Pennsylvania

Decision instrument

Capital-budget debt needs no voter vote if it stays inside the constitutional multiple. A separate purpose can go to the voters.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? Pennsylvania Constitution, Article VIII, Section 7. Voter debt is approved by a majority of those voting on the question, and that door has no dollar cap. The no-vote door is limited to projects itemized in a capital budget, and only if all net debt outstanding stays at or under 1.75 times the average of annual tax revenues deposited in the previous five fiscal years, as certified by the Auditor General. “Debt” here includes authority obligations repaid from Commonwealth revenues. It does not include the part an Auditor General says will be repaid by user charges, lease rentals paid by a school district or other local taxing authority, or a multi-state agency. If the appropriation is short, the State Treasurer sets aside the first revenues that come in. Article VIII, Section 9, bars the Commonwealth from assuming a county or municipal debt except to suppress insurrection or to help pay the Commonwealth’s own debt.

Debt statement

No Annual Debt Statement of the New Jersey kind.

What yearly filing states gross debt, deductions, and how close the issuer is to its limit? State debt is in the annual report. The constitutional net-debt count is a different cut from general obligation principal, and it was measured at August 31, 2025, not June 30. County and municipal dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

A county’s nonelectoral debt stops at 300% of its borrowing base. Debt the voters approve is outside that cap.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? 53 Pa.C.S. §§ 8021 and 8022. Nonelectoral plus lease-rental debt stops at 400% of the borrowing base for a county, 350% for other local government units, and 200% for a school district of the first class. Nonelectoral debt alone is 250% for those other units and 100% for that school district. A majority of the votes cast at a general or special election takes the debt out of those limits. Self-liquidating and subsidized debt can be excluded. The Commonwealth’s own no-vote ceiling, computed as of August 31, 2025, was $84.186 billion. Net debt counted against it was $10.060 billion.

Conflict rule

A conflict is using the office for a private pecuniary benefit. More than 5% of a business is a financial interest, not the test itself.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? 65 Pa.C.S. §§ 1102 and 1103. The benefit can run to the official, immediate family, or a business with which the official or family is associated. A de minimis impact is not a conflict. Neither is an action that hits a whole class, such as an industry or occupation, to the same degree. A financial interest is more than 5% of the equity of a for-profit business, or more than 5% of the assets of an interest in its debt. An official who would have to vote on a conflict must abstain and file a written memo before the vote.

Geography

Sixty-seven counties.

What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? FIPS 42001 through 42133. Cities, boroughs, townships, school districts, and authorities also borrow. Dollar rows stay blank.

Primary money record

$10.946 billion general obligation bonds.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Annual report, year ended June 30, 2025. Principal, excluding premiums and discounts: $10,946,488,000. It began the year at $10,551,614,000. Additions were $2,791,365,000. Reductions were $2,396,491,000. Unamortized premium was still $669 million. Unamortized discount was $5 million. Authorized and unissued was $141.732 billion, mostly the capital-facilities line. That is leftover permission. It is not bonds outstanding.

Who pays the coupon

Full faith and credit. In fiscal 2026 the principal due is $1.026 billion and the interest due is $470 million.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? That schedule is the general obligation bonds only. During the year ended June 30, 2025, the funds that transferred money to the capital debt fund were the General Fund, $1.123 billion; the Motor License Fund, $122 million; the Gaming Fund, $50 million; and the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority redemption fund, $52 million.

Other obligors

Other long-term obligations: $5.972 billion. Do not add them to the $10.946 billion.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? That figure is leases, self-insurance, compensated absences, and claims. It is not bond principal. The Turnpike Commission, a separate unit, had $956 million of special revenue bonds at May 31, 2025. The Motor License Fund stands behind those bonds if the commission misses a payment. No draw has been made. The next year on those particular bonds is principal $21 million and interest $37 million. That $956 million is not the Turnpike’s whole debt.

Book-entry wall

Cede & Co., at the Depository Trust Company.

Who is the registered owner on ordinary public paper? Series-level confirmation still waits on that official statement. Beneficial owners stay unnamed.