HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will seek more money for public schools and public transit in his new budget proposal to lawmakers. The Democrat’s proposal unveiled Tuesday also reprises his support for legalizing marijuana and introducing taxes on skill games. Shapiro’s spending proposal requests $51.5 billion for the 2025-2026 fiscal year beginning July 1, or 9% more. About $2 billion more would go to toward human services, including medical care for the poor, and another $1 billion more would go toward K-12 schools and higher ed. The proposal holds the line on personal income and sales tax rates, but uses about $4.5 billion in reserve cash to balance the budget. Passage will require legislative approval. Local lawmakers are responding to the Governor plan. Republican State Senator Camera Bartolotta called it ‘ludicrous’ and ‘insane’ saying “he was claiming numbers that no one knows where he came up with them”. Republican State Representative Tim O’Neal called it ‘more of the same’. O’Neal says ‘instead of tightening the reins for the coming fiscal year, the governor wants to increase spending by 7.5%. This makes no sense and is not sustainable”. Bud Cook, the Republican State Representative in the 50th Legislative District questioned the 7.5% increase but also called out the governor’s “trend of pushing harmful energy taxes that kill jobs here in Western Pennsylvania and could directly tax coal and natural gas power plants, which would force customers into higher energy bills”.