PA Senate Agenda

The legislative session is in full swing as bills are now starting to be voted from committee and going to the full House and Senate floor for final votes. To discuss the Senate agenda are Sen. Jay Costa (D-Allegheny), Senate Democratic Leader; and Sen. Dave Argall (R-Schuylkill/Berks), Senate Republican Policy Committee chair. Property taxes, minimum […]

PA Budget

Budget hearings continue into their third week as the governor’s budget proposal is scrutinized by the House and Senate and agency heads come before each chamber’s Appropriations Committee. Guests Sen. Pat Browne (R-Lehigh), Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia/Montgomery), Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, talked about the […]

Higher Education

According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, tuition at a public university averages $6,131 nationwide. In Pennsylvania, the average cost is $12,186. In 2018, the PA State System of Higher Education received $468 million from the state, about 27 percent of its total budget. The average across the country is around 54 […]

Death Penalty

When Gov. Tom Wolf began his first term four years ago, one of the first executive orders he signed was one placing a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Pennsylvania. That order does not prevent the state’s 67 county district attorneys from pursuing the death penalty during murder prosecutions. In 2018, the […]

Sunday Hunting

For the first time in years, a bill that would allow hunting on Sundays in Pennsylvania has been approved by the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee. It’s future in the full Senate and House are uncertain, and it’s unclear when a floor vote in the Senate may take place. To discuss Sunday hunting are Mark […]

Public School Funding

In the budget Gov. Tom Wolf proposed last week, $13.7 billion is earmarked for public education, a 3.3 percent increase, which includes $200 million more in the basic education subsidy, and $13.8 million to raise teacher salaries in some urban and rural districts. The governor’s public school funding proposal, pensions, full day kindergarten and pre-Kindergarten […]

Labor and the PA Budget

Gov. Wolf has called for an increase in the minimum wage, higher base salaries for teachers, and increases in funding for workforce development programs in the budget he proposed on Feb. 5. To discuss the governor’s budget proposal as it relates to organized labor are: Rick Bloomingdale, President PA AFL-CIO; Rich Askey, President of the […]

Health Care and the PA Budget

Funding for the Health and Human Services Department is typically the biggest expenditure in the state budget. Implementing the Affordable Care Act in Pennsylvania included Gov. Tom Wolf’s expansion of Medicaid to provide health insurance to low-income Pennsylvanians. To discuss the health care in Pennsylvania are: Jeff Bechtel, Senior Vice President of Health Economics and Policy […]

PA Budget

Gov. Tom Wolf presented his fifth budget address to the General Assembly on Tuesday. Though he did not call for tax increases, the budget request is about $1 billion more than the previous fiscal year – $34.1 billion. A companion proposal will ask the Legislature for $4.5 billion in borrowing to fund infrastructure projects, including significant […]

PA Budget

Gov. Tom Wolf presents his 5th state budget to legislators on Tuesday. Several proposals included increasing the state minimum wage to $12, imposing a tax on natural gas extracted from Marcellus Shale, with funds earmarked to fund infrastructure improvements To discuss those proposals were: Chris Borick, Director of the Institute of Public Opinion, at Muhlenberg […]