The Capitol building in Harrisburg on July 6, 2024 (Capital-Star photo by Ian Karbal)
On Tuesday, the first day of the new legislative session, the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate reelected Sen. Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) as Senate President Pro Tempore.
In a speech to the Senate following her unchallenged reelection, Ward highlighted what she called “a lot of big items on our agenda in Pennsylvania.”
Issues Ward highlighted included many that Republicans and Democrats have struggled to compromise on in the past, including transportation funding, school choice and cost cutting.
And though it was light on specific policy proposals, Ward’s talking points hewed towards traditional conservatism — cutting regulations and government spending. Though she acknowledged the need to work with both Democrats in her own chamber and the Democratic majority in the state House.
“We can do more to help families succeed by cutting bureaucratic red tape and less entitlement programs, but we’re gonna have to compromise,” Ward said. “We can do more to put our families and businesses first by getting out of the way where we can and providing assistance where we need to.”
Transportation
Ward didn’t mention the Philadelphia-area public transit service, SEPTA, by name, but appeared to allude to it. The agency faces a funding shortfall and has had to raise rates to compensate.
“You know, we never have enough transportation dollars,” Ward said. She advised her colleagues to “invest wisely and remain competitive.”
Last session, funding for SEPTA and other public transportation was a sticking point between Democrats, who make up a large majority of the Philadelphia delegation in both chambers, and Republicans, who held out for a concurrent increase in money for highways, bridges and other transportation infrastructure
The budget included a compromise of $80 million in new transit funding, which was far smaller than the $283 million Gov. Josh Shapiro sought in his budget proposal, in exchange for an additional $80 million in transportation funding. In November, Shapiro directed $153 million to the struggling transportation agency, using federal highway funds largely made up of revenues from a motor fuel or “gas tax.”
Shapiro directs $153M in federal highway funds to stop SEPTA ‘death spiral’
Ward appeared to reference this in her speech, saying, “It’s important that we’re disciplined, to use our gas tax revenues as intended, and build a more innovative, modern and realistic network.”
On the other side of the Capitol, in the Democratic-controlled state House, Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery) also addressed transit agency funding in a speech on the theme of bipartisanship. He noted that transit funding is not only an issue for Philadelphia but for residents of the four “collar counties” that make up the greater metropolitan area.
“It is a region of our Commonwealth that provides so much of the revenue and business activity that funds this entire Commonwealth,” Bradford said. “We would be remiss. We would be missing our duty if we don’t deal with transit.”
Education
Ward also appeared to reaffirm a desire for increased funding for “school choice” programs, which allow public funds to supplement private school tuition for some students.
While last session saw a historic increase in funding for public schools, House Democrats largely blocked increases to school choice funding through programs like vouchers and publicly-funded scholarships to private schools, which Republicans backed.
“When it comes to education, we need to make sure all children are ready to succeed, not by only making historic investments,” Ward said. She called for lawmakers to ensure that children can access a quality education “regardless of where they live … We owe it to those kids.”
In 2023, Shapiro voiced support for increased school choice funding, though ultimately backed down during that year’s budget negotiations following objections from Democratic lawmakers. The issue reemerged during last year’s budget negotiations, with Republican Senate leaders accusing Shapiro of breaking promises with his previously withdrawn support.
At least one Democratic Senator, Sen. Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia) has voiced support for funding school vouchers, citing the quality of the public schools in some of the state’s poorer areas, including Philadelphia.
Ward’s counterpart in the House, Speaker Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia), who was reelected to the position Tuesday, counted last year’s overhaul of the public school funding formula, which included a large budget increase, among the major bipartisan achievements of the 2023-2024 session.
“We were able to put our differences aside, roll up our sleeves with a willing mind and do the impossible,” McClinton said. “We created a framework to finally fairly fund every single school in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Health
Ward spoke in broad terms about the need to address public health issues impacting seniors and rural residents.
“Nursing homes are struggling,” Ward said. “They are taking care of our most vulnerable and we all want folks in those nursing homes to have the best care.”
Along with struggling nursing homes, Ward brought up rural hospitals. Though in the brief speech, Ward focused more on highlighting issues than proposing specific policies, she suggested, “Maybe we need to right-size some of these buildings, hospitals.”
Energy and regulation
Ward also spoke about the need to support the energy sector, appearing to nod towards both fossil fuels and renewable resources.
“We have an opportunity to make our economy prosperous for generations if we work to make an all of the above energy strategy,” Ward said, calling on lawmakers to [embrace] our state’s energy potential.”
Speaking more specifically to the government’s role in supporting a renewable energy sector over fossil fuels, Ward said, “we should not be making policies that pick winners and losers.”
Ward also specifically backed “permit reform,” giving a shoutout to her colleague, Sen. Kristen Phillips-Hill (R-York). Phillips-Hill has been an advocate for cutting what she has called “government red tape” by speeding up the environmental protection permit process for businesses. And she has recently called for further permitting reform across more government agencies.
More broadly, Ward also said lawmakers should “[make] our business tax structure more favorable.”
‘Right-sizing’
Ward also spoke about what she called “right-sizing,” or consolidating resources where possible. As examples, she proposed potentially merging low-enrollment schools, or closing government buildings where few employees regularly work. She also floated requiring remote workers to return to their offices to justify the investments in their public offices.
Speaking about government-owned office buildings in her own district, Ward said, “We either need to right-size or we need to put people back to work because this is a waste of money. I’m sure when I get home I’m gonna have eggs at my house from everyone who’s working at home, but whatever.”
Despite largely focusing on traditional conservative solutions to policy problems, Ward repeatedly cited the need to “compromise” with her Democratic colleagues.
“While we’re not all the same party or ideology, we are all here for one basic reason,” Ward said. “We came here to make change and make things better.”
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