Health Care

Meaningful Welfare Reform Included in State Budget

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • July 6, 2017

State lawmakers are scrambling to create a revenue plan that can balance the $32 billion dollar spending plan passed by the legislature last week. While talks of tax hikes, borrowing…

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State Budget

Lawmakers’ Choices: Higher Taxes or Real Reform

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 5, 2017

Half the state budget is done: the spending list. The Pennsylvania House and Senate passed a general appropriations bill on Friday. But the other half—how to pay for it—remains. The…

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Criminal Justice Reform

How to Revamp Pa.’s Criminal Justice System

  • July 3, 2017

Pennsylvania can reduce its prison population by more than 1,000 people while saving approximately $108 million over five years, according to a Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) Working Group Report.

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Public Union Democracy

Balancing Pennsylvania’s Budget: Tax or Reform?

  • Jessica Barnett
  • June 30, 2017

Government unions are rallying in Harrisburg, demanding more money from Pennsylvanians to justify an even larger state budget. It’s worth asking, how did we get here again? And what…

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Regulation

What to Know about the Senate Budget

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 30, 2017

Late last night, the Senate unveiled its version of the spending side of a state budget. The Senate advanced the bill from the Appropriations Committee with a full floor vote…

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Education

ESAs Advance to Another State—Will Pa. Be Next?

  • James Paul
  • June 29, 2017

This week, North Carolina became the sixth state to authorize education savings accounts (ESAs)—flexible spending accounts used by parents to customize their child’s education.

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State Budget

PA Budget: What the Constitution Mandates

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 28, 2017

As lawmakers debate the details of a new state budget, it’s crucial to remember what our state constitution requires them to do. The Pennsylvania Constitution does not require a…

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State Budget

Focusing on What Matters in the Tax Credit Debate

  • Bob Dick
  • June 27, 2017

Pennsylvania provides tax credits for film production, concerts and video games. House Bill 1519 would combine these credits into one Multimedia Tax Credit Fund. But consolidating tax credits doesn't address…

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