--- title: 3.12.26 - House Budget Hearing - Governor's Budget Office description: Pennsylvania House Budget Hearing covers delayed payments, capital budget, growth projections, K-12 funding, IT modernization, permitting reform, housing, energy policy, and fiscal discipline. image: https://support.thedtfirm.com/hubfs/OOB2-1.png --- ![](https://support.thedtfirm.com/hs-fs/hubfs/OOB2-1.png?width=847&height=460&name=OOB2-1.png) Budget Related OOB # 3.12.26 - House Budget Hearing - Governor's Budget Office ![The DT Firm](https://support.thedtfirm.com/hs-fs/hubfs/website/image/dt-favicon.png?width=48&height=48&name=dt-favicon.png) The DT Firm March 13, 2026 **Pennsylvania House Budget Hearing** **Office of the Budget / Budget Secretary Reber – Detailed Overview / Notes** --- ### **I. Opening Budget and Capital Budget Context** **A. Delayed budget and held payments** **B. Delayed capital budget and debt issuance** **C. Bond timing and multi-tranche strategy** --- ### **II. Budget Growth Projections and Credibility of Out-Year Assumptions** **A. Skepticism over the 0.78% out-year growth projection** **B. Reber’s response** **C. Year-by-year budgeting approach** **D. Legislative frustration** --- ### **III. K-12 Adequacy Funding and the Seven-Year Timeline** **A. House Bill 2370 and adequacy path** **B. Administration’s position** **C. Reported uses of adequacy dollars** **D. Adequacy as an economic strategy** --- ### **IV. IT Modernization, CodePA, Enterprise Security, and SAP / S4** **A. Repeated enterprise security requests** **B. Distinguishing CodePA, OAIT, and enterprise security** **C. Shared service billing** **D. SAP / S4 replacement** **E. Timeline and funding** --- ### **V. Permitting Reform, Act 45, OTO, and CodePA** **A. Act 45 and permit tracking** **B. Where the program sits administratively** **C. CodePA funding** **D. Division of responsibilities** **E. Fiscal oversight** --- ### **VI. Housing Action Plan and Critical Infrastructure Investment Program** **A. Affordability and housing supply** **B. Critical Infrastructure Investment Program** **C. Intended purposes** **D. Administration of the program** **E. Tension over local zoning leverage** --- ### **VII. Energy, Grid, Data Centers, and Fast-Track Permitting** **A. Grid / energy policy connection** **B. Standards for accelerated projects** **C. Who is in charge** --- ### **VIII. Rainy Day Fund, Credit Ratings, and Fiscal Discipline** **A. Rainy Day Fund balance and drawdown concerns** **B. Reber on credit ratings** **C. Rainy Day Fund and the proposed federal response transfer** **D. Legislative concern** **E. On-time budget as a ratings factor** --- ### **IX. Affordability Initiatives: Taxes, Housing, Energy, and Rebates** **A. Administration’s affordability framework** **B. Tax credit examples** **C. Property Tax/Rent Rebate** --- ### **X. Arts Funding and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts** **A. Concerns about funding changes** **B. Reber’s response** **C. Unresolved concern** --- ### **XI. Pension / COLA Questions** **A. Pre-Act 9 retiree COLA proposal** **B. Reber’s response** --- ### **XII. State Police and the Motor License Fund** **A. Suspension of the step-down proposal** **B. Reber’s explanation** **C. Savings already achieved** --- ### **XIII. PCCD / County Reentry and Corrections Funding Consolidation** **A. Proposed new appropriation** **B. Reber’s explanation** **C. Block-grant style flexibility** --- ### **XIV. Federal Response Fund and Guardrails** **A. Why the fund is being proposed** **B. Guardrails and legislative control** **C. ICE / federal enforcement concern** --- ### **XV. Closing Themes and Overall Takeaways** **A. Main policy tensions** The hearing repeatedly returned to several core tensions: **B. Broader tone** [![up-arrow](https://43811456.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/43811456/Icons/up-arrow.svg) ](https://support.thedtfirm.com/dts-budget-blog/3.12.26-house-budget-hearing-governors-budget-office#)   ## Share this post [mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.thedtfirm.com%2Fdts-budget-blog%2F3.12.26-house-budget-hearing-governors-budget-office](mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.thedtfirm.com%2Fdts-budget-blog%2F3.12.26-house-budget-hearing-governors-budget-office) ## Keep reading [![](https://support.thedtfirm.com/hs-fs/hubfs/PSP.jpg?width=225&height=225&name=PSP.jpg) PSP Budget Related ### 3.11.26 - House Budget Hearing Pennsylvania State Police ](https://support.thedtfirm.com/dts-budget-blog/3.11.26-house-budget-hearing-pennsylvania-state-police) [![](https://support.thedtfirm.com/hs-fs/hubfs/revenue.jpg?width=284&height=177&name=revenue.jpg) Budget Related Revenue ### 3.10.26 - House Revenue Budget Hearing Summary ](https://support.thedtfirm.com/dts-budget-blog/3.10.26-house-revenue-budget-hearing-summary) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "The DT Firm", "url" : "https://support.thedtfirm.com/dts-budget-blog/author/the-dt-firm" }, "dateModified" : "2026-03-13T15:05:16.639Z", "datePublished" : "2026-03-13T15:05:07.000Z", "headline" : "3.12.26 - House Budget Hearing - Governor's Budget Office", "image" : [ "https://support.thedtfirm.com/hubfs/OOB2-1.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://support.thedtfirm.com/dts-budget-blog/3.12.26-house-budget-hearing-governors-budget-office", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://support.thedtfirm.com/hubfs/website/image/logo-DT-firm.png" }, "name" : "The DT Firm" } } ```