Current:Home > Contact-usGovernor’s plan to boost mass transit aid passes Pennsylvania House, but faces long odds in Senate-LoTradeCoin
Governor’s plan to boost mass transit aid passes Pennsylvania House, but faces long odds in Senate
View Date:2024-12-23 23:20:02
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives on Wednesday approved Gov. Josh Shapiro’s plan to boost funding for public transportation systems still trying to recover pre-pandemic ridership numbers and facing a drop-off in funding when federal COVID-19 aid runs out.
The Democratic-controlled chamber voted 106-95, with all but one Democrat in favor, and all but five Republicans opposing it.
The bill would deliver an increase of about 20% in state aid to public transportation systems, proposed by the Democratic governor in his budget plan earlier this year. However, the bill faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Senate, with Republicans protesting the amount of the funding increase and objecting to procedures that House Democrats used to pass the bill.
Under the bill, the state would increase the share of state sales tax collections devoted to public transit agencies from 4.4% of receipts to 6.15%. That would translate to an estimated increase of $283 million in the 2024-25 fiscal year on top of the $1.3 billion going to transit agencies this year.
About two-thirds of the state aid goes to the Philadelphia-area Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA, and another 20% goes to Pittsburgh Regional Transit. The rest goes to 29 public transportation systems around Pennsylvania.
The bill also excuses transit agencies from a 15% fund-matching requirement for five years.
Democrats defended the increase as an economic good and necessary to keep transit systems from cutting services or increasing fares.
“This is going to benefit all of us, and it’s going to keep Pennsylvania moving,” said Rep. Jennifer O’Mara, D-Delaware.
House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, called the bill a “mass transit bailout.” The size of the subsidy increase is “eye-popping,” Cutler said, and he suggested that more funding won’t fix the things that are ailing public transit systems, including lagging ridership, rising fuel costs and high-profile incidents of crime.
“There are structural problems in mass transit systems that funding alone will not solve,” Cutler said.
Cutler’s criticisms echoed those in the past by Senate Republicans. In a statement Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, said simply that Senate Republicans haven’t agreed to pass the bill.
Republicans also protested that the bill could be found unconstitutional by a court after the public transit provisions were inserted into a bill created for an entirely different purpose. Senate Republicans wrote the original bill to give landowners an income tax deduction for the use of natural gas, coal, oil or other natural deposits on their land.
Public transportation authorities across the U.S. have yet to fully recover their ridership after it dropped off during the pandemic and mass transit advocates say systems lack the revenue to avoid service cuts when federal COVID-19 relief aid runs out.
In addition, they say, operating costs have grown, with inflation that hit a four-decade high in 2022 and rising wages and fuel prices.
__
Follow Marc Levy: http://twitter.com/timelywriter
veryGood! (7421)
Related
- Supreme Court seems likely to allow class action to proceed against tech company Nvidia
- National Teachers Group Confronts Climate Denial: Keep the Politics Out of Science Class
- A Colorado library will reopen after traces of meth were found in the building
- Editors' pick: 8 great global stories from 2022 you might have missed
- Saving for retirement? How to account for Social Security benefits
- Joining Trend, NY Suspends Review of Oil Train Terminal Permit
- Today’s Climate: September 4-5, 2010
- Editors' pick: 8 great global stories from 2022 you might have missed
- 'Wanted' posters plastered around University of Rochester target Jewish faculty members
- Acid poured on slides at Massachusetts playground; children suffer burns
Ranking
- Fighting conspiracy theories with comedy? That’s what the Onion hopes after its purchase of Infowars
- Save Time and Money Between Salon Visits With This Root Touch-Up Spray That Has 8,700+ 5-Star Reviews
- Why Maria Menounos Credits Her Late Mom With Helping to Save Her Life
- You Didn't See It Coming: Long Celebrity Marriages That Didn't Last
- Jenn Tran's Ex Devin Strader Throws Shade At Her DWTS Partner Sasha Farber Amid Romance Rumors
- FEMA Flood Maps Ignore Climate Change, and Homeowners Are Paying the Price
- Get 2 MAC Setting Sprays for the Price of 1 and Your Makeup Will Last All Day Long Without Smudging
- Historian on Trump indictment: Our system is working … Nobody is above the law
Recommendation
-
Inter Miami's MLS playoff failure sets stage for Messi's last act, Alexi Lalas says
-
Jennifer Lopez Reveals How Her Latest Role Helped Her Become a Better Mom
-
Today’s Climate: August 28-29, 2010
-
Rebuilding collapsed portion of I-95 in Philadelphia will take months, Pennsylvania governor says
-
Are banks, post offices, UPS and FedEx open on Veterans Day? Here's what to know
-
LeBron James' Wife Savannah Explains Why She's Stayed Away From the Spotlight in Rare Interview
-
COVID spreading faster than ever in China. 800 million could be infected this winter
-
Children Are Grieving. Here's How One Texas School District Is Trying to Help