As part of our ongoing coverage of transit issues in Philadelphia and the collar counties, we are posting the transcript of the first injunction hearing that took place on August 29th, 2025.
Our reason for doing so is to clear up some misconceptions as to what actually happened at the hearing regarding SEPTA’s statements and other testimony. While Hall Monitor reported on pertinent aspects of the hearing, other outlets omitted key facts. Below we will reproduce key moments from the hearing, and publish the entire transcript.
The first key exchange between attorney George Bochetto and SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer, where Sauer admitted he was not familiar with the Pennsylvania Act 44 of 2007, which created and defined the stabilization fund:
Q. Have you ever read Act 44?
A. I can’t say that I have read every word, but I have certainly looked at it.
Q. Do you have an understanding of what the purpose behind Act 44 was?
A. No, I do not.
The following is the exchange between attorney George Bochetto and General Manager Scott Sauer regarding Sauer’s repeated claims that SEPTA was required to maintain a balanced budget, which were not true:
Q: By the way, there has been talk out there by SEPTA that they are required to produce a balanced budget. You aware of that talk?
A. I am.
Q. In fact, SEPTA has purported that to be a requirement of SEPTA when addressing the public’s concern about the rollbacks; isn’t that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. Can you show me where, sir, in the enabling legislation for SEPTA, there is any requirement that SEPTA have a balanced budget?
A. Yeah, I cannot. We were saying that early on in the process. That was our understanding at the time. I have been since corrected in the spring.
Q. So you admit that a good portion, or at least that portion of the mantra that SEPTA was putting out there to appease the public, was false?
A. I would challenge the idea that we were putting that out to appease the public. That was my understanding of our requirement at the time. What we are required to do is produce a budget, and we have to produce a budget that is fiscally responsible to everyone, to the taxpayers of the Commonwealth who fund us. And we have to do so in a way that is, unfortunately, in this case, this yearis going to harm some folks because we are going to do — things to our service that nobody ever wanted to do.
Q. Well, when you say you didn’t put it out there to appease the public, why would you put it out there to the public that you are required to do a balanced budget?
A. As I stated, that was my understanding at the time.
Q. And you put it out there so that the public could understand that you were constrained in your decision-making; correct?
A. We put it out there to be completely transparent in all the things that we were having to consider.
Q. And you were operating under a misunderstanding about what your budgetary obligations were; correct?
A. I had a personal misunderstanding of that requirement, yeah.
The entire transcript is presented below.
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