HARRISBURG — February 3, 2021 — Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) and Democratic Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia/Montgomery) jointly responded to Gov. Tom Wolf’s 2021-22 Budget Address with a statement Wednesday afternoon.
The senators expressed support for the broad goals and the priorities announced in the $37.84 billion proposal, adding that the proposal is a good starting point to finding long-term solutions to Pennsylvania’s structural deficit. Sens. Costa and Hughes praised the proposal’s emphasis on raising the minimum wage, increasing funding for basic education with greater focus on equity, as well as reducing taxes on low-and middle-income families.
“There are some laudable goals outlined here by our governor and many of the investments reflect requests we have seen from constituents across the state,” Sen. Costa said. “Our schools need increased funding, local governments need more assistance to handle COVID 19, and the workforce development programs proposed have the potential to get many Pennsylvanians back on the job. This is a good starting point, and we look forward to the budget hearing process and negotiations with our colleagues across the aisle and in the House to get a final budget that funds critical programs and meets our needs in this unique time.”
The proposed budget would maintain funding for human services and higher education, while also increasing funding for environmental initiatives, infrastructure repairs and improvements, and workforce development efforts across the commonwealth. Other areas of priority in the budget proposal include bolstering the commonwealth’s inventory essential health supplies and $8.5 million for four city and six county health departments to help fight and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The governor’s proposal to finally and immediately deal with the issue of equal funding of our K-12 schools, is welcome and deserves broad based support, especially since he makes sure that no student is penalized for this aggressive commitment to equity and adequacy,” Sen Hughes said. “His $1 billion commitment to clean and repair broken and toxic schools, along with his commitment to free and affordable college for Pennsylvania students are welcome policy goals that the Senate Democratic Caucus has long championed. And his desire to do all of this in a way that reduces taxes on low- and middle-income families is certainly the right way to go. This is a good direction, and we welcome the introduction of these significant policy goals as the first step in the upcoming budget and policy conversation.”
The senators believe it is critical the General Assembly develops solutions to the structural deficits the Commonwealth has faced for the past 10 years and failed to address because of a lack of cooperation from Republicans in the House and Senate. Additionally, it is still not clear what the state can expect from the federal government with regard to COVID relief packages.
The Senate Democratic caucus is most encouraged by investments in the following programs for the 2021-22 budget include:
Basic Education:
- Full funding of public schools through the Fair Funding Formula
- $1.35 billion increase to basic education funding
- $1 billion in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grants to address school infrastructure needs in PA
- $200 million for special education
- Releases up to $36 million for additional scholarship to students under the Education Improvement Tax Credit and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Programs)
- $25 million for Pre-K Counts
- $11 million increase for Early intervention programs
- $5 million for the Head Start Supplemental Program
- Charter School reform for $229 million in savings to school districts
- Sets cyber charter tuition rates at $9,500 per student
- Push for $45,000 minimum salary per year for teachers
Higher Education:
- $199 million for free and affordable college through the Nellie Bly Tuition Program
- Level funding for higher education
Workforce Development:
- Proposes minimum wage increase to $12 per hour on July 1, 2021, with a path to $15 per hour
- Tax deductions for low- and middle-income families
- Provide $3 billion to workers and businesses to stabilize the economy and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic through the Back to Work PA plan
- Improves food security and supports farmers by investing $1 million in the Pennsylvania Agriculture Surplus System (PASS)
Human Services:
- Directs $87 million in federal funding to Child Care Works base rates and create a more stable business environment for child care facilities while improving equal access to child care services
- $8.3 million to help county and municipal health departments fight COVID-19
- 13.8 million to provide home and community-based services to 100 individuals with disabilities on waiting list and provide services through the Community Living Waiver to 732 individuals on waiting list
- Additional $1 million to fund legal services for low-income individuals and families, an issue the caucus has pushed for and will continue to fight for in future budgets
- $1.25 million for 20 Community Hospital Integration Projects Program (CHIPP) to help reduce state hospital populations
- $1 million to reduce the number of children and youth in out-of-home placements triggered by homelessness, housing instability, or inadequate housing
Budget hearings are set to begin in March. For more information on the 2021-21 Budget, visit PASenate.com/budget.
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HARRISBURG – January 29, 2021 – Members of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus wrote U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging an investigation into the “traitorous and seditious acts” against the U.S. Constitution by U.S. Rep. Scott Perry.
“This is not a request we make lightly, but the circumstances of Mr. Perry’s actions warrant this step,” the senators wrote in their letter to Speaker Pelosi. “We implore you to open an investigation into Mr. Perry and, if warranted, expel him from the United States House of Representatives.”
The New York Times broke the story that Perry had been instrumental in connecting an assistant U.S. attorney general with former President Donald Trump to contest 2020 Election results without any proof of fraud. Scores of Republicans across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the U.S. have made baseless claims to undermine the election, however the senators believe Perry’s attempt to abuse power are a step too far:
“Mr. Perry, along with many other federal, state and local Republicans, has pushed baseless and dangerous theories about a “stolen” or “fraudulent” election. Worse than simply pushing the claims of election fraud that led to the insurrection of January 6, 2021, are Mr. Perry’s actions to aid and abet an unelected official within the United States Justice Department to use the power of a federal agency to force a state to change their allotment of their Electoral simply because he does not like the outcome.”
Click here to read the full letter to Speaker Pelosi.
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Caucus_Pelosi_Letter_re_Perry_012821
Pittsburgh, Pa. — January 12, 2021 — Today, U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan issued a ruling in favor of seating the rightful winner of the 45th senatorial district – Senator Jim Brewster, and upholding the counting of ballots as certified by the Department of State.
“I want to thank Judge Ranjan for his thoughtful and well-reasoned decision on the merits of this case,” said Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa. “My colleague Senator Brewster won more votes, affirmed that victory in state courts, and had it confirmed by the Pennsylvania Department of State. He’s been declared the winner more times and in more ways than should be necessary, but I believe that the matter is now unequivocally settled. I look forward to Senator Brewster’s swearing in ceremony and watching him take the oath of office I know he will faithfully abide every day of his service.”
Judge Ranjan’s ruling states, “The Court’s fundamental disagreement is with Ms. Ziccarelli’s interpretation of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision. Contrary to Ms. Ziccarelli’s reading, the Court finds that the Supreme Court expressly held that the undated ballots at issue remain valid ballots that are properly counted under state law.”
Similarly, Ms. Ziccarelli claims that her substantive due process rights have been violated because the “rules have changed,” i.e., the “rule” before the election was to not count undated ballots, but Defendants changed the rules by counting and certifying those ballots. Not so.”
Given these distinctions, the Court does not find that the facts of Ms. Ziccarelli’s case present anything resembling the sort of conscience-shocking behavior that is required to show a due-process violation.”
In sum, the correct interpretation of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision on Ms. Ziccarelli’s state-court appeal is that the challenged ballots are valid and may properly be counted. This causes Ms. Ziccarelli’s federal claims to fail on the merits.”
This is in line with the decision by Allegheny County’s Election Board to certify the results of this race, and the decision from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which upheld the counting of ballots – and ultimately, the decision of the Department of State to certify the results.
“Today we can celebrate Jim Brewster’s win, but the real winner is democracy,” said Senator Costa. “Our judicial system at both the state and federal level upheld the decision of our voters, just as it was intended to. Congratulations to Senator Brewster on concluding this arduous campaign, congratulations to the voters who made their voices heard, and to all of the voters who will participate in elections to come – knowing that their vote will matter.”
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Download copy of the opinion.
Pennsylvania − December 22, 2020 − Pennsylvania Senate Democrats seek to correct the record regarding the failure of the General Assembly to address housing insecurity due to COVID 19.
Recent press coverage has outlined that $108 million of $175 million intended for a rental and mortgage assistance program was diverted instead to the Department of Corrections. This was not the choice of Senate Democrats, who instead sought to correct the assistance program and get it to those Pennsylvanians on the cusp of losing their homes.
With Pennsylvania’s allocation of federal CARES funds, programs were funded or created to help residents who had suffered a change in their economic situation because of the pandemic ravaging the nation and world. One of those programs was a housing assistance plan that would provide relief to homeowners and renters.
Unfortunately, there were problems with the execution of this program – but instead of accepting its failure, Senate Democrats immediately convened meetings with stakeholders: advocacy organizations, landlords, renters, homeowners, financial institutions, and the PA Housing and Financing Agency. In September, Senator Katie Muth (D-Chester) chaired a hearing of the Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee where testifiers laid out the problems and told heart breaking stories of what would happen without state intervention.
Together with input from all of the relevant parties, Senator Art Haywood (D-Philadelphia) introduced Senate Bill 1290, a piece of legislation that would have corrected the problems with the program and allowed the full $175 million to flow to the people who desperately need it.
A companion bill was introduced in the House of Representatives and they passed it, but Senate Republicans did not consider either bill and let the hope for housing security die in our chamber – despite regular calls from Senate Democrats during session, committee hearings and publicly to address the problem.
Later in the fall, the Republicans refused to convene hearings of the Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee to avoid moving the House version of the bill to fix the housing assistance program.
In August, Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, Jr. and Senator Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia) sent a letter to the Republican leadership in the Senate asking them to move Senator Haywood’s legislation or its companion House bill before hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians are made homeless.
In October, Senator Costa held a press conference with Governor Tom Wolf and PHFA calling for the legislature to act immediately to prevent a housing crisis. Still, not only did Republicans fail to move legislation that would have corrected the relief program funded by CARES, they also failed to advance any bill that would have extended a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures.
In April, Senator Hughes introduced Senate Bill 1132 which would extend the moratorium on evictions and foreclosures to 60 days past the COVID emergency declaration. The Senate Republicans referred the bill to the Judiciary Committee, and never looked at it again.
Back in May, Senator Hughes tried again to extend the moratorium by amending the content of his SB 1132 into Senate Bill 976, as amendment A05557. It failed along party lines with every single Senate Republican voting against housing security.
Thousands upon thousands of Pennsylvanians have lost their jobs because of this virus. The virus has not slowed down, nor have the bills arriving in households across the state. We cannot continue to leave residents on their own to fight this; it’s inhumane. It’s the state’s role to help, and so far we have been stymied by the majority party in the General Assembly.
Senate Democrats recognized this looming problem from the very beginning of this crisis, and there was time to act.
There was the will in the Senate Democratic caucus to fix this; we had the money from the federal government to fix it; we had the time and the session days to pass thoughtful legislation, but the Republicans had other priorities. They chose to push veto override votes, to question the results of our secure and decisive election, and push ‘re-open’ bills instead of simply providing the aid that their constituents and small business owners were begging for.
It’s a shameful display of warped priorities from Republicans, but the Senate Democrats will continue to fight for the needs of Pennsylvanians. People over politics.
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Pennsylvania − December 4, 2020 − Aiming to stimulate Pennsylvania’s economy by providing direct aid to workers, families, small businesses and other vulnerable populations, the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus announced a bold, innovative $4 billion pandemic relief plan Friday morning.
The Pennsylvania Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act of 2021 (PA CARES 21) Plan would fund previously existing aid programs and establish new programs to help struggling Pennsylvanians and struggling areas of the commonwealth’s economy.
“Folks have not seen pandemic-specific relief from the state or federal government since last spring, yet thousands remain unemployed, underemployed and struggle with their housing and utility bills. This cannot go on any longer,” said Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa. “There are immediate needs in communities across this state that must be addressed immediately. We are in the middle of another surge in COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths. We need help to recover, personally and financially; the state must play an active role in that recovery and that is what our plan today does.”
“Thousands of Pennsylvanians have been hurt by this pandemic and have received some assistance to get through this generational crisis — however it is time to do more in that space to get people the help they need,” Sen. Hughes said. “Rather than use federal dollars to help people in their time of need, we used the money to plug budget holes, telling people we had to keep state operations running to prevent further crisis. Having averted that crisis, it is now our job to step up and help our communities. They cannot wait any longer for help and the legislature must act now.”
PA CARES 21 authorizes the commonwealth to issue $4 billion in emergency debt to (1) recapitalize programs previously funded with federal CARES funds pursuant to Acts 2A, 24 and 30 of 2020 and (2) establish new programs that provide targeted assistance to struggling Pennsylvanians and struggling sectors of the Pennsylvania economy.
Where appropriate, this proposal utilizes the programs created under Act 24 of 2020 to drive out the funds. If proposed funding does not fit into an existing program (e.g., utility assistance), a new program will be created. Additionally, the caucus supports fixing programs created by Act 24 (e.g., PHFA’s rental assistance program) as requested by stakeholders to maximize program effectiveness.
The PA Senate Democrats propose allocating the funds to the following priorities (a detailed spreadsheet of the spending proposal is attached):
- $800 million in business assistance
- $1 billion in UC benefits
- $594 million in local government assistance
- $135 million in hazard pay
- $318 million in DHS programs
- $250 million in basic education
- $136 million in higher education
- $100 million to hospitals
- $100 million to utility assistance
- $75 million in child care
- $100 million in housing assistance
- $50 million in food security
- $25 million in pre-k education
- $25 million for PPE and vaccines
- $15 million for mental health funding
- $180 million in transportation funding
“There is no overstating the economic toll COVID has taken and continues to take on families and businesses across the Commonwealth,” said Senator Maria Collett (D-Montgomery). “As a former infection control nurse, I promise you that the sacrifices you’ve made have saved lives and prevented long-term health complications associated with this dangerous virus for so many. But I also know these words offer little comfort when you are struggling to pay the mortgage, or juggle your job and the constant changes to your kids’ schooling, or keep your business afloat. Government is supposed to work for you and that is exactly what our PACARES 21 proposal does. It identifies ways to get money into the hands of those who need it most, including those about to lose their COVID unemployment benefits, frontline workers, child care centers, and our main street businesses, especially local restaurants and bars, in the quickest, most efficient way possible. Your families and your businesses can’t afford to wait any longer for relief. So until our communities are safe and our economy is running at full steam again, it is critical that we extend this lifeline and do so now.”
“As the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Pennsylvania continues to climb, it is the General Assembly’s duty and obligation to provide relief to all those affected – unemployed folks, front-line workers, small businesses, and especially hospitals that serve high-Medicaid populations as well as our institutions of higher education,” said Senator Tina Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia). “These are the pillars of society that serve us in our times of greatest need and will lead our recovery.”
“There’s no denying that cases of the coronavirus are growing every day,” said Senator-elect Carolyn Comitta (D-Chester). “We need to do more than just say, ‘help is on the way.’ We need a bold, innovative plan to deliver it to Pennsylvanians. PA CARES 21 gives us more tools, more resources, and the flexibility to prepare for the future.”
“We are entering a stage of the pandemic that is, by virtually every measure, worse than the first stage, laying bare and exacerbating inequalities in all our health systems, devastating essential workers, and disproportionately harming Black and brown people,” said Senator-elect Nikil Saval (D-Philadelphia). “We need to keep people in their homes, fight hunger and food insecurity, and give our children every tool they need to learn. We need this stimulus because our communities desperately need support and relief.”
More information on the proposal and the caucus’ work in pandemic relief is available online at pasenate.com/pacares.
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