State Budget
Deficit Watch: June 2025
Lawmakers must protect the Rainy Day Fund. Background Pennsylvania faces serious fiscal challenges. The enacted 2024–25 General Fund budget created a $3.6 billion structural deficit. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2025–26…
Deficit Watch
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The Rainy Day Fund
Summary The Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund, commonly referred to as the Rainy Day Fund, is Pennsylvania’s largest budgetary reserve fund. Pennsylvania law dictates that lawmakers may only draw from the…
Fact Sheet
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State Law, Financial Experts, and the Governor Himself Condemn Budget Plan to Raid Rainy Day Fund
Harrisburg, Pa., February 19, 2024 — Pennsylvania significantly improved its fiscal standing over the last few years by making deposits into the Rainy Day Fund. Pennsylvania has gone from among the…
Press Release
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Follow Our Lead
Those seeking a return to fiscal sanity should take heart: Significant reforms are advancing at the state level that could spur a bottom-up course correction across the country—and Pennsylvania is…
Commentary
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Follow Our Lead
Those seeking a return to fiscal sanity should take heart: Significant reforms are advancing at the state level that could spur a bottom-up course correction across the country—and Pennsylvania is…
Commentary
Read More: Follow Our LeadState Budget
Tax Hikes Won’t Prevent Credit Downgrades
In July, S&P placed Pennsylvania on a negative credit watch, citing budget uncertainties. The move signaled a potential credit rating downgrade for Pennsylvania, which Governor Wolf is using to push for higher taxes.
Media
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Beneath the Surface: The Pennsylvania Public Pension Saga–Ten Years Later
Pennsylvania government employee-benefit plans operate in a vacuum. In a world where private-sector benefit cutbacks and cost reductions occur on a daily basis, state government in Harrisburg has not responded…
Memo
Read More: Beneath the Surface: The Pennsylvania Public Pension Saga–Ten Years LaterRegulation
Is Gov. Wolf Ignoring Credit Rating Agencies?
Last week, Gov. Wolf once again resorted to defending his latest budget vetoes citing the fear of credit rating downgrades. Oddly, he seems to miss that pension reform and…
Media
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Moody’s to Pennsylvania: You’re So Negative
The budget impasse is creating more problems for Pennsylvanians with each passing day—already costing taxpayers at least $11 million. Gov. Wolf has been using…
Media
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