Criminal Justice Reform

Criminal Justice Reform Needed

• January 31, 2011

Auditor General Wagner has warned the Governor and state legislators to begin using alternative-sentencing instead of long-term prison sentences for non-violent offenders, in order to control the ballooning prison…

Media

Government Accountability

Are Freshmen Lawmakers Bad for State Legislatures?

• Elizabeth Stelle
• January 7, 2011

Governing magazine looks at the disadvantages to term limits, focusing on the constant turnover in state legislatures. Recognizing the inexperience of lawmakers, states like Michigan and California are setting up…

Media

Government Accountability

Lawsuit Lottery Must End

• December 8, 2010

Upon taking office in January, Governor-elect Tom Corbett will face the burden of addressing the numerous economic and fiscal problems facing the Keystone State.  One of the most pervasive is…

Commentary

Unemployment Compensation Time Bomb Set to Explode

• Elizabeth Stelle
• December 2, 2010

Unemployment woes are back in the news.  With benefit extensions up for debate, a much bigger unemployment problem is on the horizon. Pennsylvania’s unemployment compensation fund is bankrupt, but…

Media

Regulation

The Only Way to Fix Public Pensions

• Nathan Benefield
• October 4, 2010

The Baltimore Sun editorializes that the only way to fix the pension plan for state workers (in Maryland, though the same would hold true in Pennsylvania) is to move…

Media

Taxes & Economy

Fact Check: Severance Tax Proposal Would be Highest in US

• Nathan Benefield
• September 28, 2010

SB 1155 would impose a severance tax rate of 39 cents per MCF. At the August estimated average wellhead price of $4.22 per MCF, this is an effective…

Media

Regulation

Film Tax Credits are Bad Economics

• Nathan Benefield
• September 22, 2010

Josh Barro of the Manhattan Institute hammers on film tax credits, which have been so popular among lawmakers in Pennsylvania and other states, who love when movie stars…

Media

Charters vs. Private School Choice

• July 10, 2010

Martha Woodall, in her recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, notes that Philadelphia parents are craving more school choice options. In a new Pew Charitable Trusts study, 62%…

Media

Regulation

$27 Billion Pension “Reform”: Still Doubling Down on Generational Theft

• Richard Dreyfuss
• June 21, 2010

On June 16, the PA House passed pension "non-reform" by further deferring the scheduled taxpayers' contributions to the state's largest government pension plans - the Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS)…

Commentary