After 135 days and $1.5 billion cut, arguably the most partisan sticking point that sealed the budget deal was not found within the commonwealth’s overdue spending plan at all: upholding the state’s participation in a regional carbon tax program.

The Democratic House majority and its heavyweight ally, Gov. Josh Shapiro, conceded the six-year-long battle to convince Republican leaders in the Senate that spending $3 billion more than they initially wanted was worth it.

Budget observers tend to agree. On Monday, the Commonwealth Foundation said the governor’s word to halt the state’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was ultimately worth the wait for taxpayers.

Megan Martin, the nonprofit’s chief operating officer and general counsel, said that despite the pain and suffering of agencies burdened by a dual federal and state government shutdown, accepting Shapiro’s original offer would have been worse.

“What I would say is by virtue of both sides negotiating and going back and forth, we got a better result,” she said. “Had the Senate just given into the budget that the governor had asked for, Pennsylvania would be in a dire situation financially.”

That plan would have legalized recreational cannabis and taxed skill game operators in hopes of collecting close to $1 billion new revenue – a figure that most critics said was optimistic at best. Senators would have also rubber-stamped $290 million for public transit systems, overriding their concerns about safety and financial responsibility in local government.

And, there would have been a hefty withdrawal from the state’s $7 billion emergency savings account to pay for recurring expenses that critics like the foundation say weren’t emergencies at all. The move would create a multi-billion deficit that would require steep program cuts or potential tax increases to make up the difference.

None of that came to pass. Instead, Democrats got more than $800 million for public schools, keeping in line with a four-year schedule to boost spending to fulfill a constitutional directive to equalize district funding.

Despite the final $50.1 billion price tag, dropping the carbon tax plan likely saved 22,000 jobs and up to 30% on utility bills, said the foundation.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, often called RGGI, began nearly two decades ago with a handful of mid-Atlantic and Northeast states that agreed to cap emissions from power generators. It’s grown to include 10 states, including most of Pennsylvania’s neighbors, and has collectively reduced harmful pollutants by half and at a rate faster than the rest of the country.

The data can be deceiving, according to RGGI’s critics. To them, Pennsylvania’s entry would have been unprecedented and risky. It would have been the only state to do so without legislative approval and, as the region’s top power exporter, the reality of charging generators for emissions would spike costs for everyone.

Pennsylvania’s bounty of natural gas deposits, and the more efficient power plants built across the region to serve utility customers, have generated the bulk of those reductions thanks to a transition away from coal. But the looming threat of RGGI has discouraged investment in recent years, diminishing the impact.

“While other states have cut back on their electricity generation and really exported that, Pennsylvania has increased our electricity generation while simultaneously decreasing our electricity emissions,” said Nathan Benefield, chief policy officer at the foundation. “That is a success story that needs to be told. We don't need an energy tax.”

For supporters like EDF Action, an environmental advocacy group, abandoning the program was unnecessary.

“Governor Shapiro and legislative leaders have needlessly sacrificed Pennsylvania’s most promising tool for lowering household electricity bills and reducing pollution,” said Amanda Leland, the group’s managing director, said after the governor signed the budget. “Pennsylvanians are calling for cleaner air, lower energy bills and a responsible state budget – not for their governor to lock the state into dirty, expensive energy sources of the past.”

States in RGGI that will exceed the emissions cap can buy credits from others in an annual auction, the proceeds of which are used to support renewable energy development and customer assistance programs.

“This is not a day for a victory lap,” Leland said. “Today’s action is a huge loss for Pennsylvania families who could have seen RGGI revenue provide relief as electric prices skyrocket across the country.”