Democrats confirmed their control over the Pennsylvania state House the day before Valentine’s Day, leaving Speaker Joanna McClinton in control of the chamber. Jim Prokopiak, who formerly held a position as a school board member in suburban Philadelphia, took over the seat from fellow Democrat John Galloway, who resigned after winning a judicial race.
Although the Democrats kept hold of their one-seat majority, they won’t be in session for nearly another month due to repairs on a leaky House ceiling. The House won’t be back for a voting session until March 17th.
When they come back, legislators will begin the process of passing the $48.3 billion budget, which Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro unveiled. Bumps to higher education weren’t the only thing in the governor’s budget address.
A big headliner of the budget is legalized recreational marijuana, which would be taxed to bring in additional revenue for the state along with skill games, similar to slots, which are common in bars. Don’t get too excited though — the budget doesn’t include a specific plan of action for a weed rollout.
Marijuana would have a 20 percent tax, a high price in comparison with Pennsylvania’s six percent liquor tax.
Another budget item that could catch the average college student’s eye is an increased minimum wage. Under Shapiro’s budget, the minimum wage would be $15 an hour — a high price for a legislature that’s failed to pass even a $10 minimum wage. The increase would result in more tax dollars to the state, which is important because the budget would take $14 million of the cash reserves the state has built up.
Many of the specifics in Shapiro’s budget will have to be passed through code bills, which can take all summer to figure out. The big-ticket items will likely be haggled over in the state House, before being sent to the Republican-controlled state Senate.
Shapiro’s budget address comes not long after his first budget was finally passed. He did not meet the June 30th deadline in his first budget as governor, although the deadline does not carry as much weight as it did decades ago. He will have to work with a divided legislature to try and hit the same deadline this year.
