State Advocacy

2022 LEGISLATIVE SESSION updates

Click here for updates on all of the bills the PaACC is following.

MARCH NOTABLE UPDATES

Democratic Governor Tom Wolf delivered his eighth and final state budget proposal to lawmakers. The proposed budget includes $43.7 billion in general fund expenditures with additional funding from the American Rescue Plan and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Find more out about Governor Wolf’s budget by clicking here.

If approved, the overall increase would be just shy of $4 billion over what lawmakers approved last summer, not including the more than $1 billion in emergency COVID-19 pandemic relief money. Wolf is calling for large increases in education and human services spending. While the state may be flush with cash right now, Republicans are more cautious and say the governor’s approach is not sustainable. They argue a big increase now could lock in bigger spending down the road. The Republican stance is based on projections from the state’s nonpartisan financial watchdog known as the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO). The IFO projects revenues about $830 million lower than Wolf’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year, 2022-23. Over five years, IFO forecasts $5 billion less cumulative revenue compared to the governor’s plan.

The state Senate and House Appropriations Committees are now holding budget hearings with the heads of state departments and agencies. After the hearings are over, it will be up to lawmakers to determine how much of Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget proposal will remain intact. The Commonwealth’s budget deadline is June 30.

The state House returns to Harrisburg for session the week of March 21. The state Senate returns March 28. The Session Schedule could change once the window for collecting signatures to get on the May 17 primary ballot is announced. Legislative candidates’ petitioning is still suspended, pending legal arguments over the yet-to-be-finalized state House and Senate maps.

Here is a look at some of the noteworthy highlights over the past month:

Governor Tom Wolf announced that the Pennsylvania Insurance Department (PID) Commissioner Jessica Altman will resign her position with the commonwealth on February 25. Current PID Chief of Staff Mike Humphreys will serve as Acting Insurance Commissioner. Jessica Altman was named Chief Executive Officer of Covered California. Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Secretary Dennis Davin resigned his position with the commonwealth on February 11. The governor named DCED Executive Deputy Secretary Neil Weaver to serve as Acting Secretary. Democratic Governor Tom Wolf is term-limited and cannot seek re-election to a third consecutive term. It is common for agency heads to leave in the final year of an administration.

In a 4-3 decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has selected a new congressional map that was drawn by a Stanford professor and proposed by Democratic plaintiffs. It is unlikely to create a big shift in the makeup of the congressional delegation. Pennsylvania is losing one congressional seat this year due to lagging population growth, going from 18 to 17 districts. The state Supreme Court agreed to assume control of the process in early February, just weeks after Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed a map sent to him by Republicans. The decision allows congressional and statewide candidates to start collecting signatures to get on the primary ballot starting Friday, Feb. 25 and running through March 15. The primary election will still be held on May 17.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court also denied a preemptive request from Pennsylvania House Republicans seeking to block new legislative lines this year, and instead use the state’s current map in the upcoming midterm election. Legislative candidates’ petitioning is still suspended, pending legal arguments over the yet-to-be-finalized state House and Senate maps.

Pennsylvania’s new Broadband Development Authority met for the first time. Act 96 of 2021 established authority to coordinate and facilitate funds in order to bring high-speed internet service to rural and other underserved communities across the state. Pennsylvania is expected to receive at least $100 million in broadband funding under the federal infrastructure plan that was signed last fall. The authority is made up of five of the governor’s cabinet secretaries, four legislators, the chair of the state Public Utilities Commission and the executive director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a legislative agency that studies rural issues. Under Act 96, the authority is required to become a single point of contact for all efforts, public and private, to expand internet access in Pennsylvania, and handle all applications for federal broadband expansion funding. It also must create a statewide plan to expand internet access and digital literacy within the next year.