My latest updates on SEPTA funding and the State Budget

Rep. Melissa Shusterman August 25, 2025 | 3:41 PM

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My Update on SEPTA Funding Negotiations

I am working hard to continue to advocate, negotiate and fund SEPTA adequately. In early August, the House - including my YES vote – sent the Senate a new omnibus transportation bill (our 5th in the past 2 years) which includes safety, security, cleanliness and oversight requirements – things Republican state Senators representing southeastern PA have said publicly are needed to fund SEPTA. It also includes funding for roads and bridges across the state – without raising taxes.

The sticking point is the Republican-led Senate. On Aug 12th – for the first time this year – the Senate passed their own budget and transportation bills. Their budget bill was a repeat of last year’s budget, which is not practical. The transportation bill was even more troubling. The Senate’s “solution” for SEPTA funding is to take money from the transportation trust fund, which is used for capital expenditure projects like new train cars, construction projects and the lease payment to Amtrak for the Paoli-Thorndale line, and to move it to the operating expense fund. My colleagues and I do not feel this is a serious proposal – at all. It’s certainly not sustainable. The Senate bill was voted down in a House committee the very next day. My colleagues and I continue to call on the Republican Senate leadership to get serious about sustainable funding solutions for mass transit across the state.

Republican state Senators Farry, Pennycuick and Picozzi – who represent districts in southeastern PA -- have said publicly that they support SEPTA -- the focus / push is that they need to pressure their Senate leadership to put forward real solutions. Not games of moving money from one pot to another and calling it new funding.

If you would like to advocate to the Republican Senate majority leadership and the Senators I just mentioned, you can contact them and tell them to get serious about real funding solutions for SEPTA:

Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (717) 787-8724 Senator Kim Ward (724) 600-7002

Senator Joe Picozzi (215) 281-2539 Senator Frank Farry (215) 638-1784

Senator Tracy Pennycuick (215) 541-2388

My Tax Indexing Proposal – A “Big Picture” Discussion on the State Budget and Funding Communities

Southeastern PA is the driver of the economic engine of the entire state. We contribute 40% of the revenue to our state coffers and while we’ve been on board for decades with helping to fund roads and bridges in the rest of the state, I believe our region is not OK with doing so at the expense of SEPTA. I have been proud of our Commonwealth and its diversity. Several of the bills I’ve introduced address our rural economy. For years I’ve listened to my honorable Republican colleagues disparage southeast PA, our communities, our diversity, our schools, our mass transit, and our quote-unquote out-of-control spending without offering any meaningful solutions or compromise that is responsible or economically effective. In response, I’m offering up an “out of the box” proposal for a collection of counties to keep their tax revenue and make their own decisions on how to spend it -- based on their own priorities. Southeastern PA can decide to use our tax dollars to fund mass transit and education, and other parts of the state can spend their tax dollars how they see fit. Yes, I realize this is a bit “tongue in cheek;” however, I do believe a “big picture” discussion about the importance of southeastern PA’s economy is in order.

You can read my proposal here – Indexing of State Tax Collections

Over the past week, my Tax Indexing proposal has been covered in the news as well:

Amid SEPTA fight, lawmaker proposes regional funding plan - WHYY

Southeastern PA Wants our Tax Money Back to Fund SEPTA

This map illustrates my proposal of separating counties into three economic groupings. Personal Income Tax (PIT) revenues made up nearly 41% of total state tax revenues last fiscal year. When looking at the Category A counties in dark green, we make up nearly 75% of the state’s population and contribute over 81% of the state’s Personal Income Tax revenue.