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The Penn Policy Pulse — October 2024

By Blog Post, Newsletter

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Pennsylvania Policy Center’s POLICY PULSE newsletter—we’re glad you’re here! As if this year isn’t busy enough with the approaching election, we’ve been hard at work behind the scenes helping to move forward progressive policies that work for all Pennsylvanians. Check out our work below, and stay tuned for the November edition, where we’ll do an election recap!

PPC had some big wins this year… Thanks in part to your support, we have blossomed into a team of eight people who punch far above our weight in Pennsylvania and national progressive politics. We are unique in that we combine sophisticated policy analysis, leading edge communications—and together with our partners in the Pennsylvanians Together (PAT) and PA Schools Work (PASW) campaigns, which we help lead—effective advocacy and organizing.

Together with our partners, we have had a dramatic impact on politics and policy in our state. Most importantly, we played a leading role in building support among political leaders and the public for taking a huge step forward in meeting our constitutional and moral requirement to fully and fairly fund our K–12 schools. For the first time ever, a majority of new K–12 funding went to historically underfunded schools.

Our priority for this year is ensuring that everyone is paying their fair share… PPC is taking the lead with our new federal–state Tax Justice campaign! Asking highly profitable corporations and billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes is critical to creating opportunity for all by raising the revenue necessary to support more funding for education at all levels, as well as affordable child care, health care, and housing. This campaign is taking off nationwide and if you have not yet seen our 12-foot, inflatable mascot Mr. Riggs, you will likely see him soon at an event near you. Sign our petition for tax justice!

Get to know the Pennsylvanians Together campaign! We saw the first fruits of our long years of policy and advocacy work and training of both legislators and advocates (through our Budget 101 events) to change the political narrative in Pennsylvania in support of economic justice. The Democrat-controlled House passed policy proposals we helped design, and our advocacy campaign, Pennsylvanians Together, long supported, including

  • an expansion of the property tax and rent rebate program for seniors.
  • a state child and dependent care tax credit.
  • new funding for county election boards.
  • an increase in the minimum wage.
  • a state earned income tax credit for working families.
  • an increase in the Whole-Home Repairs program.
  • safety protections for public sector workers.
  • an abortion shield law to protect women coming to Pennsylvania for reproductive health care.

We hope you’ll consider supporting this critical work by making a contribution today.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE.

PPC in the News!

Opinion: What would a second Trump term mean for our taxes? by Marc Stier, PPC Executive Director

Be sure to read our newest blog posts!

Infographic of the Month — Presidential Candidate Tax Plans!

 

Notable/Quotable

“If eliminating taxes for billionaires and powerful corporations benefited ALL of us, Pennsylvanians would be reaping the record-breaking productivity and unprecedented profits from five decades of “trickle-down”/supply-side economics. But a half century of rewarding greed and exploiting working people has demonstrated that the policy only makes the super-rich wealthier and keeps workers poor and desperate. We don’t have to accept this as “the way it is.” Virtually every other nation has figured out a way to make the super-rich pay the same tax rate as working families. It’s not that hard. There are less than two dozen billionaires in Pennsylvania. We know who they are. We know where they keep their money.” – Jeff Garis, Outreach and Partnerships Director, PPC

We’d be grateful if you would join us in our work by supporting the policy analysis, advocacy, and organizing work that can make a difference for generations to come.

Would you commit to a monthly contribution to sustain our work?

TO CONTRIBUTE, CLICK HERE.

The entire team at the Pennsylvania Policy Center sincerely appreciates your support. And thank you so much for your time. Now, GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!

–Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center; and the entire PPC team: Adrienne, Castin, Dwayne, Erica, Jeff, Kirstin, and Levana.

 

 

Who Runs Pennsylvania Makes a Difference

By Blog Post

 

This is the last week in which Pennsylvania’s 2023–24 General Assembly is likely to be in Harrisburg. And the pattern we have seen for the last two years is once again evident. The Democratic-controlled House passes legislation, with bipartisan support, that addresses serious problems in our commonwealth. And the Republican-controlled Senate once again sits on its hands and does nothing.

This week, the House passed HB 2565, sponsored by Representative Steve Samuelson, a bill that provides tax credits for clean hydrogen energy production, which would spur economic development and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while also providing tax credits for semi-conductor and biomedical manufacturing. Seventeen Republicans voted for it.

It passed HB 2625, sponsored by Representative Ed Neilson, to fund public transit systems in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and thirty other smaller cities. Ten Republicans voted for it.

It passed HB 2557, sponsored by Representative Lisa Borowski, a consumer protection bill that prohibits businesses from automatically renewing subscriptions to a service or subscription without consumers giving unambiguous affirmative action for the renewal. It also requires businesses to give clear notice of an upcoming renewal and a way to end automatic renewals that is similar to the way in which a subscription began and limits automatic renewal to twelve months. Fifty-one Republicans voted for the bill.

A companion bill, HB 116, sponsored by Representative Joe Ciresi, provides additional protections for consumers, including a requirement that businesses provide a clear and conspicuous explanation of the price charged after a free trial ends and the deadline for cancelling a subscription. This bill passed unanimously.

And the House Government Committee passed HB979, sponsored by Representative Jared Samuelson, to create open primaries, allowing independent voters to choose to vote in either Democratic or Republican primary elections. We support this bill with the hopes that it would bring some sanity to the Republican Party in our state. Perhaps that’s why the Republican members of the committee all voted against it, while Democratic members voted in favor. And the Republicans did this even though a similar bill passed the Senate five years ago with bipartisan support.

This has been the General Assembly’s pattern for the two years of the General Assembly. We have now lost count, but there are well over four hundred bills to serve the people of Pennsylvania that have passed the House, usually with some bipartisan support, but have been blocked by the Senate Republican leadership.

Among the legislation that passed the House but is waiting for the Senate to act are bills to

·      reform our corporate income tax to close the Delaware and Cayman Islands loopholes, which allow wealthy multinational corporations to avoid taxation in our state.

·      raise the state’s minimum wage to $15. (HB 1500, sponsored by Representatives Dawkins and Kim. Senate champion: Senator Tartaglione)

·      enact a working families’ tax cut, which includes a PA earned income tax credit and expanded tax forgiveness program to reduce taxes on low-income Pennsylvanians. (HB 1272, sponsored by Representative Sappey)

·      begin cyber charter school reform to stop wasteful spending that reduces funds for our public schools. (HB 1422, sponsored by Rep. Ciresi)

·      provide additional funding for the Whole-Home Repairs Program. This provides help for low- and moderate-income Pennsylvanians to repair their homes. (HB 1300, sponsored by Representative Harris. Senate champion: Senator Saval)

·      reform corporate taxes by closing the Delaware and Cayman Islands loopholes, which allow large multinational corporations to avoid paying taxes in Pennsylvania. (HB 1219, sponsored by Reps. Samuelson and Fiedler. Senate champions: Senators Tartaglione and Haywood)

·      provide an abortion shield law, which protects abortion providers and those coming from outside of the state to seek abortions in Pennsylvania. (HB 1786, sponsored by Representative Daley. Senate champions: Senators Schwank and Cappelletti)

·      create justice for survivors of sexual abuse by opening a window for them to sue their abusers. (HB 2, sponsored by Representative Rozzi. Senate champion: Senator Muth)

·      strengthen gun safety with background checks (HB 714, sponsored by Representative Warren) and a red flag law (HB 2018, sponsored by Representative O’Mara) to keep guns away from people who shouldn’t have them.

·      protect public sector workers from dangerous work conditions with an extension of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. (HB 299, sponsored by Representative Harkins. Senate champion: Senator Kane)

·      protect striking workers by allowing those affected by a labor–management dispute to collect unemployment benefits after a one-week waiting period. (HB 1481, sponsored by Representative Steele. Senate champion: Senator Costa)

·      create retirement security for teachers and public servants. (HB 1416, sponsored by Representatives Malagari and Deasy. Senate champion: Senator Muth)

·      enact the Fairness Act, which extends Pennsylvania’s anti-discrimination law to LGBTQ+ people. (HB 300, sponsored by Representatives Kenyatta and Frankel. Senate champion: Senator Santarsiero)

We believe that all these bills would pass the Senate with bipartisan support if the Republican leadership of the Senate were to allow them to hold hearings and a vote. This was what consistently happened in the Pennsylvania House before Democrats secured their one-vote majority after the 2022 election.

We are a nonpartisan organization. We don’t encourage Pennsylvanians to vote one way or another. But it is simply a matter of fact that Republican control of the Senate is blocking progress on much legislation that we and, as polls show, the people of Pennsylvania support.

We saw last week, as we have for the last twenty-two months, that who runs Harrisburg makes a difference.

 

logo for Penn Policy: Pennsylvania Policy Center

Statement on PA House Passing the ‘Pre-canvassing Bill’ (HB 847)

By Press Statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 2, 2024

CONTACT: Kirstin Snow, snow@pennpolicy.org

 STATEMENT on House Bill 847 – Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center

 Legislation would give counties 7 days to pre-canvass mail ballots ahead of Election Day

(Harrisburg, PA) — Pre-canvassing is the process by which county election officials prepare mail and absentee ballots for counting on Election Day. Pennsylvania’s voters have been waiting YEARS for approval for pre canvassing which would allow counties to manage the election process and deliver results to voters as quickly as possible. There are several reasons the Senate must pass this legislation now:

  • This legislation is not loaded with partisan wish lists; it is straightforward and supported by the County Commissioners Association, an organization with Republican leadership, and numerous organizations that support voting rights.
  • It helps address the challenges that election officials face in administering elections and getting results to people as quickly as possible, which helps provide assurance to voters that the system is working.
  • Pre-canvassing can also help protect the right to vote by providing a chance for voters to be notified if there is a technical problem with their ballot, helping to prevent voters from having their votes not counted due to small technical errors like a missing envelope or the wrong date.
  • It would avoid a replay of the 2020 presidential election, wherein it took PA election workers nearly a week to count and certify mail-in ballots, thus delaying the vote count on the national level.

The Senate must act to pass this bill — all the people who have said they have any concerns can do the one thing that local election officials from all parties have said they need. It is time for the Senate to do the commonsense thing, and that is to pass this legislation in a bipartisan fashion.

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