(File Photo of Representative Roman Kozak)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) State Representative Roman Kozak recently spoke on the Pennsylvania state budget finally being passed yesterday after just over four months. This budget is for the 2025-2026 fiscal year and is worth $50.1 billion, and it was passed 135 days late. The initial deadline for it was June 30th, 2025. Kozak stated yesterday: “As a first-year legislator to see the process unfold the way that it did, this budget vote today had a lot of really good things in it and also had some things in it that I’m really concerned about.” Kozak thinks that the budget was worth too much money. However, Kozak stated that people are going to see the growth of the economy through some of the measures passed through the Pennsylvania state budget, like the greenhouse gas initiative which expands energy and shows the importance of consumer costs. Another advantage that Kozak saw through the budget was benefit integrity. Kozak concluded his statements yesterday by saying: “We have to look forward into the years ahead and make sure that we are growing this economy in Pennsylvania, making sure that we pass policies that will continue to do so, and be really mindful so that we don’t have to raise taxes or cut services in the years ahead.”