Jun. 26, 2021
HARRISBURG – Rep. Doyle Heffley (R-Carbon) joined a bipartisan majority of his colleagues in the House of Representatives in passing the 2021-22 state budget bill late Friday. The $39.78 billion proposal increases education funding to historic levels without raising taxes while making a record deposit into Pennsylvania’s Rainy Day Fund. Heffley is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which developed the spending plan in negotiations with the Senate and governor’s office.
“Once again, the Republican Caucus in the House has held firm and we have passed a no-tax-increase budget,” said Heffley. “Pennsylvania has received a lot of federal stimulus dollars and some of that money has been placed into the Rainy Day Fund to help provide for a more secure economic future as our state recovers from the devastating economic impact of the pandemic.”
The spending plan supports educational opportunities for children throughout Pennsylvania, whether they attend a public, charter or private school with a record high allocation of $13.55 billion for PreK-12 education.
“We were able to increase education funding to a record level across the Commonwealth and a lot of these dollars are being driven out by the new funding formula which will benefit struggling school districts in Carbon County and throughout the Commonwealth,” Heffley added.
The budget also provides adequate funding support for public safety, infrastructure, human services and nursing homes.
“This budget allocates funding for 180 new state police troopers and additional money for the Capitol Police in Harrisburg. As we saw in the crime wave that swept the nation last summer, it is important to provide enough resources for those on the front line,” continued Heffley. “We allocated $279 million in federal relief funds for road and bridge projects. There is also additional money to get more people with disabilities the services they need, and Pennsylvania’s nursing homes were allocated $282 million for their ongoing COVID-19 mitigation efforts to protect our most vulnerable citizens.”
“Overall, this budget is good for the Commonwealth and Carbon County as we continue to move forward and restart the economy,” Heffley concluded.
View Representative Heffley’s budget comments below.
More information on the state budget is available at
pahousegop.com/2122PAbudget.
Representative Doyle Heffley
122nd Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Andy Briggs
717.260.6474
abriggs@pahousegop.com
RepHeffley.com / Facebook.com/RepHeffley