by Christin Brown | April 14, 2011 | News Releases
Harrisburg, April 14, 2011 – In response to yesterday’s Senate Law and Justice Committee hearing on the modernization of the Liquor Control Board operations and in conjunction with the Senate Democrats “Budget Savings Plan,” three Democratic senators are unveiling legislation aimed at modernizing Pennsylvania’s wine and spirit store operations.
“We must continue to find ways to improve the efficiency and flexibility of the Liquor Control Board (LCB) and the wine and spirit stores across Pennsylvania,” said Sen. Jim Ferlo (D-Allegheny). “We can continue to improve the customer experience at the stores while generating millions in new revenue. By modernizing the way the LCB does business, we enable it to operate more effectively and tap into the full potential of the agency — so that Pennsylvania’s economy can reap the benefits.”
The legislation, proposed by Ferlo, Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia/Montgomery) and Sen. Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia) would be centered on the “3 P’s” – Procurement, Pricing and Personnel.
“PLCB modernization is an integral part of the Senate Democrats’ $1.1 billion budget savings plan announced today,” Hughes said. “It’s a win-win for Pennsylvania. Not only will modernization generate substantial new revenue to help offset some of the governor’s most egregious budget cuts, it will also improve the customer’s experience and protect thousands of good-paying jobs.”
Specifically, the Liquor Control Board modernization proposal would:
- Allow the LCB greater flexibility from the Department of General Services and the state Procurement Code to purchase goods and services outside of the code’s parameters and market its services out of state. This would provide savings and additional new revenue streams for Pennsylvania.
- Allow the LCB to alter markup and proportional pricing to better reflect market conditions. This portion of the proposal includes offering a customer relations marketing program to improve the buying experience. This could generate new revenue between $20 and $70 million.
- Allow the LCB to hire outside of Civil Service requirements. The LCB is a retail operation unlike any other within state government. The senators said civil service tests and requirements often do not accurately reflect the skills needed to be an effective wine & spirit store or warehouse employee. This and a few other personnel proposals could result in significant savings, according to the senators.
“By ensuring collective bargaining rights for liquor store employees, we preserve the family sustaining jobs our economy needs,” Tartaglione said. “And continued support of hiring veterans should remain a priority in Pennsylvania.”
The senators said they are encouraged by Senate Law and Justice Committee chairman Sen. John Pippy’s (R-Allegheny) willingness to have open dialogue on the future of the state wine
by Christin Brown | April 11, 2011 | News Releases
HARRISBURG, April 11, 2011 – The state Senate Appropriations committee today approved a measure that will ensure firefighters that they and their families will be protected financially if they contract cancer on the job, state Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione announced.
“We’ve made terrific progress in recognizing the risk for firefighters and acknowledging the responsibilities of their communities,” Tartaglione said. “I’m gratified that we were able to bring everyone together to get this far.”
Last year, Tartaglione ushered House Bill 1231 through the Senate but it was vetoed by Gov. Rendell after municipalities expressed concerns about the cost.
A new bill, Senate Bill 654, passed the Appropriations Committee today with some minor changes to accommodate local concerns. It cleared the Senate Labor and Industry Committee last week.
The bill specifically adds cancer to the Workers’ Compensation Act as a work-related illness if no other obvious cause for the disease is present and amends the law to include cancer suffered by firefighters and caused a group of known carcinogens recognized by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The measure covers professional and volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania that have been on the job for more than four years and have been exposed to known carcinogens. There are provisions in the bill that allow the presumption of job-related cancer to be rebutted by evidence of cancer-causing activity – such as smoking — during a firefighter’s non-duty hours.
There are more than 3,500 professional and 60,000 volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania.
by Christin Brown | April 7, 2011 | News Releases
Harrisburg – April 7, 2011 – The Senate Democratic Policy Committee will hold a roundtable discussion on job training issues at the Temple Corporate Learning Center in Philadelphia next week.
“Any legislative effort to stoke our economy and create jobs must include an aggressive job training plan,” said Sen. Lisa Boscola (D-Northampton), who chairs the committee. “While Senate Democrats have already introduced job training bills, I am eager to get input from Philadelphia region employers, union representatives and workers on how best to train our workers for good jobs today – and tomorrow.”
Boscola said creating jobs and strengthening the state’s economy must be the top legislative priority this year. She said getting people back to work is the key to rebounding from the recession.
“We need to pinpoint what is working, and what is not, and how we can move forward on this important issue for the people we represent,” Boscola said.
The roundtable discussion will be held in Philadelphia at the request of members from the Philadelphia Senate Legislative Delegation. It will be held on Thursday, April 14 at 11 a.m. at the Temple Corporate and Learning Center, 2450 W. Hunting Park Avenue, Philadelphia. The public is welcome to attend.
In February, Senate Democrats unveiled a six point legislative plan, called PA Works, which is aimed at invigorating Pennsylvania’s economy and creating jobs.
“The beauty of the Democratic legislative package is that it would create more than 28,000 jobs, while actually saving state taxpayer dollars,” Boscola said.
She said the Democratic plan would leverage $2 billion in private investment to help put people to work, cut business taxes and help small businesses be more competitive, rebuild the state’s aging infrastructure, foster the growth of promising new clean and green energy industries and retool worker training programs.
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For the Philadelphia hearing, Boscola said the committee would focus on job training. Democrats have introduced these PA Works job training bills to date:
- Consolidate job training programs under a single state agency by creating an integrated “one-stop” system of workforce investment and education services (Yudichak);
- Redirect federal resources to create an on-the-job training program, modeled after Georgia Works (Tartaglione);
- Establish a Shared Work program to relieve the stress on unemployment compensation (UC), modeled from Missouri’s Shared Work program (Tartaglione); and
- Provide “Green Workforce” training grants. (Kitchen)
In addition to committee members, those expected to take part in the informal roundtable discussion include: Patrick Eiding, president of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO; Pat Merk of the Finishing Trades Institute; Laura Shubilla, president/CEO of the Philadelphia Youth Network; Mark Boyd, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries; Everett Gillison, deputy mayor of public safety; Ryan Boyer, business manager of the Laborers District Council; Liz Robinson, executive director of programs, Energy Coordinating Agency; and Gary Masino, president of the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19, Philadelphia.
by Christin Brown | April 6, 2011 | News Releases
HARRISBURG, April 6, 2011 – State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione today fought changes in Pennsylvania’s construction code process that she said are intended to favor special interests over consumer protection.
“It took seven years and the effort of thousands of people to create Pennsylvania’s Uniform Construction Code,” she said. “We knew that we weren’t going to make all the people happy all the time. But we also knew that the importance of leaving safety to the experts and taking politics out of the process outweighed the special interests.”
At a Senate Labor and Industry Committee meeting today, Tartaglione voted and spoke out against a House bill waiving Pennsylvania’s sprinkler requirement, and amendments that would stall future modernization of the state construction code.
In 1999, Pennsylvania passed a Uniform Construction Code that corresponded with updates from national and international building codes. In 2008, the legislature created a 19-member Review and Advisory Committee (RAC) to recommend which changes in the international code should be omitted from the state code.
The RAC drew the ire of state builders’ groups when it voted to approve the national code requirement of automatic sprinkler systems in single family homes and duplexes.
Amendments that passed the Labor and Industry Committee today call for a two-thirds vote of the RAC to approve any changes in the statewide construction code.
“It’s hard to believe that members of the Senate would suggest that a majority vote isn’t enough,” Tartaglione said. “The amendments are intended to kill modernization of the building code and put the politics back into the process.”
Tartaglione has been a supporter of the sprinkler requirement because new, lightweight building materials burn and collapse much faster than traditional lumber construction, putting firefighters at greater risk than ever. Two independent studies have shown that the time firefighters have from the time a fire starts to the time when a building becomes too dangerous to be in has dropped from 17 minutes to four minutes over the past 30 years.
“Money-saving materials make sprinklers a necessity in modern construction,” Tartaglione said. “I don’t see how we can ask our firefighters to put themselves at risk without updating the building codes to minimize it.”
Despite Tartaglione’s opposition, and her request for a hearing on the RAC changes, the Senate Labor and Industry Committee reported House Bill 377 to the full Senate for a vote.
by Christin Brown | March 18, 2011 | News Releases
Philadelphia, March 18, 2011 — The Philadelphia Senate Delegation today held a discussion on the impact of the governor’s proposed 2011-12 budget plan on the Philadelphia region.
The senators, along with representatives from the mayor’s office, School District of Philadelphia, Temple and Cheney universities, and the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council of the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP), talked about the consequences of the proposed budget cuts during a roundtable discussion at Temple University, which is slated to receive a 52 percent cut in state funding under the governor’s plan.
“We knew the governor would make cuts, but I think we were all surprised how deep the cuts were, especially to education,” said Kitchen (D-3rd dist.). “Although we are still in trying times, this budget is unfairly balanced on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens and our students, from pre-kindergarten through college.
“We have gathered together to have a serious talk about the fallout from the governor’s proposal so that we as legislators can bring suggestions and alternatives back to Harrisburg,” she said. “This will have a big impact on many people, so we need to find any way to ease the pain.”
“It makes cuts to the most vulnerable and needy citizens among us,” added Sen. Larry Farnese (D-1st dist.). “This budget does not share the pain, and we are leaving money on the table.”
Sen. Tina Tartaglione said the governor’s plan to ask union employees to make sacrifices while cutting programs and services that employ these workers is detrimental to the health of the state’s recovering economy.
“At a time when our economy is still fragile, we depend on our workforce to help move us forward. Many of them are already working under tight budgets and juggling more responsibilities,” said Tartaglione (D-2nd dist.). “I don’t understand why hard-working union employees are being asked to make more sacrifices, while large corporations are spared any ounce of fiscal pain. The governor said his budget was all about ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’ but all the union workers hear are ‘cuts, cuts, cuts.’”
Sen. LeAnna Washington also questioned the governor’s priorities. Corbett’s budget plan does not call for a severance tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas drillers.
“The governor does not have a moral right to give away our natural resources, then turn around and cut education and healthcare,” said Washington (D-4th dist.). “The people of Pennsylvania don’t understand, and don’t agree with these misplaced priorities.”
Sen. Vince Hughes said Pennsylvania’s ongoing successful education track record would be halted under the governor’s proposed cuts, including $550 million to basic education and $260 million to the Accountability Block Grant program, which funds all-day kindergarten in many school districts, including Philadelphia.
“We cannot retreat on Pennsylvania’s record of education success,” said Hughes (D-7th dist.), who is the Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Investments during the past decade have transformed Pennsylvania into a national education leader. We are here today to learn from these leaders firsthand the full impact of the proposed cuts.”
Sen. Mike Stack added that the 10 percent in cuts to community colleges hurt Pennsylvania’s improving but still shaky economic climate.
“Our community colleges are offering students an opportunity to get a quality and affordable education. Many of them are working adults who are unemployed or looking to boost their job skills,” said Stack (D-5th dist.). “Cutting community college funding during such difficult economic times only hinders the state’s chance to boost our workforce. We should invest in our educational institutions, not punish them.”
Hughes also assailed the deep cuts to hospitals, which are already feeling fiscal pain as they try to heal those in physical pain.
“Hospitals are already struggling with decreased revenues and increased numbers of uninsured patients,” he said. “I don’t know how we can responsibly pass a state budget that eliminates their supplemental funding and still expect them to provide quality services to the people they serve.”
by Christin Brown | March 1, 2011 | News Releases
HARRISBURG, March 1, 2011 – A bill designed to boost State Police training efforts while creating a fairer funding system passed a key Senate committee today, said state Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione.
Senate Bill 237 will redirect millions of dollars collected in fines toward cadet training efforts, while municipalities that provide less than 40 hours of local police coverage would lose their share of fines collected through State Police traffic stops.
“Police coverage is increasingly complex and expensive,” Tartaglione said. “This bill will help ease the coverage complications and financial pressure on the State Police while creating a fairer funding system for all Pennsylvania taxpayers.”
Under current law, half of the traffic-enforcement fines collected through state police patrols in a local municipality are returned to the municipality through a Motor License Fund formula – even if the municipality relies only on the state for police protection.
“Taxpayers in hundreds of cities foot the bill for most police services through local property taxes, while more than 1,500 municipalities pay nothing, and get money back,” Tartaglione said. “This puts strain on our most vulnerable communities and tough economic times make it worse.”
Senate Bill 237 would deny distribution of traffic-fine revenue from the Motor License Fund to any municipality that does not provide locally for at least 40 hours of coverage per week through its own force or a regional contract. An amendment inserted today exempts municipalities with fewer than 3,000 residents. It passed the Senate Transportation Committee today unanimously. The bill is expected to affect about 1,200 municipalities across Pennsylvania and steer more than $4 million toward State Police cadet training.
by Christin Brown | February 23, 2011 | News Releases
State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione talks about closing the "Delaware Loophole" as part of a Senate Democatic plan to improve Pennsylvania's job climate.
HARRISBURG, February 23, 2011 – State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione today molded her years-long effort to close the “Delaware Loophole” into a wider Senate Democratic plan to help small businesses compete, reduce corporate tax rates and get Pennsylvanians back to work.
“Over the years we have seen small neighborhood businesses replaced by mega-corporations that answer only to stockholders,” Tartaglione said. “While Wall St. has already recovered from the recession, the streets of Northeast Philadelphia have not. By reforming the tax system, training workers and giving small businesses a boost, we intend to make sure the recovery reaches every working family.”
At a news conference in Harrisburg today, Senate Democrats outlined a six-point plan intended to spur creation of thousands of jobs, trim millions in state spending, and create a workforce ready to thrive in the new economy.
The plan, called PA Works, focuses on six key areas: small business, workforce training, critical state investments, clean energy, infrastructure investment, and tax reform.
Tartaglione said she will focus on what has become an eight-year effort to close the “Delaware Loophole” and lower the state’s corporate net income tax to allow small businesses to prosper and grow. Nearly three quarters of Pennsylvania corporations pay no corporate income tax, partly because they can set up Delaware subsidiaries that license logos, trademarks, copyrights and other “non-tangible” – and therefore not taxable – assets.
“Pennsylvania is years behind in updating tax laws to keep up with corporate accounting tricks,” she said. “These big chains have been killing our mom-and-pop stores for years and we’ve been helping them do it. If there were ever a time to summon the political courage to take on corporate lobbyists, now is the time.”
In addition to closing the tax loophole, PA Works uses innovative ideas that will spur job creation, promote a business-friendly environment, and expand business opportunity.
The PA Works plan includes:
Putting Small Business First:
- Increase flexibility under Small Business First Fund
- Encourage financial institutions to be more aggressive small business lenders
- Regulatory relief to promote expansion
- Expand tax credit incentives
Real Training for Real Jobs
- Consolidate job training programs under single state agency by creating an integrated “one-stop” system of workforce investment and education services
- Redirect federal resources to create on-the-job training program modeled after Georgia Works
- Shared Work program to relieve the stress on UC (Model Missouri’s Shared Work)
- Provide “Green Workforce” training grants
Funding What Works, Fix What Doesn’t:
- Recapitalize Business In Our Sites to create new shovel-ready sites for development
- Create a new dedicated fund for key investment programs
- Refocus job creation tax credit program
- Prioritize MBE and WBE incentives
- Give taxpayers a return on successful investments
Clean Energy:
- Expand green building investment programs
- Enact Marcellus Shale Drilling Plan
- Strengthen synergy between universities and private energy investments
- Encourage smaller municipalities and rural communities to make energy efficiency investments
- Guarantee more contracts for PA supplier companies
Business Tax Reform
- Reduce CNI to 7.5% by closing DE Loophole
- Increase single sales factor and NOL Ceiling for home-based PA firms
- Explore other tax options to create a modern and fair business tax system
Infrastructure Investment:
- Find Transportation alternatives such as public private partnerships, new tolling options and bonds as short term solutions
- Water and Sewer investments such as finished CFA H2O and new Marcellus alternatives
- PUC oversight new-investment plans
by Christin Brown | February 15, 2011 | News Releases
At today’s Capitol news conference, state Sen. Christine Tartaglione joined union leaders and state legislators to unveil the AFL-CIO legislative agenda and discuss how to protect and create jobs in Pennsylvania.
Tartaglione, a member of the UFCW union, said that it is time for the legislature to push back against growing corporate influence and find ways to protect and grow the middle class. She said she introduced legislation in the Senate to close the Delaware Loophole because it is outrageous that the average working family in Pennsylvania pays more in state taxes than corporations doing business in the state.
by Christin Brown | January 24, 2011 | News Releases
HARRISBURG, January 24, 2011 – – Members of the Senate Democratic Caucus joined House Democrats in the Capitol Rotunda today to stress the urgency of extending the state’s adultBasic health care program.
The adultBasic program currently provides benefits to more than 40,000 low-income, working Pennsylvanians. These individuals will lose their insurance and access to quality health care at the end of February if a new funding source is not implemented.
AdultBasic was created by the legislature in 2001 with funding received through the National Tobacco Settlement Agreement. The program provides coverage for the basic health care needs of individuals between 19 and 64 years of age who do not have health insurance and meet certain eligibility and income requirements.
by Christin Brown | January 6, 2011 | News Releases
HARRISBURG, JAN. 6, 2011 — At a noontime ceremony in the state Capitol, State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione took the oath of office for her fifth term in the Pennsylvania Senate.
“I’m grateful to the people in my district who continue to put their trust in me as families face difficult times and look toward state leaders to work together for solutions,” she said. “It’s a challenge I’m ready to accept.”
Tartaglione, who was elected to Senate leadership in November, said a looming budget deficit tops the list of tasks facing a new governor and a legislature with many new faces.
“Experience and the ability to work with colleagues across the aisle will be critical in the next few months and years,” Tartaglione said. “The budget deficit we face will require sacrifice and careful, strategic restructuring of fiscal policy. The government should be lean, but not mean.”
As the legislature begins the new session, Tartaglione said she is planning to reintroduce legislation to close the Delaware Loophole, a now infamous corporate tax flaw that allows large corporations to shift tax burden to small businesses and individuals.
“Families and small businesses are stressed in this economy, while some large, multi-state retailers are able to take advantage of a loophole in Pennsylvania law not available to them in other states,” she said. “It’s not fair at any time, but in this economy it’s unthinkable.”
