Common Sense Weekly
Welcome to Common Sense Weekly! This is the Commonwealth Foundation's weekly news roundup of policy issues being debated in Harrisburg and across Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Democrats have no mandate—except to compromise
Pennsylvania Democrats took a bigger shellacking than most people realize.
By now, everyone knows that Republicans cleaned up in federal races. Donald Trump carried the Keystone State by a bigger margin than in 2016. Dave McCormick beat Bob Casey in the Senate race, although a recount is underway. And Republicans picked up two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, defying predictions from both sides of the aisle.
But fewer people know how well Republicans did in races for state officials. Republicans won the contests for attorney general, treasurer, and auditor general—the first time the party has won all three simultaneously since they became elected positions. And regarding the issues they want state leaders like Gov. Josh Shapiro and the legislature to address, voters clearly want a more conservative direction, not more of the liberal policies of the past few years.
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How to Fix Pennsylvania’s Looming Budget Dilemma
Pennsylvanians just elected 228 state senators and representatives. These candidates-turned-lawmakers spent the past several months doing all the challenging work of campaigning: giving speeches, knocking on doors, and fundraising. However, their most challenging work lies ahead.
A few weeks after lawmakers take their oaths of office, Gov. Josh Shapiro will give his fiscal year (FY) 2025–26 budget address. The governor’s budget address formally begins the multi-month process of state budget negotiations. Last year’s FY 2024–25 negotiations created a $47.6 billion state budget that spent $3.6 billion more than revenues, creating a structural budget deficit.
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Time for Shapiro to Ditch Corporate Welfare and Cut Red Tape
For two years, Gov. Josh Shapiro
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has talked about the need for government to “move at the speed of business.” Though rhetoric is plentiful in Harrisburg, the governor has taken real action to address regulatory reform. Thus far, the Shapiro administration has inventoried all of Pennsylvania’s 2,400 plus permits, sped up processing times for occupational licenses, and — just this week — introduced
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a new “fast track” permitting program for selected projects.
However, Shapiro has also pursued destructive policies, like borrowing hundreds of millions for PA SITES, a program to woo big business — all while the Commonwealth faces a $4.7 billion deficit
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.
In 2021, PA lawmakers created the Local Resource Manufacturing (LRM) tax credit to attract businesses to the Keystone State. Shortly after, Nacero, a fuel-development company, announced its plan to build a plant in Luzerne County. At the time, politicians boasted
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the project would lead to thousands of construction jobs and 450 long-term, high-paying jobs.
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Governor Shapiro’s SEPTA Bailout is Another Failure of Leadership
Gov. Josh Shapiro today announced a plan to divert federal funds to bail out the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA).
At a press conference
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in Philadelphia, Shapiro said he is taking unilateral executive action in ordering PennDOT to direct $153 million of federal highway capital funds, meant for seven highway projects across the commonwealth, to provide a bailout to SEPTA.
This follows a resolution
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passed by the Philadelphia City Council, which begged him to take this action.
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Shapiro Signs Executive Order Creating PA Permit Fast Track Program
Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Executive Order 2024-04
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, creating the Pennsylvania (PA) Permit Fast Track Program to streamline the Commonwealth’s permitting process for key economic development and infrastructure projects, increase transparency, and accelerate timelines to ensure state government delivers results quickly and efficiently. PA Permit Fast Track builds on the governor’s proven track record of improving the Commonwealth’s permitting processes, reducing wait times for businesses, workers, students, and the general public — making Pennsylvania more competitive by ensuring the Commonwealth is moving at the speed of business.
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