Category: Public Policy

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New Polling Supports Aggressive Action to Address Economic Inequities in the Recovery from COVID-19

  By Pennsylvania, Progressive Politics, Public Policy

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. New polling shows support for aggressive government action to address economic inequities in the recovery from COVID-19. A new 10-state poll carried out by Global Strategy Group of “unheard middle” voters—those who are neither strong Democrats nor strong Republicans—revealed broad support for bold state government action both to relieve the economic distress created by COVID-19 pandemic and to address the inequities revealed by it. By a huge margin, middle of the road voters believe that large “the state government still needs to do more to protect the economy and hard-working families” (91%) than “the state government doesn’t need to spend more taxpayer dollars in response to the economic impacts of the pandemic” (9%). Public policies that focus on protecting working people and small businesses are enormously popular, including “requiring workplaces to provide paid sick days to their employees” (supported by 90%); “providing low-interest loans to… Continue reading

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Statement on HB 2412: Is Real Estate Really Essential?

  By COVID-19

Originally published at KRC-PBPC here. We want to reiterate our opposition to HB 2412 even as amended, a bill to require the secretary of Community and Economic Development to issue waivers to allow real estate-related business activities to continue provided that they adhere to “applicable mitigation measures defined by the CDC…” As we have pointed out, with regard to broader legislation aimed to undermine the preventive health measures required by Governor Wolf there are few commercial activities that do not involve people traveling outside their homes, coming into relatively close contact with others, and passing physical objects, including papers, between them. This certainly includes many activities connected with the buying and selling of real estate. Thus, these activities pose a danger to public health—and whether they should continue or not should be regulated by medical and scientific analysis of how fast the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is spreading in particular… Continue reading

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A Statement on HB 1776: Property School Tax Freeze Is a Wrong Move for PA

  By Education, K-12 Education in PA

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. Pennsylvania, like every other state in the country, faces an unprecedented budget crisis at both the state and local levels. It is so unusual that we do not really know how severe it will be. There is still great uncertainty about how far we will fall. And there is also uncertainty about how quickly we will be able to climb out of the hole in state and local revenues caused by the necessary health regulations put in place to limit the impact of COVID-19 on our lives and our health care system. Estimates of the two-year decline in state revenues range from $3 to $7 billion. A recent analysis suggests that the decline in school districts’ revenues could range between $850 million and $1 billion for FY 21. This is a time for all of us, in government office and outside of it, to think… Continue reading

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COVID-19 exposed the cracks in our system. We have to fill them, not just paper them over

  By COVID-19, Public Policy, Published Op-Eds

Originally published in the PA Capitol-Star on April 28, 2020 We can learn a great deal from moments of crisis, not just about ourselves and other people but about our political community.  And that’s very much true of the COVID-19 crisis. The first critical lesson the pandemic teaches us is that in a modern political economy our own good depends on the good of all. While our way of life leaves room for us to advance and fail as individuals, whether we can do so often depends on forces beyond ourselves. Far more than we are often willing to admit, we rise and fall together.<u That is clearly true when it comes to becoming infected by the coronavirus, surviving it, and limiting its impact on our lives. Stay at home rules, business closures, and social distancing are necessary because our chance of becoming infected with the virus depends on how… Continue reading

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In PA, Worker Protections Ruled “Out of Order”

  By COVID-19

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. As the Pennsylvania House of Representatives moves toward consideration of legislation that would allow most businesses in the Commonwealth to reopen—legislation we believe is dangerous to the public’s lives and health—House Democrats have proposed amendments that would protect workers who would be forced back to work. They would require that:  the minimum wage for employees be $15 an hour;  employees at risk receive additional hazard pay;  businesses use social distancing and physical barriers to protect workers;  employees have breaks and places with adequate soap and water to wash their hands;  employees have access to hand sanitizer at all times;  employees be granted leave for sickness with compensation at the same rate;  employees be informed by their employer if a coworker has been tested for COVID-19. Yet, astonishingly, Speaker Turzai has ruled these amendments out of order! He is pushing bills to open businesses yet somehow… Continue reading

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Declaring Victory Too Soon Will Cost Too Many Lives

  By COVID-19

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. All over the Commonwealth today, people are dying in terrible ways from COVID-19—struggling for breath without the comfort of their loved ones by their side. Yet, just as we are slowly reducing the impact of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania, Republicans in the PA House of Representatives are seeking to overturn Governor Wolf’s order to close non-essential businesses. That order, as well as the governor’s order to Pennsylvanians to stay at home, is working. On March 23, when the governor closed non-essential businesses, there were 644 COVID-19 infections in the state and they were increasing at a rate of 34% a day. By April 1, when the stay-at-home order was issued, the rate of increase had come down to 20%. It has since dropped to about 7% a day. And so far in Pennsylvania, 22,833 people have tested positive for the disease, 2,097 are hospitalized, and 507… Continue reading

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Race and COVID-19

  By COVID-19, PBPC Blog posts

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. Originally published by KRC-PBPC here By Marc Stier and Erica Freeman COVID-19 is like a chemical in which one dips a photographic print—it gradually reveals things you couldn’t see before. It is showing us deeply disturbing and unjust patterns of inequality in the life of our nation and state that too many of us ignore from day today. We have said from the beginning of the pandemic that we’re concerned that the impact of COVID-19 on our health, as well as the impact of the necessary steps to fight the spread of the virus on our economic well-being, would be borne disproportionately by those who have lower incomes, who are Black and brown, who are immigrants, who are seniors, and who are disabled. It’s becoming increasingly clear that COVID-19 is hitting Black and brown people harder than white people. We haven’t found good data for… Continue reading

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Choose Lives Not Money: On a Proposed Amendment A04895 to SB 327, PN 1436

  By COVID-19, PA Economy

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. Governor Wolf has ordered all Pennsylvanians to stay at home except when necessary to engage in “tasks essential to maintain…the health and safety of their family and household members;” to get “necessary services or supplies for themselves or their family or household members….or to those in need;” to engage in ”outdoor activities” or to “perform work providing essential products and services at life-sustaining businesses….” This order has required the closure of most businesses in the Commonwealth. And that has placed a great burden on the owners of businesses large and small as well as on the employees of those businesses. The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center has recommended, along with many others, that the Commonwealth and the federal government take many steps to help sustain businesses and their employees during this time. Both the federal and state governments have taken such steps. We will be making… Continue reading

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The Likely Impact of COVID-19 on Pennsylvania

  By COVID-19, PBPC Blog posts

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. A recent study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington projects the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the state between now and August 1, 2020. The study concludes that by then the virus will have killed more than 3,000 Pennsylvanians, and it will heavily stress our health care system in mid-April. But thanks to the social distancing and business closures required by the Wolf administration, our state will avoid the devastation that might occur if current COVID-19 trends—which are a product of our interaction before the policies went into effect—were to continue. The study projects that the peak need for hospital resources will occur in Pennsylvania on April 17 when 9,745 hospital beds will be required. That number is below the 14,395 hospital beds in the state. However, it also predicts that 1,417 beds will be needed… Continue reading

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What Not to Do in the Face of a COVID-19 Driven Recession: Lessons from the Corbett Years

  By COVID-19, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget

Originally published by KCR-PBPC here. By Marc Stier and Diana Polson As COVID-19 hurtles us towards a global recession, Pennsylvania will need to make difficult decisions about how to handle a possibly huge shortfall in state revenues as well as a mandated increase in state costs for such things as Medicaid. We are working to estimate how much state revenues will suffer due to the recession but there are many unknowns, especially because this is an unusual recession, one that is a product of deliberate and necessary policy choice. With no models for this kind of recession, we do not know how deep the recession will be, how long it will last, or how quickly the economy can recover. At this point, we can only give a wide range of possibilities. It is likely that state revenues will drop between $4.5 and $9 billion in the current fiscal year and… Continue reading