Dear Neighbor,

I’m thrilled to announce that after months of hard-fought negotiations, the 2026-27 Pennsylvania state budget passed the General Assembly and was signed by Governor Josh Shapiro on Sunday evening.

This bipartisan budget advances many of the core priorities House Democrats have spent years championing and fighting for. It makes significant investments in the lives of all Pennsylvanians, without raising taxes or tapping into the Rainy Day Fund, which currently stands at nearly $8 billion.

While I will certainly share much more in the weeks ahead, I want to take a moment to highlight a few things that we are excited about delivering:

• $680 million for public schools, including millions more for districts serving Centre County, bringing the four-year total to more than $2.9 billion.
• The first increase in funding for Penn State students and families in seven years.
• The first cost-of-living adjustment in nearly 25 years for some retired teachers, firefighters, police, and other state workers.
• Increased funding for healthcare and human services, including childcare, mental health, and doubling funding for rape crisis centers, like Centre Safe. 
• Incentives to attract investments to grow PA businesses and create jobs.
• Efforts to cap energy costs and protect consumers, including new requirements for data centers.
• And much more!

While we did not get everything we wanted, and there is still much more work to be done for working people, families, and our environment, this is a budget to be proud of — and one that will make a positive difference for generations to come.

I hope you can join me for our fourth annual Tele-Town Hall on Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 7 p.m. If we have your phone number on file, you’ll receive a call from my office when it starts, where you’ll have the opportunity to listen in, ask questions, and provide feedback on the issues that matter most to you in Harrisburg and in the 82nd District. If you want to make sure we have the correct number, you can always call my District Office at 814-308-0569.

For the third year in a row, my office is collecting donations for a fall Back-to-School Drive in collaboration with the State College YMCA and Centre County Pearls. We are accepting donations of new school supplies through early August and will help distribute them to students and families at our annual August cook-out at the Y in State College.

Check out the flyer below for the most in-demand supplies! And, as always, thank you for your generosity! Together, we can make sure every student has what they need to succeed.

I hope you can join me for my third annual Senior Fair and Scam Seminar, taking place on Wednesday, Oct.14. The event is hosted in collaboration with Centre Care and will feature a wide range of services, information, and resources tailored to older adults and those who love and support them.

We will also be hosting a seminar on how to identify common scams and best practices for how to avoid and prevent them.

It was an honor to celebrate not only America’s semiquincentennial, but also to kick off the Fourth of July weekend with the Corner Room’s Century in Business celebration!

A huge thanks to Jeff, Mike and their amazing team for keeping the tradition alive, and to the State College Borough, Downtown Improvement District, and Centre County for hosting a wonderful event and street party. I’m always happy to say, “Meet me at the Corner!”

On the Fourth of July, I visited the Centre Furnace Mansion for the Sunrise and Spirit of ’76, a moving event that honored the ideals, sacrifices, and stories that helped shape our nation.

We listened to a traditional fife and drum corps in period-inspired attire, enjoyed a flag ceremony led by local Girl Scouts, and heard a terrific presentation on Centre Countians who participated in the Revolutionary War. What a fantastic start to the day!

From there, we continued the celebrations with the annual Central PA Independence Day parade through downtown State College. It was wonderful to see so many folks come out to help celebrate our country, despite the hot and muggy day.

A hearty congratulations to the Roland Curtin Foundation on last weekend's ceremonial Ownership Transfer Celebration at Curtin Village. The Eagle Iron Works and Curtin Village was home to Andrew Gregg Curtin, Pennsylvania's Civil War Governor and a close ally of Abraham Lincoln.

And at one time, the Juniata Iron District, of which the Eagle Iron Works was a key contributor, produced half of all the iron in the Commonwealth and nearly 20% in the entire nation!

This conveyance was years in the making, driven by the vision of the board and a passionate group of volunteers and trustees. I was honored to be the prime sponsor of the legislation to transfer this unique and invaluable historic property from the state to the care and custody of the Roland Curtin Foundation, and to celebrate this exciting milestone with so many folks in the community, including 6th-, 7th-, and even 8th-generation descendants of Roland Curtin.

I helped mark the occasion by presenting them with an actual key from Andrew Gregg Curtin's desk and offered a few words of congratulations as they embark on this exciting new chapter. I look forward to many more fun and educational visits in the years to come. 

Finally, it is with a heavy heart that I share that my District Director Sonia is leaving our office to join the PA House Health Committee in Harrisburg. Sonia brought calm and assured leadership to our team, helping me navigate my second term in office and keeping us all organized and efficient.

Thanks to her, I have been able to stay really focused when I’m in Harrisburg, knowing that she was at the helm and steering us in the same direction. We are all going to miss working with her here in the District but I am looking forward to seeing her more in the Capitol! Please join me in saying thank you and wishing her good luck in her new role.

As always, thank you for your continued trust and support. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at RepTakac@pahouse.net or call our office at 814-308-0569.

And please follow us on  Facebook,  Instagram, and Bluesky to find out more about what we’re up to and our upcoming events in the community! 

District Office

216 W. Hamilton Ave.
State College, PA 16801

(814) 308-0569

Pennsylvania State Capitol

103-B East Wing
Harrisburg, PA 17120

(717) 772-0750