Pennsylvania in Focus

The possible parameters for a state budget compromise emerged this week in a window across the street from the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg. The Commonwealth Foundation, a free market think tank headquartered just steps from the building’s grand rotunda, unveiled signage for its “Shapiro’s Promises” campaign – in reference to Josh Shapiro’s overtures for bipartisan cooperation during his first term as governor. By all appearances, negotiating his first spending plan – with a Republican-majority Senate and Democratic-majority House – serves as a de facto litmus test for the strength of that promise. The possibilities leave the foundation, whose policy positions typically align with legislative Republicans, feeling optimistic.

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Researchers say they recently discovered a grim consequence of the pandemic: overdose death rates climbed dramatically. The United States saw overdose fatalities increase 50%, with 107,000 people dying in 2021. The biggest spikes happened among American Indian and Native Americans and black Americans. Among adolescents, overdoses more than doubled. Federal regulatory changes during the pandemic, however, granted more flexibility that some health professionals and advocates want to keep in place permanently.

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Democratic state officials, both current and former, sailed to victory in contested primaries across the state. Republicans, likewise, held the 108th state House district despite hope from Democrats to widen their narrow one-seat majority in the lower chamber. Meanwhile, the stage has been set for a November showdown for the open state Supreme Court seat.

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A revenue analysis estimates that Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposal for adult-use cannabis could bring in more than $250 million annually — but legalization advocates aren’t so enthusiastic. The concern is not about legalizing and regulating marijuana. Instead, it’s a worry that Pennsylvania will repeat the mistakes of high-tax states that have failed to move people from the illegal market into a regulated one.

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Long-simmering problems in Pennsylvania’s emergency medical services system have created stress points for ambulance services and fire departments big and small. The House Democratic Policy Committee held a panel on Friday to hear from first responders on where their legislative priorities should be to address the growing crisis.

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Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity leads a coalition of state financial officials pushing back against new federal mortgage fees they call “unconscionable.” “This new policy makes it more expensive for people with good credit to buy houses – and that’s absurd,” she said. “Americans who have built a good credit score and saved enough to make a strong down payment should not be penalized and forced to pay more on their mortgage every single month.”

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Onerous rules that restrict new housing and make it impossible to build starter houses or small apartment buildings drive up prices and push homeownership further out of reach, experts told Senate Republicans on Wednesday. As Pennsylvania faces a housing shortage, a return to abundance may require state-level zoning reforms – and limits on local control, they say.

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Nurse practitioners rallied in Harrisburg on Wednesday for greater independence in practice, advocating for a change that dozens of other states have already made. More independence would mean abolishing state requirements for nurse practitioners to have a collaboration agreement with a physician. Instead, advocates want NPs to have full practice authority to see patients and provide the treatment they were trained to give.

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Advocates of skill games rallied at the Pennsylvania Capitol on Tuesday in support of legislation that would regulate the industry, removing them from a legal gray area outside of the state's gambling law. Supporters emphasized the importance of skill games for Pennsylvania businesses and veterans groups, along with the potential tax revenues that would follow regulation.

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In a Monday hearing, the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee was warned of the lurking taxpayer cost for plugging orphaned and abandoned wells. While current policy caps bonds on conventional oil and gas wells at $2,500, the actual cost of plugging an abandoned one is much higher – $30,000 or more.

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