HARRISBURG – October 8, 2025 – State Senator Lisa M. Boscola (D-Northampton/Lehigh) today voted in favor of Senate Bill 1040, legislation to waive interest payments on loans offered by the Pennsylvania Treasury to counties and nonprofit organizations under a new program designed to help fill funding gaps caused by the ongoing state budget impasse.
Boscola said her vote was rooted in protecting taxpayers and preventing layoffs or service cuts by local governments and critical community organizations that rely on timely state funding.
“It’s disgraceful that we have to have this discussion today. We are 100 days late on our budget and that is an embarrassment,” Boscola said on the Senate floor. “Organizations, local governments and schools rely on a timely passed budget to keep their operations running. They should not be punished with interest payments because the General Assembly failed to do its job.”
The Treasury’s new loan program provides temporary financing to entities impacted by the budget stalemate. Under the program, applicants would be required to pay market rate interest on those loans, an added cost Boscola said would unfairly burden taxpayers and local governments already struggling to stay afloat. While questions remain over whether the Treasury has the legal authority to issue such loans, Boscola noted that today’s vote was about fairness, not legal interpretation.
“My vote today is not about that authority,” Boscola said. “I do not believe our non-profits, county governments, and taxpayers should have to bear additional costs through interest on a Treasury loan. The alternative is private loans with higher rates, furloughing staff, or cutting essential services. In any case, taxpayers will pay the price.”
Boscola added that the interest waiver is common sense relief for those who have already been caught in the middle of partisan gridlock.
“If in the end the Treasury is issuing these loans, we ought to waive the interest. It’s a no-brainer,” she said. “Pennsylvanians deserve better than the dysfunction that brought us here. The General Assembly needs to roll up its sleeves and finish the job we were elected to do…pass a budget now, not later.”
Senate Bill 1040 passed the Senate today and now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Video of Boscola’s Floor Remarks: https://vimeo.com/1125578691/c0df0a33f9?share=copy
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