Pennsylvania Politics Corbett Unveils 2013—2014 Budget Proposal program. Fortunately, after a tremendous outcry from citizens and conservation and farming Gov. Tom Corbett unveiled a organizations statewide, funding $28.4 billion General Fund budget for both programs was before a joint session of the unanimously restored in the General Assembly on Tuesday. House. Funding for the Department of Afterward, Gov. Corbett began Environmental Protection (DEP) praising Commonwealth and the Department of investments in state parks and Conservation and Natural other public lands as he traveled Resources (DCNR) in the the state. And this year, Corbett proposed budget is essentially flat. proposed increasing funding for This means that the cuts made to farmland preservation by $10 the agencies’ budgets over the past million and even highlighted the few years stay, with no allowance idea during his budget address. for inflation, let alone increases for Some might see these actions staff or enforcement. as hypocritical. We prefer to see The budget also removes all them as personal and political funding from the state for growth, stemming from Corbett's Conservation Districts, the boots interactions with Pennsylvanians on the ground for environmental throughout the state, and their love protection. The only funding the and support for Penn's Woods. districts will receive will come Now, if only he could understand from drilling impact fees. that the proper level of financial Conservationists are also support for our public lands troubled by the fact that DCNR, should not be solely dependent the state's conservation and public upon extraction of the resources lands agency, must increasingly under those lands, or impacting rely on funds from oil and gas the health of the forests that drilling and timber leases to populate its surface. manage our public parks and forests. A welcome step on The education of Tom Corbett? transportation funding Last year, Gov. Corbett ignored In last year's budget, Gov. the detailed recommendations of Corbett proposed permanently his Transportation Funding eliminating funding for the Advisory Commission to start Keystone Recreation, Park and addressing the estimated $4.5 Conservation Fund — the state's flagship conservation program — billion shortfall in funding for the Commonwealth's highways, and Pennsylvania's nationally recognized farmland preservation bridges and public transportation systems. This year, while the Originally published by Penn Future
overall level of funding falls short of what is ultimately needed, Gov. Corbett unveiled a series of welcome proposals to increase transportation funding. The most significant proposal would raise $1.8 billion over five years by removing the cap on the pricing mechanism used to calculate the Oil Company Franchise Tax. There is strong bipartisan support for increasing transportation funding, especially in the Senate. Look for action in the coming months now that the governor has finally taken a stand on fixing our vital transportation problems. Loosening Grover's leash on Harrisburg Nobody elected Washingtonbased anti-government zealot Grover Norquist to run PA, and Norquist clearly doesn't care about Pennsylvania's environment, our quality of life, or the safety of our roads, bridges, or public transportation. Norquist is on record for wanting to shrink the size of government so it can be "drowned in a bathtub." But all this hasn't stopped dozens of Pennsylvania politicians from genuflecting before this poobah despite their constituents' wishes, even checking in with Norquist to make sure votes or proposals are acceptable. Gov. Corbett signed the Norquist "no-tax" pledge as a candidate for governor, and has generally toed the line during his
first two years in office. Some say that the convoluted county option drilling impact fee under Act 13 was created in order to appease Norquist, and even then Norquist said it was a "tax." Norquist will now proclaim that Corbett is raising a tax by uncapping the Oil Franchise Tax. Good for Corbett. Grownups in Pennsylvania need to do what is best for Pennsylvania, and sometimes that means creating new revenue and making new investments.
Commission isn't inclined to actually determine if and how shale drilling and water withdrawal may be harming this vital resource. The risk of ignorance is too great. Tell Gov. Corbett and the Army Corps of Engineers to direct the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to conduct a comprehensive study on how shale drilling and water withdrawal is impacting the Susquehanna River and its tributaries.
Water, water everywhere, but 6 million people might not find a drop to drink The Susquehanna River provides drinking water for 6 million people, so you'd think the people in charge would be really careful about endangering it. Yet the Susquehanna River Basin
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through beer distributors (something that does not affect the state stores directly) as opposed to being able to purchase it in supermarkets and convenience stores. Another issue is marijuana decriminalization, whether for medical or recreational purposes. I am not endorsing legalization, but whether it’s in two, five or ten years, change is coming. We simply cannot afford the hundreds of thousands of unnecessary incarcerations with the consequent loss of youth employability and productivity because of the widespread use of a substance anyone can grow and no worse in its effects than alcohol. The primary roadblock faced by states trying to change existing legal controls on cannabis is how to regulate, control and tax either its medical distribution or commercial sale. Pennsylvania has the governmental structures in place to regulate commercial sale responsibly, educate about health effects, and tax like alcohol. Republicans historically prefer sin taxes to wealth taxes, so here is a golden source of untapped governmental revenue generated
presumably by the sins of others. In the old days, the red political “T” in Pennsylvania (the rural central and northern regions) was anti-liquor, anti-gambling, Republican, and often antiCatholic. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia were despised as places festering with “Rum, Romanism and Rebellion.” Now a Catholic from Pittsburgh is getting Republican legislators to embrace expanded gambling opportunities at the local tavern while doubling the state’s liquor outlets! Our best hope is that a rebellion is brewing that will unite cities and countryside against an administration that is relentlessly undermining educational opportunity, reliable mass transportation and the environment. It’s time to unite against policies that erode a commonwealth that belongs to us all.
Corbett’s Liquor Reform: It’s Not Progress by Charles McCollester Cynics in Pittsburgh assert that the Post-Gazette’s enthusiastic endorsement of Governor Corbett’s “liquor reform” is rooted in the newspaper’s expectation of a revenue windfall from private advertisers of booze. I value the Post-Gazette (P-G) as a vital community asset and might even accept that outcome as a positive factor, but the newspaper’s recent editorial in favor of privatization of the Liquor Control Board is completely unconvincing. First, the proposal by our benighted governor to replace educational appropriations that should be enshrined as a long-term governmental commitment and social investment with a one-time sale of state assets is cynical to say the least. To chop support for state universities and public schools with one hand and then to hold out with the other a vague promise that sale of a revenue-generating state asset might replace some cuts, guarantees future crises as the windfall is expended. Second. Who benefits? Certainly not the 3,500 state store workers who make a decent lower middle-class wage of $30,000 to 4 - NEWPEOPLE
$50,000. They will be replaced by a small group of opportunistic entrepreneurs (undoubtedly with connections to influential politicians) who will become rich. But the bulk of their private sector employees will earn between $15,000 and $30,000 a year, lacking stability and training a civil service job and union contract provide. Thoughtfully, the governor provides a tax break for new owners who deign to hire former workers at half the present rate. A man of the people! Third, the P-G editorial implies we should take solace from a proclaimed renewed focus on enforcement by the state government. Can any vow of strict enforcement be made with a straight face by an administration that has not enforced air and water or community and worker right-toknow standards on Marcellus gas drillers? While the gas wells suck wealth for outside interests without compensation to the “commonwealth,” state “enforcers” don’t even seem to know how many gas wells exist, let alone effectively monitoring their level of adherence to fundamental health and safety standards. (Dare we
March 2013
mention state vigilance in terms of the enforcement of child molestation statutes?) Finally, the Post-Gazette uncharacteristically seems to salivate at the thought of the Republican Party attaining a great ideological victory. One of America’s great newspapers seems to endorse the notion that having a governmental system for regulating controlled substances makes us a “political and social backwater” (we are, but for completely unrelated reasons). We have a comprehensive system of well-lit stores with a good general selection and professional employees. This defines a backwater? In neighboring states a population center with Pittsburgh’s regional population might have several warehouse outlets, boutique highend stores in select suburbs, and for the rest of us small, often poorly stocked, dirty and occasionally dangerous outlets. The governor’s plan also invites corruption on several levels and guarantees the rebirth of the liquor lobby, once notorious in state and local politics. Public pressure is greatest for a change in the way beer is sold
Dr. Charles McCollester, president of the Battle of Homestead Foundation, is a retired professor of industrial and labor relations at IUP ( Indiana University of PA) who lives in Mt. Washington.