Pennsylvania Budget Signed Without Adult-Use Cannabis Provisions

Budget Passes After Weekend Legislative Sprint

The Pennsylvania General Assembly concluded budget negotiations with Sunday sessions in both chambers, delivering a spending plan to the governor's desk by Monday morning. The House Appropriations Committee reported the fiscal year 2026-27 budget passed the House 102-101 and the Senate 26-24, with final votes occurring after midnight on July 13. Shapiro signed hours later. The process had already blown past the June 30 constitutional deadline.

The $47.6 billion spending plan represents a 3.2 percent increase over the prior year. It includes $200 million in new education funding and a $150 million reserve allocation, but it doesn't contain the cannabis legalization framework House Democrats had included in their initial proposal in May.

Adult-Use Cannabis Provisions Removed in Final Negotiations

The final budget excludes adult-use cannabis legalization language that appeared in earlier drafts. This marks the third consecutive year Pennsylvania lawmakers have declined to advance recreational cannabis in budget talks. House Bill 2500, introduced by Representative Amen Brown in April 2026, would have established a regulated adult-use market with a 20 percent excise tax and projected $250 million in annual revenue by fiscal year 2028. That bill never reached a floor vote.

Senate Republicans, who hold a 28-22 majority, opposed inclusion of cannabis provisions in the budget. Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman said in a June 28 floor statement that his caucus wouldn't support any budget containing adult-use legalization, citing concerns about federal scheduling and workplace safety standards. Rather than risk a prolonged budget impasse, House Democratic leaders chose to strip the cannabis language.

The decision to remove cannabis from the budget reflects the persistent divide between Pennsylvania's Democratic-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate, a split that's stalled legalization efforts since the 2022 midterm elections.

Medical Cannabis Expansion Advances

The signed budget does include $12 million for medical cannabis program expansion. That funding will support new dispensary permits and a patient assistance program for low-income cardholders. Pennsylvania's medical cannabis program served 467,000 active patients as of June 2026, a 9 percent increase from the prior year, according to the Department of Health. The new funding will allow the state to issue up to 15 additional dispensary permits in underserved counties and provide subsidies for patients whose household income falls below 200 percent of the federal poverty line.

The budget also allocates $3 million for research grants through the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Advisory Board, which will fund clinical studies at state universities on cannabis efficacy for PTSD, chronic pain, and opioid-use disorder. These grants represent the first state-funded cannabis research initiative in Pennsylvania since the medical program launched in 2018.

What Comes Next for Pennsylvania Adult-Use Legalization

With the budget signed and adult-use cannabis off the table, legalization advocates are now focusing on standalone legislation for the fall session. Representative Brown's HB 2500 remains in the House State Government Committee, where it's picked up 38 cosponsors but no scheduled hearing date. Senate Bill 846, a companion bill introduced by Senator Sharif Street in March, has 12 cosponsors and similarly lacks a committee vote.

For full background on this story, see the CannIntel topic hub on Pennsylvania adult-use legalization. Polling conducted by Franklin & Marshall College in May 2026 showed 62 percent of Pennsylvania voters support legalizing adult-use cannabis. Still, Republican legislative leaders have consistently cited federal Schedule I status and the absence of a federal banking framework as reasons to delay state action. The next realistic legislative window for cannabis legalization in Pennsylvania is the 2027-28 session, which begins in January 2027.