contaminated as a result of their crush. This year, my budget expands on that work by doubling our investment in the state fire commissioners fire and ems grant program. Just a few weeks ago, i was in johnstown at the west end ambulance services, or they told me about how they need help. I have heard similar things from professional firefighters that need a lot of help, especially with rebuilding run down fire houses and dealing with colleagues Mental Health. We have to make sure that responders are wellequipped. That is exactly what this budget will do. Look. This year, we have a real chance to build safer communities, become more competitive, invest in our students and their success. Ive just laid out a comprehensive and aggressive budget, focused on doing just that. Each piece builds on the other. With that young girl gets a quality education no matter her zip code. She has access and options for her future, no matter what path she chooses. That is going straight into the workforce and Apprenticeship Programs and colleges. Colleges she can afford. Good jobs in her community because we reinvested in it. When she grows up, she has a Healthcare System that is not working against her, but working with her, where she gets to age with dignity and of course, where she gets to live in the commonwealth that respects her for who she is. I know that is a bold vision. Some will reflexively just be opposed. Saying we cannot afford that. Well, i can argue that we cant afford not to invest right now. K real challenges, education think about it. Weve got a 14 billion service. We are facing real challenges in education and with our workforce that will hold us back in the future if we dont take action right now. Remember when i said, one in four pennsylvanians is over the age of 60 and by 2030, its going to be one and three. That means we need to invest now. Not only so we can care for and increasing ablation of older adults, but we can attract more young people, more businesses, and more prosperity in pennsylvania. No one here i dont care what party you are in should be okay with an unconstitutional Education System for our kids. No one here no one here should be okay with that the status quo on higher ed, where we ranked 49th in the nation. We cant afford to let our neighboring States Invest several times more than we do in Economic Development. We need to step up for those who are most vulnerable in our system and show them that we give a. We need to get more stuff done together for pennsylvanians. To be clear, my budget is balanced. It does not raise taxes. In fact, it cuts them and consider this for a moment. Even if we fund every single one of the initiatives that i talked about today contained in my budget, we would still have an 11 billion surplus at the end of june 2025. 11 million. , your analysis should not be used as an excuse for paralysis. It while i expect you will carefully analyze my proposals and seek your own in the final budget, urinalysis should not be used as an excuse for paralysis. It is time to solve these problems to meet this moment responsibly and with partisan compromise. Lets take inspiration from this grant rotunda. I mentioned the murals of penn ships earlier. Theres another merrill to the north side of the rotunda. The spirit of falcon. It shows the roman god of the forge working eight Blast Furnace in honor of our commonwealths mastery of iron and steel. That merrill, mural it reminds us of an era where we lifted people up out of poverty, empowering the middleclass in creating the medical American Labor movement. It reminds us that when fascism threatened freedom overseas, it was our commonwealth that was home to the arsenal of democracy and the most powerful Manufacturing Base in the world. You know. Our kids read about those things in our history books, and they are depicted on those murals. I dont want our children just to be inspired by our past. I want them to be hopeful for their future. Just last week, i visited a vestige of the old pennsylvania, a place where pennsylvania workers felt that spirit of vulcan as they produced steel. Today, mill 19 is once again a driving force of prosperity and progress, growing out of unique partnerships and building the next big thing in robotics and biotech that will shape our future and change lives. So when i walk these halls and i see these depictions of our past, i cant help but feel optimistic about our future. The future we will build together, staying true to the words and the creed of penn, as we work to do what is wise and just. Thank you all. Now, let us get to Work Together. Thank you. [cheering and applauding] thursday, fbi director Christopher Wray testifies on the budget request before the budget request subcommittee. Watch coverage on cspan 3 or online at cspan. Org. Friday nights, watch c spans 2024 campaign trail, a roundup of cspans can think of it, providing a onestop shop to discover what candidates across the country are saying to voters, along with firsthand accounts from political reporters, updated phone numbers, fundraising data, and campaign ads. Watch cspans 2024 campaign trail, friday nights at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan, online at cspan. Org, or on a podcast at cspan now. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politics. Cspan now is a mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington, live and ondemand. Keep up with the days biggest events with live streams of court proceedings, white house events, the courts, campaigns, and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips. You can also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal, and find scheduling information for c spans tv networks and cspan radio, plus a variety of compelling podcasts. Cspan now is available on the apple store and google play. Download it for free today, or visit our website, cspan. Org tran02. Cspan now, your front seat to washington, anytime, anywhere. State and local officials including the secretaries of state of michigan and alabama testified before the Senate Rules Committee on preparation and security ahead of the november general election. They joke about cybersecurity, and combating misinformation. The hearing is one hour and 45 minutes