RAC-PA is advocating for a Moral Budget, one which will include:
- increased funding for public education
- raising the minimum wage,
- expanding community solar energy
Senator Costa, the Minority leader in the Senate, and your state Senator, is leading for our agenda in Harrisburg.
Join us to send him a letter thanking him for leadership on these issues, letting him know how many of us, his constituents, support and back his leadership.
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Dear Senator Costa,
We, the undersigned, are your constituents and members of several Pittsburgh faith communities including Temple Sinai, Rodef Shalom, Calvary Episcopal and Church of the Redeemer. We are concerned about social justice issues and have worked together most recently on advocating for gun violence prevention legislation under the leadership of the Pennsylvania Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC-PA).
We are writing to thank you for your commitment to and leadership on ensuring that so many needs which we support are met in this year’s budget. In particular, we appreciate your commitment to increasing funding for public education in the state, raising the minimum wage and expanding access to community solar energy.
We are thrilled that after decades of discriminatory underfunding, we now have the opportunity to set our children up for success by filling the $5.4 billion funding gap by increasing adequacy funding by $1 billion each year for the next 4 years to achieve full public school funding by the 2028-2029 school year. We appreciate your commitment to using our tax dollars to fix our unconstitutional public education system, not to subsidize private schools. It is our collective duty to make sure that equal access to quality education is a right for future generations.
We also appreciate your support of the 1.3 million minimum-wage workers in PA by co-sponsoring S.B. 19, to raise the state minimum wage to $15/hour beginning January 1, 2026 with a cost-of-living adjustment beginning January 1, 2027, and each year thereafter, strengthening worker protections to prevent wage theft and give municipalities the ability to set a higher minimum wage. As members of faith communities, we view this issue as one of economic justice. Together, we must lift up the vulnerable to ensure that all members of our communities have access to a dignified life.
Finally, we appreciate and fully back your support of the bipartisan Community Energy Act, S.B. 504, enabling statewide community solar installments that increase access to clean, affordable energy -- particularly for renters and low-income Pennsylvanians. Our sacred texts teach us that human beings are tasked with being stewards of our world, “to work it and to protect it” (Gen. 2:15). We have a sacred responsibility to care for the Earth and by advancing community solar we are helping to create a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren.
Again, we want to thank you for your commitment to and leadership on ensuring that the critical needs of so many Pennsylvanians are met in this year’s budget!
Sincerely,