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Pa. passes $50.8B budget that sends more money to poorest schools, skips difficult policy questions
Pennsylvania lawmakers passed a $50.8 billion state budget that includes a new requirement for data centers to report their annual energy and water consumption. The budget also maintains an existing sales tax exemption for certain data centers, despite recent bipartisan opposition to its continuation. The plan prioritizes education investments and utilizes accounting maneuvers to avoid new taxes or major policy changes.
Pennsylvania lawmakers have passed a $50.8 billion state budget, sending it to Gov. Josh Shapiro. The budget, finalized during a rare weekend session almost two weeks past the statutory deadline, includes significant investments in education and a pension increase for retired workers.
Key provisions related to data centers mandate that they report their annual energy and water consumption to the state. Additionally, the budget preserves a sales tax exemption for data centers of a certain size, a policy that had faced growing bipartisan opposition in the weeks leading up to the budget's passage.
The budget avoids new revenue-generating policies, such as new taxes on tech firms, and relies on off-budget funds and accounting adjustments to maintain the state's rainy day fund. Fiscal conservatives criticized these maneuvers, with State Rep. Marc Anderson (R., York) likening them to "cooking the books."
Other policy questions, such as the regulation of skill games and the legalization of recreational marijuana, were not addressed in the final deal. While state Sen. Nikil Saval (D., Philadelphia) expressed concerns that the budget defers critical issues like rising energy and housing costs, House Appropriations Chair Jordan Harris (D., Philadelphia) described it as a "good budget."