Category: My Work

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Analysis of Governor Wolf’s Proposed 2019-20 State Budget

  By Budget analysis, Diana Polson, PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania Budget, Public Policy, Stephen Herzenberg

INTRODUCTION Some important things have changed in Pennsylvania politics as a result of the 2018 election. But the basic political dynamic that constrains our budget politics remains. We have a Democratic governor and a Republican-controlled General Assembly. And more importantly, we face an ideological division that partly maps onto the partisan one. On one side are those who believe that the only path to prosperity for our state is to cut taxes for the rich and for businesses, cut spending, and hold wages down. On the other side—where the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center stands—are those who believe that prosperity for everyone requires us to raise wages and expand the safety net that protects those who need our help, invest in people through new educational initiatives at all levels and in workforce training, and invest in building our public infrastructure and protecting our environment. The priorities for spending found in… Continue reading

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Governor Wolf’s 2019-2020 Budget: A First Take

  By Budget, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget

Governor Wolf’s 2019-2020 budget proposal reflects the unique political moment in which it is presented. Pennsylvania is a state poised between two visions of government in Pennsylvania. The governor’s budget points to the future being born. But the budget is constrained by another vision that is not dying as quickly as we would like. The governor’s budget, like the budgets of his successful first administration, points the way to our future—a future in which Pennsylvanians act together to create inclusive prosperity that allows everyone, no matter their race, class, gender or where they live in the state to live a life of dignity, prosperity, and opportunity. However, until the General Assembly reflects the changing priorities of Pennsylvanians, which includes support for proposals that generate new revenues from the very rich and corporations, the state budget will not invest sufficiently in education at all levels, health care, infrastructure, and protecting our… Continue reading

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On the IFO Five-Year Economic and Budget Outlook

  By Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget, Statements

This press release from the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center includes a statement from director Marc Stier regarding the November 2018 Press Release of the Independent Fiscal Office’s (IFO) Five-Year Economic and Budget Outlook for Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center released the following statement from director Marc Stier regarding today’s press release of the Independent Fiscal Office’s (IFO) Five-Year Economic and Budget Outlook for Pennsylvania: “The Independent Fiscal Office’s (IFO) Five-Year Economic and Budget Outlook, which was released today, confirms warnings we have been giving since July. While the state’s General Fund budget for the current year was balanced, it relied heavily on one-shot revenues and borrowing on the Tobacco Settlement. The previous two state budgets did the same thing. And the bills for paying for necessary state expenditures with one-shot revenues and borrowing are coming due. “The IFO predicts that the budget deficit for fiscal… Continue reading

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STATEMENT: On the Tax Study Released by the PA Chamber of Business and Industry Type

  By Statements, Taxation

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center released the following statement from director Marc Stier on the study, “Pennsylvania: A 21st Century Tax Code for the Commonwealth,” released today by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry: “The Chamber of Commerce announced today a tax proposal for our state that is the Pennsylvania equivalent of Trump’s federal tax plan. It would put more of the tax burden on working- and middle-class Pennsylvanians while reducing taxes for the rich and corporations. And it will make it harder to balance our budget in the future. “While there are a few elements of the plan we think make sense, the entire plan rests on a fundamental confusion between a tax system that is “business-friendly” and a tax system that is “friendly to rich people including the owners of large corporations and those who have inherited wealth.” A business-friendly tax policy would be… Continue reading

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A Roadmap to a New PA

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania, Public Policy, We The People–PA

A Roadmap to a New Pennsylvania: State Policy Towards a Safer, Healthier, More Prosperous and Equitable Commonwealth Written by the We The People Policy and Communications Team with guidance and input from our allies. Stephen Herzenberg, John Neurohr, Diana Polson, and Marc Stier. Edited by Marc Stier Below is the We The People’s comprehensive public policy manual for lawmakers and advocates, “A Roadmap to a New Pennsylvania: State Policy Towards a Safer, Healthier, More Prosperous and Equitable Commonwealth,” which was derived from the best policy research from experts across the country, and informed by everyday Pennsylvanians who came together in 13 community meetings all over the state. At those meetings, citizens found broad agreement on what is wanted from state government: public policies that make poor, working and middle-class Pennsylvanians safer, healthier, and more prosperous. This became the We The People – PA policy agenda. The Roadmap is an expanded breakdown that agenda—a… Continue reading

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On the Supreme Court Janus v. AFSCME Decision

  By John Neurohr, Labor, PA Budget and Policy Center, Statements, Stephen Herzenberg

HARRISBURG — Keystone Research Center executive director Stephen Herzenberg and Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center director Marc Stier made the following statement regarding today’s Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision: “In a 5-4 decision that resulted directly from the [evasion of constitutional responsibility and] abuse of power that led to the appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch, the United States Supreme Court today took another step to rig our economy and our politics against working families and to further diminish the collective rights of working people. By reversing the longstanding precedent set in the 1977 Abood case, the Janus decision makes the entire United States public sector a ‘right to work for less’ country with the stroke of a pen. The decision deprives unions of any financial support from non-members who nonetheless benefit from union representation and collective bargaining to improve wages, benefits, and working conditions. The decision violates a fundamental… Continue reading

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On the General Assembly Passage of the General Appropriations Bill

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

This press statement, released on June 22, 2018, reflects PBPC director Marc Stier’s statement following the General Assembly’s passage of a budget spending plan that will be sent to Governor Wolf. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center director Marc Stier made the following statement after the General Assembly passed a budget spending plan that will now be sent to Governor Wolf: “When Governor Wolf released his budget proposal in March, we noted that his plan had the right priorities but, given the political realities he faced, understandably did not put forward initiatives bold enough to close the deep public investment deficit in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvanians should feel the same about the general appropriations bill that passed through the General Assembly today. “The new budget provides welcome new investments in pre-K and K-12 education, special education, higher education, workforce training, child care, treatment for substance abuse disorder, and intellectual disabilities. These… Continue reading

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Republican Judicial Districting — An Existential Threat to Pennsylvania Democracy

  By Judicial Gerrymandering, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Redistricting

From Third and State, June 18, 2018 After the uprising of the 17th JuneThe Secretary of the Writers UnionHad leaflets distributed in the StalinalleeStating that the peopleHad forfeited the confidence of the governmentAnd could win it back onlyBy redoubled efforts. Would it not be easierIn that case for the governmentTo dissolve the peopleAnd elect another? – Bertolt Brecht As a resident of Communist East Germany, Bertolt Brecht understood better than most writers in the 20th century how fragile representative democracy can be and what a serious threat to our form of government looks like. And as his poem above points out, the key requirement of representative democracy is that the government be responsible to the people. For that to happen, elections have to be regular and they have to be fair. There can’t be any barriers to participation in elections and those elections need to be conducted under rules that give… Continue reading

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The Follmer Redistricting Commission: Neither Independent Nor Nonpartisan

  By Legislative Districts, Policy briefs, Redistricting

 Both the political class in Harrisburg and the progressive community around the state are focused today on the redistricting issue. Last week the Senate State Government Committee passed a version of Senate Bill 22 that was crafted by Senator Mike Folmer. Some of the advocacy groups that have been working in favor of a fair redistricting process have been cautiously, or in some cases not so cautiously, supportive of it. Some who have argued that the proposal itself is problematic have held that passing it in the Senate is a necessary step to reaching a better bill. I’m reluctant to create divisions among people who are generally allies, but I want to make clear that I believe the Folmer redistricting proposal is not only deeply flawed but is in no way a step forward for those of us who want to see a fair, nonpartisan process of drawing congressional and… Continue reading

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MEMO: Analysis of the PA Senate Redistricting Commission Plan and the Folmer Amendment

  By Legislative Districts, Memos, Redistricting

This memo outlines how the Folmer proposal is worse than the process we have now in four important respects. The redistricting process created by Senator Mike Folmer‰’s version of SB 22 passed by the Senate State Government Committee last week does initially look like a move toward nonpartisan redistricting, and for that reason some reform groups have said it is a step forward. But while we at the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center support the goal of a nonpartisan system of drawing Congressional and state legislative districts lines, the process that would be put in place by the Folmer plan is so far from desirable that we urge the full Senate to reject it and start over. Continue reading