Category: My Work

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On Gov. Wolf’s Bond Issue to Assist Counties In Purchasing New Voting Systems

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, Press release, Voting

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center director Marc Stier made the following statement on Governor Wolf’s move to issue a bond to help fund new voting systems in counties across the commonwealth: “Protecting our voting system is of the utmost importance. After the governor correctly vetoed SB48, it remained the case that the state needed to find a way to offset the costs to counties of putting into place secure voting systems that provide a critical paper trail for our elections. We applaud Governor Wolf for circumventing partisan gridlock to do whatever is necessary to make sure county governments aren’t hamstrung by costs in their quest for secure elections. We can all agree that we must have systems in place so that citizens can have confidence in election outcomes. Using this method to reimburse costs will allow county governments to make necessary changes to election… Continue reading

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On the CBO Report About a Federal Minimum Wage Increase

  By Minimum Wage, PA Budget and Policy Center

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. HARRISBURG—Marc Stier, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, made the following statement in regards to yesterday’s Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report about raising the federal minimum wage: “The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the agency that provides budget and economic analysis to Congress, released a report yesterday on the economic impact of raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hour by 2025. The main finding from this report, as we have found similarly in our own research, is that raising the minimum wage to $15/hour would benefit millions of low-wage workers across the country and that these benefits would far outweigh the costs. “The benefits of increasing the minimum wage include: reducing poverty; increasing the wages of 27.3 million low- and low-to-middle income families; and shifting money from corporate profits to low-wage workers, thereby reducing inequality. This policy change would result in a reduction of the number… Continue reading

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On Gov. Wolf’s Veto of SB48, a Bill to Eliminate Straight-Party Ticket Voting

  By Elections and Voting, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Voting

Published on KRC-PBPB here. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center Director Marc Stier made the following statement on Governor Wolf’s veto of SB48, a bill to eliminate straight-party ticket voting, among other election reforms: “We are gratified that Governor Wolf has vetoed SB48.” “SB48 started out as a bill to help Pennsylvania counties secure funds to procure new, secure voting machines. Republicans decided to add a provision to eliminate straight ticket voting from the Pennsylvania ballot.” “As my colleague Kadida Kenner pointed out in a powerful op-ed (http://bit.ly/2LpnYnH), eliminating straight ticket voting would have depressed the vote of people of color and low-income voters, who are often ignored by political campaigns, in down-ballot races— including those to the General Assembly. “Like the unnecessary Voter ID laws and partisan redistricting plans they have adopted in the past, the attempt to eliminate straight-ticket voting was a shameful attempt by a Republican Party… Continue reading

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On SB48, a Bill to Eliminate Straight-Party Ticket Voting

  By Elections and Voting, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center director Marc Stier made the following statement on SB48, a bill to eliminate straight-party ticket voting, among other election reforms: “SB48 started out as a bill to help Pennsylvania Counties secure funds to procure new, secure voting machines. “Republicans decided to add a provision to eliminate straight ticket voting from the Pennsylvania ballot. “As my colleague Kadida Kenner points out in a powerful op-ed today (http://bit.ly/2LpnYnH), this action will diminish the vote of people of color and low-income voters, who are often ignored by political campaigns, especially in down-ballot races—including those to the General Assembly. “Like the unnecessary Voter ID laws and partisan redistricting plans they have adopted in the past, this is another shameful attempt by the Republican Party to rig our political system in their favor. “We strongly urge Governor Wolf to veto this bill and find an alternative means of helping… Continue reading

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On The PA Budget Spending Plan Passed by the House Appropriations Committee

  By Pennsylvania Budget, Statements

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center director Marc Stier made the following statement after the PA House Appropriations Committee passed a budget spending plan: “The House Republicans’ budget proposal released today is sadly, but not surprisingly, a disappointment for working-class and middle-class families. “It includes no increase in the minimum wage even though every state around Pennsylvania has raised its minimum wage and found that the result has been not only higher wages but higher employment in low-wage occupations. “It provides less funding for Basic Education than Governor Wolf proposed and diverts some of that request from public schools to the EITC program that supports unaccountable private schools that often cater to the richest Pennsylvanians. “It does not fund the General Assistance program, which provides a minimal level of support to some of the most vulnerable Pennsylvanians, many of whom are waiting to receive Social Security disability payments. “In… Continue reading

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  By John Neurohr, PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania Budget, Statements

With John Neurohr Originally published by KRC-PBPC. HARRISBURG—PA Budget and Policy Center director Marc Stier made the following statement in response to a press release sent out today by the Pennsylvania Republican Party criticizing a Budget Day of Action and rally/press conference in Harrisburg today in support of raising the state minimum wage: “The PA Republican Party is criticizing the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center and the We The People campaign for offering citizens a bus trip or a gift card to pay for their gas to make the trip to Harrisburg to advocate for a raise in the minimum wage. “Somehow in their effort to criticize us for helping Pennsylvanians who are taking a day off—in many cases from minimum wage jobs—to exercise their rights as citizens, they have forgotten that the business community that opposes raising the minimum wage has paid lobbyists who no doubt get their mileage… Continue reading

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Judicial Districts and Judicial Independence

  By Memos, PA Budget and Policy Center

To: Legislators, legislative staff, editorial board members, columnists, other interested parties From: Marc Stier, Director, Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center Subject: Judicial Districts and Judicial Independence This week the Republican leadership of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives plan to take up an HB 196, a constitutional amendment proposed by Representative Russ Diamond to elect the appellate court judges who sit on the Supreme Court and the two second-level courts, the Commonwealth Court and Superior Court, by districts rather than in statewide elections. This proposal is similar to the Aument amendment to SB22, a redistricting reform proposal that passed the Senate but stalled in the House last year. HB 196 is deeply problematic for three reasons. First, given the role judges play in our constitutional government, district election is unnecessary. We elect legislators by district because it is important that regional interests be accounted for in the process of enacting legislation.… Continue reading

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How the ‘Fair Share Tax’ will restore fairness to our tax system

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania State Taxes, Published Op-Eds

Originally published by the PA Capital-Star on April 24, 2019 Pennsylvania politics remains divided. One side, composed of mostly conservatives, believes that the key to prosperity is to cut taxes for the rich, cut spending for everyone else and—although they don’t say it too loudly—keep wages low. The other side, composed of mostly liberals, believe that a prosperous Pennsylvania needs to close our public investment deficit. They point out that state spending as a share of gross state product has fallen by 12 percent compared to the years 1997-2011. That has left us with: K-12 schools that remain among the most unequal in the country, leaving too many of our children to receive an inadequate education; state spending on higher education that is half of what it was in 1983-84, leaving us fourth from the bottom among all states in per capita spending and 40th of 50 states in the percentage of adults with more than… Continue reading

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A Fair Share Tax Plan for Pennsylvania–2019 Update

  By Diana Polson, PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania State Taxes, Policy reports

By Marc Stier and Diana Polson Originally publish by KRC-PBPC This paper puts forward the Fair Share Tax plan, a major step toward fixing Pennsylvania’s broken tax system and raising the revenues we need to invest in the public goods that are critical to creating thriving communities and individual opportunity in our state: education, infrastructure, protection for our air and water, and human services. The calculations included in this plan are an update to similar proposal put forward by the PA Budget and Policy Center in 2017. The proposal that would raise $2.2 billion annually, while cutting taxes or leaving them level for 82% of Pennsylvanians. Click here to read or download the full proposal.  See how Pennsylvanians in each state House and Senate district would fare under the Fair Share Tax Plan here. Continue reading

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This Isn’t the Redistricting Reform We Need

  By Legislative Districts, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Redistricting

HARRISBURG—Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center director Marc Stier made the following statement regarding the resurfacing of SB22, a bill intended to change the way legislative redistricting is done in Pennsylvania: Senator Mike Folmer announced this week that he will be resurrecting last year’s failed SB22, a bill to change the way district lines are drawn in Pennsylvania. Senator Folmer is preparing to bring the bill back up for a vote in the State Government Committee as early as tomorrow. While eliminating gerrymandering is critically important, Senator Folmer is hoping to catch Pennsylvanians unawares as he attempts to bring a failed bill to a committee vote without holding debate and hearings and without gathering input from the communities that will be most impacted by SB22. Governor Wolf established a redistricting commission earlier this year and Senator Folmer should not attempt to rush SB22 through committee without giving Pennsylvanians a chance to… Continue reading