State Budget

Balancing the State Budget Didn’t Have to Be This Hard

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • November 12, 2020

If lawmakers had enacted the Taxpayer Protection Act in 2018, they would face a $770 million gap between revenues and spending. Going one step further, if lawmakers had enacted the…

Commentary

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Public Union Democracy

Who’s Strangling Whom?

  • Charles Mitchell
  • August 7, 2013

Jodi Hirsh wants you to believe that a shadowy, deep-pocketed, Washington-based organization called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has a “stranglehold on our statehouse.”  That’s the claim Ms. Hirsh,…

Media

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Big Government’s New Bogeyman…and those Other Guys

  • Elizabeth Stelle, Nathan Benefield
  • August 5, 2011

Media outlets in Pennsylvania have picked up some stories of attack groups “exposing” the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) at their annual meeting in New Orleans this week.

Media

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Government Accountability

Does Legislative Size Matter?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • April 30, 2010

Good morning.  I am Nathan Benefield, Director of Policy Research for the Commonwealth Foundation.  We are a nonprofit, independent public policy research and educational institute based in Harrisburg.  I…

Testimony

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Government Accountability

Time for a Part-Time Legislature?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 26, 2010

Pennsylvania House Republicans Gordon Denlinger, Tim Krieger, and Bryan Cutler unveiled legislation that would return Pennsylvania to a part-time legislature. The bill, HB 1554, would limit sessions to…

Media

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Government Accountability

Legislative Staff and Term Limits

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 10, 2009

Following up on our blog post and Brad Bumsted’s article about Pennsylvania having the most legislative staff, I took another look at the…

Media

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Government Accountability

Pennsylvania Has Most Legislative Staff

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 8, 2009

Brad Bumsted had an article over the weekend on Pennsylvania’s largest in the nation legislative staff and, of course, the high cost of keeping that staff.  The number of…

Media

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Government Accountability

Baby Boomers Dominate in State Legislatures

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 28, 2009

Interesting, if trivial analysis from NCSL on the age of state legislators. Only 4% of legislators nationally are under age 34. They also have a tool with demographic…

Media

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