In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation to move Pennsylvania to a biennial (two-year) state budget cycle.

Our state budget is more than just numbers on a page. It’s a reflection of our priorities as a Commonwealth. Whether it’s education, health care, human services, infrastructure, or economic development. Yet too often, the budget process itself gets bogged down in gridlock, with missed deadlines becoming routine rather than the exception. For the fourth year in a row, the budget will be late. This chronic dysfunction hurts working families, school districts, and local governments that rely on predictable state funding to serve our communities.

A two-year budget cycle would bring much-needed stability and predictability to the process. It would encourage long-range planning by state agencies and organizations that depend on state support.

This revised timeline, with a deadline of June 30th in a non-election year, would create space for the General Assembly to conduct more thorough review and evaluation of state programs, with a stronger focus on performance and outcomes. It would allow lawmakers to spend more time monitoring the effectiveness of state investments and adjusting policy as needed, rather than re-litigating the entire budget from scratch every twelve months.

We have a responsibility to make government work for the people of Pennsylvania. Reforming our budget process to a two-year cycle is a step toward more responsible, accountable, and efficient governance. I invite you to join me in supporting this important initiative.