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$32.7B Budget Package Speeds Toward Pennsylvania House Vote

Matt Rourke
/
AP

Key elements of a $32.7 billion spending package for Pennsylvania's approaching fiscal year are heading toward a state House vote.

The no-new-taxes spending package unveiled just a day earlier is scheduled for a House vote Wednesday after Republican majority leaders negotiated it behind closed doors with Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. It still requires Senate approval.

The package increases spending through the state's main operating account by 2 percent over the current year's enacted budget of $32 billion. The increase goes largely to public schools, social services, pensions and prisons. It also creates a $60 million off-budget grant program for school safety spurred by February's school shooting in Florida.

However, House officials say it taps one-time cash sources to shift about $800 million in Medicaid costs off-budget.

The new fiscal year begins July 1.