The Top Five Policy Victories of 2025—and a Look Ahead to 2026

Pennsylvania saw no shortage of controversies and political battles in 2025, including a four-month-long budget impasse.

But this year also saw lawmakers enact several pro-growth policies—from expanding educational choice to freeing Pennsylvanians from a devastating energy tax.

Here are the top five pro-taxpayer policy victories of 2025 (in reverse order).

#5. Increasing Accountability in Human Services

With the recent news of the massive welfare fraud in Minnesota, it is of the utmost importance that lawmakers improve the transparency and accountability of these programs.

Thankfully, Pennsylvania did just that. Negotiations for the 2025–26 budget added the following reforms:

• Requiring regular crosschecks—monthly for death records and quarterly for wage records—for Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollment.
• Limiting medically unnecessary benefits, such as weight-loss medication.
• Enacting new SNAP reporting requirements that will reduce Pennsylvania’s excessive error rate, which resulted in about $2.3 billion in improper payments.

With adequate safeguards, Pennsylvania can ensure that funding goes toward those most in need—namely, low-income kids, seniors, and people with disabilities.   

#4. Permitting Reform

For years, Pennsylvania’s broken permitting process has stifled economic growth, delayed projects, and driven investment to other states. In 2025, meaningful reform took another step forward.

The state budget included a “deem-approved” provision, requiring agencies to act within established timelines for selected permits—or businesses could proceed with automatically approved permits. This reform injected accountability into a system long plagued by delay and bureaucratic inertia.

While more reform is still needed, deem-approved permitting represents a critical shift toward a more predictable, pro-growth regulatory environment—one that respects job creators’ time and capital.

#3. Protecting Taxpayers

Throughout 2025, Gov. Josh Shapiro and House Democrats floated several tax hikes and reckless overspending proposals. They even proposed illegally raiding Pennsylvania’s emergency reserves.

Government shouldn’t punish taxpayers for its failure to prioritize and spend prudently. The Commonwealth Foundation demonstrated that Shapiro’s overspending would result in a $1,900 tax hike for a family of four.

The result? Lawmakers enacted no new statewide taxes while preserving the Rainy Day Fund. 

By holding the line, we helped preserve the commonwealth’s fiscal stability and avoided saddling working families with higher tax burdens during uncertain economic times.

#2. Expanding Educational Choice

Despite opposition from Governor Shapiro, Pennsylvania House Democrats, and special interests, 2025 delivered real progress for families seeking better educational options for their children.

Lawmakers approved a $50 million increase in tax credits for donations to Economically Disadvantaged Schools (EDS), providing increased scholarships for students escaping the lowest-performing public schools and enrolling in better ones that meet their learning needs.

There is a strong demand for these scholarships. During the 2023–24 school year, Pennsylvania’s scholarship programs provided more than 101,000 scholarships statewide—an increase of more than 15,000 students served over the prior year.

Together, these programs are now providing record-high numbers of scholarships to Pennsylvania students, empowering parents to choose schools that work best for their children rather than being forced into a one-size-fits-all system.

Yet, these programs aren’t enough. Nearly 70,000 scholarship applicants didn’t receive an award. We plan to continue the fight to address this unmet need.

#1. Stopping Shapiro’s Energy Tax

One of the most consequential wins of the year came when Pennsylvania officially exited the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). This scheme represented a $1.6 billion energy tax on families and businesses, without legislative support.

RGGI would have driven up electricity prices, harming low-income households and small businesses and increasing electricity rates by 30 percent. This unconstitutional carbon tax would have made Pennsylvania less competitive for manufacturers and job creators. The program increases emissions (mostly by exporting them out of state), unnecessarily raises energy costs, and threatens grid reliability.

By leaving RGGI, Pennsylvania rejected costly, top-down energy mandates and reaffirmed that affordability and reliability matter. This decision protected consumers from higher utility bills and helped preserve the commonwealth’s energy independence.

Looking Ahead to 2026

While 2025 delivered important victories, much work remains.

In 2026, policymakers must focus on:

• Expanding school choice to address growing demand, including opting Pennsylvania into the new federal scholarship program, so more families can access flexible education funding.
• Protecting taxpayers from new taxes and masking overspending with gimmicks.
• Improving affordability by increasing competition and choice across energy, health care, housing, and other key sectors.
• Addressing Pennsylvania’s structural deficit through fiscally responsible spending.
• Minimizing errors and enforcing work requirements in welfare programs to ensure that assistance goes to those who genuinely need it.
• Enacting regulatory reform, including the REINS Act, sunsetting outdated regulations, and cutting red tape.
• Advancing public sector labor reforms, including paycheck protection, to safeguard workers’ rights and freedoms.

The fights ahead won’t be easy—but if 2025 proved anything, it’s that principled ideas, backed by sound research and persistent advocacy, can still win in Pennsylvania.