PathWays PA Policy Blog

Gov. Tom Wolf, along with legislative leaders and aides from both parties, met yesterday on July 1st to reaffirm a mutual commitment to agree on a General Fund budget despite remaining far apart on numbers. The governor's veto of the Republican budget bill on Tuesday evening left vendors and human service organizations to start Pennsylvania's new fiscal year without needed state funds. Gov. Wolf said of the pension reform, liquor privatization, and a no-tax increase $30.2 billion budget, "The math doesn't work, it doesn't address the challenges Pennsylvania faces." The parties involved decided that substantive budget negotiations between the governor and state legislative leaders would begin after the 4th of July holiday. Until then, preparations would be made. Please look over the budget proposals here and take a moment to  call your legislators  and let them know what you think! Interested in PathWays PA blog posts on similar topics? 6/29/15 -...

Over the weekend, Pennsylvania legislators remained in session so they could work on the state budget, which is due June 30. The current budget vehicle has passed the House and is now in the Senate. That being said, Governor Wolf is prepared to veto the budget if it arrives on his desk in its current form, which would send negotiations into overtime. The proposed budget presents a sharp contrast to the Governor's budget, which relies on new revenue including a gas severance tax, an increased personal income tax and increased sales tax. The budget making its way through the Senate, by contrast, shows new revenue from privatizing state wine and liquor businesses and by moving some payments into FY17. Below are some of the line-items in the budget and how they compare between the Governor's and Legislature's proposals. You can learn more at  http://pennbpc.org  and http://www.pennlive.com/pennsylvania-budget . You can also see factsheets comparing the budgets by district ...

One of the best public/private partnerships, Industry Partnerships for Workforce Training , help ensure Pennsylvania's industries and workers have the necessary skills to compete in the global economy. Industry Partnerships (IPs) are coordinated efforts between the state, industries, and local workforce investment boards that target the needs of regional industry clusters. The role of IPs is to identify skill gaps and other workforce needs of the targeted industry sector and to oversee the design and delivery of services to meet those needs. IPs aim to improve job quality by educating workers in skills that pay well and are in short supply, by helping managers learn from each other in adopting competitive human resource practices that improve job quality and career advancement, and by launching training and career initiatives. Since 2005, more than 100,000 Pennsylvanians have participated in Pennsylvania's well-regarded IP programs. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Health...

Governor Wolf gave his state budget address  this morning, and it includes increases and changes to many programs. Here are some highlights, and below you can find a chart detailing some line items we found interesting/important. Tell us if there are other line items you want to see in the comments, or find them here. Education: Pre-K, public schools, public universities, community colleges, and the state system of higher education will all receive increased funding.  According to the Governor's budget address, the state share of public funding will be 50%. Governor Wolf also called on all institutions of higher education to freeze tuition Taxes: A new severance tax will be tied to education funding. It is projected to bring in $1B in revenue each year. The personal income tax will go up to 3.7%, and the sales tax will go up to 6.6% and will include "include services that currently are not taxed because special interest groups have lobbied for special exemptions....