Pennsylvania in Focus

Both chambers of the General Assembly officially left Harrisburg for the summer — an ominous sign that the bipartisan wound won’t heal anytime soon. The development comes nearly two weeks after the Senate recessed until mid-September, furious over Gov. Josh Shapiro’s default on a $45.5 billion budget deal — complete with a new $100 million school choice program he helped draft — amid resistance from Democratic leadership in the House.

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Pennsylvania officials will soon have a five-year action plan for how to build out universal broadband service across the state. As federal funds roll out nationally, however, demand for labor will be high and could make the task harder.

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Pennsylvania’s legislators have one of the highest salaries in the nation, and generous reimbursement rules for expenses can send more taxpayer money into their pockets. A proposed bill could change those rules, however, limiting the checks to cover only costs that lawmakers actually paid.

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Pennsylvania ranks high among the list of states reporting a rise in deaths from an animal tranquilizer that’s immune to existing overdose-reversing medications. Xylazine, also called Tranq, killed 102 people in 2018, according to federal data. That figure increased 35-fold just three years later. For the states in CDC’s Region 3 – Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington D.C. – the overdose rate is nearly quadruple the national average.

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The governor’s vow to veto funding for a new school choice scholarship program and end the budget impasse may prove ineffective after all. Thanks to the complexities of the legislative process, the state’s annual spending plan requires multiple enabling pieces of legislation – commonly referred to as “code bills” — to become effective.

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The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will soon see a new commissioner focused on fare collection and reducing how much tolls increase annually. Keith Leaphart, a physician, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, received a unanimous and favorable recommendation from the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday for the Turnpike Commissioner position.

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After multiple hearings, Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt's nomination cleared his first legislative hurdle. On Monday, the Senate State Government Committee voted 10-1 to recommend Schmidt’s nomination. Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Chambersburg, was the only member to vote against Schmidt, who had appeared before the committee twice earlier this month.

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Lifeline scholarships in Pennsylvania just got a celebrity endorsement, according to a letter sent to the governor’s administration Thursday. Meek Mill – a rapper, activist, and Philadelphia native – is one of the lead signatories on a letter sent to Gov. Josh Shapiro, two of his cabinet members, and the General Assembly that says the Lifeline Scholarship program will free students trapped in “failing” schools, irrespective “of their family’s socioeconomic status or their zip code.”

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As solar capacity in Pennsylvania grows rapidly – accounting for more than half of the state's proposed energy projects – so do questions about how maintenance costs for the power grid should be distributed. During a public hearing hosted by the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee on Tuesday, experts tussled over whether legal favoritism for solar projects – combined with overreliance on traditional power sources – may leave some ratepayers footing more of the bill for grid upkeep than others.

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The Senate introduced a proposal for lifeline scholarships Thursday without fanfare, despite the policy’s high ranking on Republicans’ legislative priority list. Senate Bill 795 would create spending-restricted accounts for students living in low-performing districts to pay for private school tuition, tutoring, and other educational expenses.

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