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Prosperity
New Report: Gig-Workers Prefer Flexibility of Portable Benefits
Commonwealth Foundation’s new report analyzes the success of DoorDash’s Portable Benefits Pilot Program in Pennsylvania. Harrisburg, Pa., April 24, 2025 – DoorDash unveiled its portable benefits pilot…
Read More: New Report: Gig-Workers Prefer Flexibility of Portable Benefits
Education
Andrew Lewis on ‘This Week in Pennsylvania’
Read More: Andrew Lewis on ‘This Week in Pennsylvania’
Prosperity
Stephen Bloom joins RJ Harris in the Morning to Talk Tax Reform
Read More: Stephen Bloom joins RJ Harris in the Morning to Talk Tax Reform
Fairness
New Analysis Reveals Striking Partisanship of Government Union Spending
Read More: New Analysis Reveals Striking Partisanship of Government Union SpendingState Budget
CF Applauds Pa. Senate Budget Use of TPA Index
HARRISBURG, PA (05.08.12) – The Commonwealth Foundation applauded Pennsylvania Senate leadership today for using the Taxpayer Protection Act index – inflation plus population growth – to compose their fiscal year 2012-13…
Press Release
Read More: CF Applauds Pa. Senate Budget Use of TPA IndexState Budget
Why Pennsylvania Needs Spending Limits
In a Capitolwire story (subscription), Senate Appropriations Chair Jake Corman notes that the proposed version of the state budget the Senate will take up this week increases spending by…
Media
Read More: Why Pennsylvania Needs Spending LimitsCriminal Justice Reform
Correcting Corrections Correctly
Over the last 30 years, Pennsylvania’s incarceration rate has increased by 500 percent and corrections spending has skyrocketed 1,700 percent. The unprecedented prison population growth at unsustainable costs…
Media
Read More: Correcting Corrections CorrectlyState Budget
This is the Change You’ve Been Looking For
I had the opportunity to hear Scott Rasmussen speak last week. The theme of his speech was “change”—as in how policy change happens. The lesson he gave was that policy…
Media
Read More: This is the Change You’ve Been Looking ForGovernment Accountability
Liquor’s Lap of Luxury a Laughingstock
With grand style on your dime, the ponderous Princes of Pinot are noses and palms up choosing what wine and liquor you will and will not consume in the Keystone…
Media
Read More: Liquor’s Lap of Luxury a LaughingstockCriminal Justice Reform
HOPE for PA Corrections Reform
Launched in 2004, Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) is an innovative supervision strategy that provides swift, predictable sanctions on substance-abusing probationers. Research shows the program has reduced probationers’ positive…
Media
Read More: HOPE for PA Corrections ReformRegulation
Reform Bills Would Begin to Reduce Fiscal Fire
While the fiscal fire is raging across Pennsylvania, Rep. Eli Evankovich’s pension reform proposal begins to extinguish the flames that threaten to consume the commonwealth. We’ve been on record…
Media
Read More: Reform Bills Would Begin to Reduce Fiscal FireState Budget
Good April Tax Collections, but State is Spending More Than Revenue
Two new reports show that Pennsylvania’s fiscal crunch for the current year is not a dire as previously thought. Pa. Department of Revenue monthly reports on tax collections shows…
Media
Read More: Good April Tax Collections, but State is Spending More Than RevenueEducation
The Patriot Can Do Better Than This…
Our friends at The Patriot-News here in Harrisburg just posted an online poll that asks the following question: The state Senate has passed a school voucher bill that…
Media
Read More: The Patriot Can Do Better Than This…Welfare
Fighting Fraud is the Beginning of True Welfare Reform
Monday the Pennsylvania House continued its efforts to reform the state’s welfare system by passing HB 1948 out of committee. The legislation, sponsored by Tim Krieger, would establish the…
Media
Read More: Fighting Fraud is the Beginning of True Welfare ReformEducation
Philadelphia School District Faces the Budgetary Music
It doesn’t take an advanced degree to figure out that something’s rotten in the school district of Philadelphia—or that school choice is the antidote. More than half of…
Media
Read More: Philadelphia School District Faces the Budgetary MusicEducation
Big Government and the Higher Education Bubble
This past weekend I participated with some middleschoolers in a 30 hour famine to raise money for starving families. As we discussed poverty and debt the leader motioned to me…
Media
Read More: Big Government and the Higher Education BubbleRegulation
The Fight for Liquor Liberty Continues
The fight to free Pennsylvanians’ drinks from government control is far from over, according to House Majority Leader Mike Turzai. Rep. Turzai is expected to give a much needed…
Media
Read More: The Fight for Liquor Liberty ContinuesRegulation
States Tap Public-Private Partnerships in 2011
Public-private partnerships aren’t just for roads anymore. Reason’s Annual Privatization Report, released this week, is packed with diverse examples of states leveraging the private sector to stretch tax dollars. In California,…
Media
Read More: States Tap Public-Private Partnerships in 2011State Budget
GAO Sounds the Fiscal Alarm on State Medicaid Costs
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has a new report on state and local government finances. Of greatest concern are the expected increases in Medicaid spending and health care for…
Media
Read More: GAO Sounds the Fiscal Alarm on State Medicaid CostsPublic Union Democracy
Prevailing Wage Pummels Another School District
We’ve reported before about how Pennsylvania’s outdated prevailing wage law imposes needless extra construction costs on local governments and school districts across the commonwealth, hurting taxpayers. The law requires…
Media
Read More: Prevailing Wage Pummels Another School DistrictTaxes & Economy
Feds Tackling Long-Term Unemployment Georgia Style
The Federal Government is taking a page from the Peach State and looking for 10 states to participate in a new unemployment program modeled off of “Georgia Works.” The program…
Media
Read More: Feds Tackling Long-Term Unemployment Georgia StyleTaxes & Economy
What Does the Primary Earthquake Mean?
I’m writing to you from Pittsburgh, which was, in a certain sense, ground zero of last night’s primary earthquake. Last night, I watched Tom Smith—who has made it a matter…
Media
Read More: What Does the Primary Earthquake Mean?Government Accountability
I Did It for Them – Did You?
There’s no hiding it, I don’t even try. I’m proud to be an American veteran and to be a part of something so much larger than myself through serving in…
Media
Read More: I Did It for Them – Did You?Criminal Justice Reform
Unprecedented Prison Population Growth
This is the first installment in a three-part series that will look at Pennsylvania’s correctional system, public policies that have worked in other states, and provide a blueprint to bring…
Media
Read More: Unprecedented Prison Population GrowthEducation
Chart of the Day: Pennsylvania School Revenue per Student
Critics of state spending cuts claim there is a lack of funding for public schools. But from the 1995-96 school year through 2009-10 (the latest year with data available…
Media
Read More: Chart of the Day: Pennsylvania School Revenue per Student