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Environmental Groups Unveil Guidelines for Lawmakers

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A coalition of five, statewide environmental groups has created a series of guidelines they want lawmakers to follow this session.  “We’ve outlined five issues we think are likely to appear before the legislature in some fashion during the year, and wanted to give them an early opportunity to understand what it means to be in favor of the environment,” says Conservation Voters of PA Executive Director Josh McNeil.  “Almost every public official will claim to be in support of protecting our environment.  Now they know what that actually means when it comes to voting.” 

The document is called the 2013 Environmental Guidelines for Pennsylvania Legislators. 

For instance, with action likely on the state’s transportation funding crisis, McNeil stresses the need to include mass transit.  “Public transportation provides incredible economic benefits and reduces significantly the pollution we put out as we move back-and-forth in life,” he says.  “A single busload of passengers saves on carbon and global warming pollution from dozens of cars.” 

Other issues addressed in the guidelines include: funding restorations for state environmental agencies and “green” standards for the state’s capital construction projects, among other things.   

The other four groups to help craft the guidelines are Clean Water Action, PennEnvironment, PennFuture and the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter. 

They’ll all be watching this session’s legislative activity, and keeping constituents apprised of their lawmakers’ environmental voting record.

Scarnati Doesn’t Want Budget Hostages

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As the key issues on this spring’s legislative agenda become clearer, the Senate’s top Republican says now is not the time to start linking them together.  “That’s Washington-style politics and we don’t need that,” Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson) told reporters who huddled into his conference room at the state capitol. 

Joe Scarnati

Joe Scarnati

Scarnati does not want to see the liquor privatization issue tied to transportation funding.  “I think we’ve talked about it enough,” Scarnati said, discussing the urgency of improving the state’s transportation infrastructure.  “We have a study, we have a report; we have everybody feeling the necessity to get this done.  Delaying it and linking it just really doesn’t do any good for the commonwealth.” 

His comments come as the Corbett administration has also been signaling that the pension reform issue will be tied to the state budget, specifically education funding.  “The issue of cutting public education is a very sensitive issue… and putting an either-or doesn’t make this budget a lot easier to get done.” 

Scarnati believes pensions should be addressed, and that the first step should be passing a bill that enrolls all newly-hired state workers in a 401(k)-style defined contribution retirement plan.  “That’s the tourniquet that stops the bleeding, and that’s a move that we need to make,” he says. 

But Scarnati does not know if the votes exist to reduce the future pension benefits of current state employees.  He’s anxious to see the options that Governor Tom Corbett is expected to lay out along with his budget plan, and believes there’s a willingness to work toward a solution to the public pensions’ $41-billion dollar unfunded liability.

RadioPA Roundtable

Radio PA Roundtable 01.25.13

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On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, Brad Christman & Matt Paul have a preview of Governor Tom Corbett’s budget address, which is set for February 5th.  Also, Franklin & Marshall College political science professor Terry Madonna looks ahead to President Obama’s 2nd term, and we’ll recap this week’s legislative hearing on the planned closure of two state prisons in western PA. 

Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week.

Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable01-25-13.mp3]

Prison Closure Process Criticized

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As the Department of Corrections moves forward with plans to close two prisons in western Pennsylvania, what many described as a “hasty” process was put under the microscope at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. 

“We were planning in-house to try to do it in the best manner, but there really isn’t a playbook, and the way that the staff found out – primarily by TV – is just inappropriate,” Corrections Secretary John Wetzel acknowledged to the committee.  “That’s my responsibility.” 

Earlier this month, Wetzel’s department announced that SCI Cresson and SCI Greensburg are scheduled to close by June 30th.  These aging facilities would be replaced by SCI Benner in Centre County. 

But the decision blindsided the 800 employees at those two facilities.  “You’re asking people to move their entire lives, and to make a big change, and you’re giving them – I don’t know – 11-days to make a decision,” lamented Senator Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland), who believes the workers are being treated terribly.   

More than 560-positions will be available at SCI Benner.  Wetzel says the balance of interested employees will be given the opportunity to transfer elsewhere in the state prison system. 

“I suggest that we delay these shutdowns, for at least a year, until we can get everybody in position,” Senator Jim Brewster (D-Westmoreland) said to a rare smattering of applause in the Senate hearing room.   

But delays too would have their own negative consequences, according to Secretary Wetzel, who points out the decisions is scheduled to save the state $23-million dollars a year starting with the new state budget.

State Food Purchase Program Turns 30

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Created in 1983, and written into law ten years later, the State Food Purchase Program helps food banks feed the state’s hungriest families.  However, the 30-year anniversary is one that Hunger-Free Pennsylvania Executive Director Sheila Christopher would prefer not to mark.  “We would rather be standing her marking the end of SFPP, a sign that hunger is no longer a problem in Pennsylvania,” she told a crowd of anti-hunger advocates in the state capitol rotunda.  “Sadly that’s not the case.”

Amid the muted celebration, the group honored the four sitting lawmakers who were among the bill’s original co-sponsors 20-years ago: Sam Smith (R-Jefferson), David Argall (R-Schuylkill), Mike Sturla (D-Lancaster) and Tom Caltagirone (D-Berks). 

These cupcakes have since been delivered to state lawmakers and key members of the administration.

These cupcakes have since been delivered to state lawmakers and key members of the administration.

For the scores of younger lawmakers who don’t have such a long history with the SFPP, Christopher and others delivered each of them a cupcake and an information card.  “We certainly would hope they would recognize the importance of this program.  It’s not going away, unfortunately, so let’s get our people fed,” she tells us. 

SFPP funding has been slowly eroding. While demand for the program has increased over the past five years, support has been cut back from $18.75-million to $17.34-million.  Christopher says they’d need $24-million just to keep up with food inflation, let alone the additional requests for assistance.

“Nearly 1.4-million Pennsylvanians are at risk for hunger in one of the most productive agricultural states in the northeast,” state Agriculture Secretary George Greig explained at the commemoration.  While their struggle for funding continues, the participation of a Corbett cabinet member – in addition to bipartisan, bicameral lawmakers – gave the state’s anti-hunger advocates reason for optimism.

United Way Calls for Review of Welfare Savings

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As state lawmakers enter the 2013 budget cycle, the head of Pennsylvania’s United Way wants an independent review of a 2011 law that paved the way for $400-million dollars in savings at the Department of Public Welfare.  United Way of Pennsylvania President Tony Ross says Act 22 gave the DPW secretary unprecedented authority to implement new regulations in order to achieve the savings.  “We think it’s very important for policymakers and others to have information about what those cost containment measures meant – in terms of waste, fraud & abuse, and also impact on vital services,” Ross says. 

Ross tells Radio PA there’s anecdotal evidence on both fronts, but an independent review can get to the bottom of it.  “We don’t particularly have a preference,” he says of whether it comes from the Auditor General, Independent Fiscal Office or the Legislative Budget & Finance Committee. 

DPW spokeswoman Donna Morgan says a lot went into the attainment of the $400-million in savings, not just Act 22.  She points out that no legal challenges have been filed since the law passed the General Assembly and was signed by the governor.  “It’s not about just cutting here and cutting there,” Morgan explains.  “It’s about making these programs more efficient, breaking down the barriers between different programs and providing more flexibility so that tax dollars can be used more efficiently.” 

Welfare spending accounts for over 38% of the current General Fund budget, and mandatory medical assistance costs alone are expected to increase by $650-million dollars in the new fiscal year, according to the Mid-Year-Budget Briefing.

State Gov’t Transparency, Accountability Website Goes Live

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A website called “PennWATCH” is marking a new day transparency in state government.  The name is short for the Pennsylvania Web Accountability and Transparency Act, which passed the General Assembly unanimously and was signed into law in June 2011. 

The site was under development for over a year, until Governor Tom Corbett helped to flip-the-switch last week.  “It creates trust between the citizens and the government,” Corbett says.  “It allows people to understand – hopefully – policy, so that they can make informed decisions about how to be useful citizens in a democracy.  And, hopefully, it prevents scandal.” 

The goal, Corbett says, was to make PennWATCH user-friendly.  By logging on, the public can access government records on payments, contracts, budgets & revenues, and even state workers’ pay.   

Coming in early 2013, the employee salary information will be updated to reflect total compensation, which includes the cost of benefits. 

Secretary of Administration Kelly Powell Logan says updates to the PennWATCH site, which will not require additional legislative action, are already being considered. 

State officials have not compiled a cost estimate for the website, but Governor Corbett notes that all the work was done “in-house.”

Prepping for another Tough Budget Season

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The Corbett administration’s third budget season may be its most difficult yet, according to Budget Secretary Charles Zogby.  The 2012-13 Mid-Year Budget Briefing projects the state will end the current fiscal year $85-million dollars in the black, but $1.3-billion in mandatory cost drivers await in the new fiscal year. 

For instance: pension obligations ($511-million), Medical Assistance ($650-million) and debt service ($89-million). 

Charles Zogby gives reporters a mid-year update on the state budget.

“We’re working very hard in a number of areas – education would be one, health & human services – to not have to make the level of deep cuts that we’ve made in the past,” Zogby told reporters huddled in a capitol conference room. 

Zogby’s not divulging many details ahead of Governor Tom Corbett’s February budget address, but says it will not include any new taxes. 

For now, the budget planning revolves around a hypothetical 3% revenue growth in FY2013-2014, but Zogby knows a lot can change in the next two months.  “Not the least of which is the fiscal cliff,” Zogby says, noting that sequestration alone could have a $300-million dollar impact on the Commonwealth. 

Legislative Democrats have been critical of the governor’s first two spending plans, and they don’t see things changing during the coming budget cycle.  “We have suggested that jobs, education, health care and transportation are things to invest in,” says House Democratic Appropriations Chair Joe Markosek (D-Westmoreland).  “The Governor has suggested that corporate welfare is something that we ought to be investing in.” 

Democrats say it’s showing up in the state’s tax receipts, where corporation taxes are running 18% above projection for the fiscal year, while sales and personal income taxes are lagging.

RadioPA Roundtable

Radio PA Roundtable 11.30.12

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On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, Matt Paul breaks down the sweeping recommendations of Pennsylvania’s Task Force on Child Protection. He’ll also be jointed by Radio PA Sports Director Rick Becker to look back at an unprecedented season of Penn State football, and learn how budget cuts are affecting the state’s nonprofit sector.

Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week.

Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable11-30-12.mp3]