Senate Republicans in Pennsylvania advanced a bill that could reopen discussion about former Gov. Tom Wolf’s suggestion that communities without a police force should help fund the state police who provide services there.

Senate Bill 121, introduced by Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., R-Johnstown, continues the state’s recent trend of lessening reliance by the state police on money from the Motor License Fund to supply revenue for the agency.

“Legislative leaders took bold action in the last budget cycle by accelerating the 2016 fiscal code and transferring $500 million to PSP when the original plan called for $641 million,” Langerholc wrote in a legislative memo on the bill. “We must uphold this level of stewardship, which is why my legislation will cap the transfer at $500 million in perpetuity.”

The bill, which passed the Senate by a 28-21 vote last week, would drop appropriations from the Motor License Fund by $50 million each year for the state police from $250 million in 2023-24 to no appropriation in 2028-29, when state’s General Fund would entirely cover the state police costs.

The vote was almost entirely along partisan lines, with Sen. Lisa Boscola as the only Democrat to join Republicans in approving the bill.

Myles Snyder, communications director for the state police, said the agency had no comment on the bill.

In the 2001-02 budget cycle, the Motor License Fund — which gathers revenue from license and registration fees, fines, transportation user fees and the state’s gas tax — contributed $340 million to the state police budget. By 2016-17, that figure had ballooned to $800 million, and was projected to reach $1 billion in a few years. That was when lawmakers passed the 2016 fiscal code with a schedule drawing down the appropriation over a 10-year period to $500 million.

“The General Assembly was successful in the ensuing budgets with reducing the MLF transfer and supporting state police out of the General Fund,” Langerholc said. “The General Fund will continue to absorb additional costs for law enforcement services. As our revenue outlook improves, I believe we can lower the transfers even further to properly invest in our highway and bridge network.”

In 2021, the Motor License Fund generated about $2.9 billion.

In the past, up to 17% of that funding was given to state police. Even with the gradual draw-down, however, the agency still was fully funded in the 2022-23 budget. In fact, that budget grew, and the state police have financing to train 200 new cadets in the current budget cycle.

The bill also has the potential to reopen a conversation on local funding for the state police.

During his tenure, former Gov. Tom Wolf proposed that municipalities which rely on state police coverage but don’t have their own local departments should pay a fee to make up for funds usually meant for roads, bridges and transit.

Wolf’s reasoning was that the state has a roughly $8 billion funding gap in bridge and highway funding. But Republicans, who controlled the state House and state Senate, never advanced the proposal, and it was not part of Wolf’s 2022-23 budget proposal.

Senate Bill 121 now heads to the state House for its consideration.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)