Budget season arrives in Pennsylvania Capitol as lawmakers prepare for debate over massive surplus

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania lawmakers return to session Monday to begin a four-week countdown to the start of the state’s next fiscal year, with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican lawmakers offering competing visions for how to use a massive surplus.

Shapiro has floated an admittedly “ambitious” $48.3 billion budget plan that would rely on about $3 billion in reserve cash and would feature a top Democratic priority: boosting public school funding.

Republicans, who control the state Senate, said the governor’s proposal would put the state on course to drain a $14 billion surplus within a few years before they passed their own $3 billion tax-cutting plan, which Democrats said would have a similar effect.

Meanwhile, June may also feature efforts to reconcile differences between competing plans from Shapiro and Republican lawmakers to boost college enrollment and affordability in Pennsylvania.

The ramping up of negotiations before the July 1 start of the fiscal year comes against the backdrop of an ugly budget blowup last year over an 11th-hour deal between Shapiro and Republicans to start a new $100 million private school funding program. Democrats who control the House dug in against it, precipitating a fight over a $45 billion budget plan that dragged into December.

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