With our 24-hour news cycle, it’s easy to read about and then forget the vital work recently accomplished by the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the passage of a fiscal year 2024-2025 budget.

Legislators approached this year’s state budget process with clear goals, including respecting taxpayers, expanding opportunities for Pennsylvania families, and increasing educational opportunities responsibly.

Although this year’s budget negotiations were challenging, Senate Republicans, working with the Governor and a Democrat majority in the House, made significant progress toward these goals by reaching an agreement on a pro-growth, pro-jobs, pro-families plan that aggressively boosts economic development and job opportunities while protecting the Commonwealth’s Rainy Day Fund to hopefully counter any future budget shortfalls that often lead to tax increases.

In recent years, Chester County has struggled to attract and retain employers to provide quality job opportunities for residents despite our diverse industries of agriculture, education, financial services, healthcare, and life sciences.

This year’s budget makes major strides toward making our region more competitive by breaking down the barriers that have hindered job growth in the past.

The state’s tax structure has historically been a deterrent to business expansion, as Pennsylvania used to have one of the nation’s highest Corporate Net Income Tax (CNIT) rates. The budget continues to phase down the CNIT, keeping us on track to take this tax rate from one of the nation’s highest to one of the lowest in the years ahead.

In addition, $400 million is included for the PA Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites (SITES) Program to ensure business sites are prepared for development right away. Pennsylvania has received over 100 applications requesting more than $236 million in funding as part of the initial PA SITES pilot program — demonstrating the need for more state investment in this year’s budget. Helping sites become “shovel ready” to attract businesses and good high-paying jobs is critical if we are to compete nationally and across the globe.

The budget also contains funding for the innovative Grow PA post-secondary education and career preparation plan, which offers scholarships to attract and retain young people to pursue high-demand careers and remain in Pennsylvania after graduation, helping Pennsylvania reverse its demographic decline. With an additional $25 million for career and technical education and $5 million for equipment grants, Pennsylvania, in partnership with GrowPA, can ensure the state’s workforce is ready to tackle the challenges facing the global economy in the years ahead.

Also included in the budget is the process of phasing out the State Police from the Motor License Fund and includes an additional $80.5 million in one-time dollars for mass-transit and a match amount to ensure more resources are available to help repair our roads and bridges. Ensuring our infrastructure is safe and able to support our numerous modes of transportation should be a top priority for every public servant.

Each of these reforms is important individually but taken together; they send a powerful message that Pennsylvania is ready to compete and bring new opportunities for growth and prosperity to our communities.