November 11 – 12, 2025

No floor votes taken.

Bills Voted on Third Consideration

HB 749 (MADSEN) Amends the Human Services Code to effectuate policy and program changes relating to implementation of the FY 2025-2026 budget, including:
• Requires the Department of Human Services (DHS) to issue an annual report to the legislature regarding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and update the payment distribution schedule if necessary.
• Requires DHS to conduct monthly death record checks and quarterly wage record checks against Medical Assistance and SNAP recipients.
• Mandates an additional annual report from DHS to the legislature on lottery winnings as an available resource for cash assistance applicants, vehicles counted as resources, replacement access devices, and prohibited transactions related to use of public assistance funds.
• Directs DHS to study the feasibility of a brokerage model for nonemergency medical transportation.
• Amends the weekly copayment amount for subsidized child care from $5 to be in accordance with state and federal laws.
• Repeals regulatory limits on reimbursement for behavioral health services provided outside licensed clinic premises. PASSED 46-3.
HB 416 (KHAN) Amends the Fiscal Code to effectuate policy and program changes relating to implementation of the FY 2025-2026 budget, including but not limited to:
• Provides individuals with a refundable tax credit against the personal income tax (PIT) equal to 10% of the amount the individual received from the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit and exempts Holocaust reparations paid to survivors from the PIT.
• Decouples the tax base of the corporate net income tax from Federal tax base for certain research and experimental expenditures, qualified production property, and business interest calculations.
• Establishes a program within Department of Human Services to provide childcare providers with funding for annual recruitment and retention payments to childcare staff.
• Extends the $1.95 Uniform 911 Surcharge through February 1, 2029.
• Provides for the Rural Health Transformation Program to allocate federal funds to transform the rural healthcare delivery ecosystem.
• Temporarily increases the biennial fee for home contractor registrations with the Attorney General from $50 to $100, through December 30, 2027.
• Extends the expiration of provisions requiring at least 70% of a nursing facility’s total costs to be resident care or other related costs until December 31, 2027.
• Extends the Rare Disease Advisory Council, which expired July 1, 2025, until July 1, 2028.
• Expands the Keystone Opportunity Zones expansions zones to include parcels in Cambria County, extends the KOZ at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia for an additional 10 years, and clarifies parcels within the Bellwether property in Philadelphia.
• Provides for the FY 2025-26 distribution of Tobacco Settlement Fund payments for tobacco use prevention and cessation programs, health research, uncompensated care, and Medicaid benefits for workers with disabilities.
• Provides for costs associated with the enforcement of medication rules in horse racing.
• Increases certain court fees by $1.00 and extends them to traffic citations to pay towards the salaries of full-time District Attorneys.
• Extends the abatements provided for under the Local Economic Revitalization Tax in Philadelphia, Allegheny County, and Pittsburgh from 10 years to 20 years.
• Abrogates the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative regulation.
• Expands the Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development Program to include additional permits, provides timelines for permits to be ‘Deemed Approved’, and establishes a permit tracking system.
• Authorizes digital displays on the rear or sides of public transportation vehicles. PASSED 43-6.

Bills Voted on Concurrence

SB 315 (CULVER) Amends the Public School Code by providing for various policy changes as well as funding distributions related to the FY 2025-2026 budget, including but not limited to:
• Delays reconstituting the Special Education Funding Commission by one year until January 25, 2027.
• Requires cash to be accepted as a form of payment for admission to a school-sponsored activity.
• Makes changes relating to Career and Technical Instructional Certificates, Postbaccalaureate Certification, both Special Education Certificate and Instructional Certificate Grade Spans and Age Levels; Continuing Professional and Paraprofessional Education provisions; and Career and Technical Administrative Director Certification requirements.
• Permanently prohibits an assessment of basic skills as a prerequisite for admission into an educator preparation program or as a requirement for issuance of certificate by the Department of Education.
• Strengthens attendance and truancy provisions for school entities.
• Requires charter and cyber charter schools to establish an adequate attendance policy.
• Codifies Departmental guidelines for calculating the costs for educating a special education student.
• Revises provisions relating to school safety and authorizes grant funding to be used for cybersecurity measures.
• Earmarks $100 million for school safety and mental health grants for public schools and $20.7 million for targeted school safety grants for nonpublic schools, municipalities, law enforcement agencies, and approved vendors. Establishes minimum grant awards of $100,000 for school districts and a grant amount of $70,000 for intermediate units, area career and technical schools, charter schools, regional charter schools, or cyber charter schools.
• Increases the maximum enrollment in the Drug and Alcohol Recovery High School from 20 students to 35 students for the 2025-2026 school year and allows non-Philadelphia students to enroll if spots remain after Philadelphia School District students are enrolled.
• Establishes evidence-based reading instruction requirements by the 2027–2028 school year.
• Starting with the 2026-2027 school year, requires all students who attend a public or nonpublic school
to file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) prior to completing high school or submit an opt-out form.
• Makes comprehensive changes to the laws governing funding for cyber charter schools. Establishes further requirements regarding cyber charter school enrollments, proof of residency, notifications, and enrollee wellness checks.
• Makes both the cosmetology and barber out-of-school training pilot programs permanent.
• Creates the Nursing Shortage Assistance Program to provide grants to qualified nursing services to assist nursing students with securing postgraduation employment and for the repayment of student loan expenses while obtaining a degree.
• Increases the cap for Educational Tax Credits (EITC) from $540 million to $590 million and reserves $110 million specifically for supplemental scholarships serving students in economically disadvantaged schools.
• Reconstitutes and makes permanent the Performance-based Funding Council to oversee a performance-based model for state-related universities. Establishes the State-related University Performance Fund from which money may be appropriated only by two-thirds affirmative vote by the General Assembly.
• Increases the household income eligibility requirement for the Ready-to-Succeed Scholarship program from $175,000 to $200,000.
• Increases state funding for libraries by 7.1% for FY 2025-2026.
• Updates formulas for an adequacy supplement and a tax equity supplement within the Ready-to-Learn Block Grant.
• Extends the moratorium on accepting applications for the PlanCON program through June 30, 2026.
CONCURRED IN HOUSE AMENDMENTS, AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE 44-5.

     A02141 (PITTMAN) Specifies school districts may deduct only tuition paid to cyber charter schools for non-special-education students when calculating budgeted expenditures. AGREED TO.

SB 160 (MARTIN) General Appropriations Act for FY 25-26. CONCURRED IN HOUSE AMENDMENTS TO SENATE AMENDMENTS, AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE 40-9.