Hearing: Neuro-Affirming Education in our Schools

(Apr 12, 2023)

Joint hearing on Neuro-Affirming Education in our Schools Read more

 

Roundtable examines importance of direct support professionals

(Apr 11, 2023)

“Direct support professionals provide a critical service to our communities,” said state Rep. Tarik Khan, who hosted the hearing and represents portions of Philadelphia. “As we learned today, ensuring our government enables direct support professionals to earn a living wage should be our No. 1 objective in helping these professionals continue to provide the care we know is essential, not only to people with disabilities but also to their community.” Read more

 

Living Wage for Direct Support Professionals

(Apr 11, 2023)

Submitted testimony for the House Majority Policy Committee hearing on April 11, 2023 on Living Wage for Direct Support Professionals. Read more

 

Way past the time to raise Pa.’s minimum wage

(Apr 03, 2023)

All of Pennsylvania’s neighboring states have a higher minimum wage than Pennsylvania. Testimony highlighted how the costs of items are not solely dependent on labor, and they listed how the cost of specific items in Philadelphia, Erie and across the state border — where workers earn more money — are exactly the same. Read more

 

Policy Committee examines expanding reproductive health care

(Mar 29, 2023)

“We cannot continue to disregard the negative impact physician-only laws have had on a wide spectrum of people living throughout Pennsylvania, including people of color as well as people living in rural communities,” said Rep. Danilo Burgos, who is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Progressive Policies for Working People. Read more

 

Expanding Access to Reproductive Health Care

(Mar 29, 2023)

Submitted testimony from testifiers for PA House Majority Policy Committee hearing on expanding access to reproductive health care on March 29, 2023. Read more

 

Majority Policy Committee examines affordable housing crisis

(Mar 28, 2023)

“There is not a corner of our commonwealth or a corner of our nation not affected by a lack of affordable housing,” said hearing host Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El, who represents portions of Lancaster. “While our caucus continues to lead the way on issues, including education and employment, all of that work will be undermined if we cannot address the affordable housing crisis and ensure our families will be able to a find a place to lay their head every night.” Read more

 

Representatives, testifiers advocate to Raise the Wage

(Mar 27, 2023)

“We are here to fight on behalf of workers, and – I think I can speak for my colleagues here today – we will not stop until we get it done,” said hearing host Rep. Roni Green from Philadelphia. “The old cliché holds true, a happy worker is a productive worker. We can do better, we must do better.” Read more

 

Reform for charter reimbursement necessary in PA, testifiers say

(Mar 22, 2023)

“Today’s hearing provided us with a great opportunity to examine how reimbursements for charter schools work, and how we can make sure we’re being proper stewards of taxpayer dollars,” said Rep. Joe Ciresi (D-Montgomery), who hosted Wednesday’s hearing. “We will always preserve school choice, but it has been more than 20 years since we last reformed our charter school law, and the testimony we heard today proved it’s now antiquated and negatively impacting school districts, students and taxpayers.” Read more

 

Charter School Reimbursement

(Mar 22, 2023)

Testimony for the HDPC hearing on charter school reimbursement Read more

 

Cost of Living Adjustments for Public Retirees

(Mar 21, 2023)

Submitted testimony by testifiers for the Joint Policy Committee hearing on March 21, 2023 on Cost of Living Adjustments for Public Retirees. Read more

 

PA Democrats push support for COLA increase for retirees

(Mar 21, 2023)

Financial struggles, 20 years in the making, got an examination by Democratic legislators at the Pennsylvania Capitol today. Since 2002, a group of retired teachers and state employees have been living on the same pension amount without a cost of living adjustment. Read more

 

Senate, House Dems discuss need for COLA for PSERS and SERS retirees

(Mar 21, 2023)

HARRISBURG, March 21 – State Senator Katie Muth (D-Chester/Montgomery/Berks), Chair of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, and House Democratic Policy Committee Chair Ryan Bizzarro (D-Erie) today joined Sen. John Kane (D-Chester/Delaware), Rep. Steven Malagari (D-Montgomery) and Rep. Dan Deasy (D-Allegheny) to co-host a joint public hearing on legislation that would provide a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for retirees in the Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS) and the Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS). The hearing, held earlier today at the State Capitol in Harrisburg, featured two panels of testimony that focused on the increasing cost of living and the struggle of retirees living on state pensions in Pennsylvania. “It has been more than 20 years since our retirees in either PSERS or SERS have received a COLA – over two decades. These are our teachers, our cafeteria workers, our PennDOT employees that make sure our roads are safe, our human services employees that assist families in need – so many dedicated employees that gave their lives to our communities, our Commonwealth, and our schools who are now having an incredibly difficult time making ends meet on their current pension payments,” Muth said. “It is time that our legislature stands up for public school employees and our state employees – and it is time that PSERS and SERS prioritize the retirement security of their Read more

 

OSHA Protections for Public Employees

(Mar 20, 2023)

Submitted written testimony for Joint Policy Committee hearing involving the PA House Majority Committee and PA House Senate Democratic Policy Committee on March 20, 2023. Read more

 

House, Senate Dems discuss bills to extend workplace protections to public employees

(Mar 20, 2023)

“Today’s hearing shined a light on the need to ensure safety conditions for almost 600,000 public sector workers in Pennsylvania,” House Majority Policy Committee chairman Ryan Bizzarro said. “Public sector workers cannot and should not continue to be treated as second-class employees. The time has come to extend OSHA protections for all public sector workers.” Read more

 

Bipartisan Policy Committee gathers info on derailment response

(Mar 14, 2023)

“I think the key ingredient today for us was to learn,” said Rob Matzie, the Majority Policy Committee host. “We have been talking about what we can do relative to rail safety. There are a lot of questions, and we will explore each and every option as we continue this dialogue and pursue every option.” Read more

 

Impact of Norfolk Southern Train Derailment

(Mar 14, 2023)

Submitted testimony from the bipartisan House Policy Committee hearing on the Impact of Norfolk Southern Train Derailment. Read more

 

Looking for ways to empower residents to revitalize Main Street

(Mar 13, 2023)

“As a small business owner and borough council member, I've witnessed the challenges that people face when pursuing projects that would be beneficial for all, such as turning unused storefronts into locations for viable businesses,” Salisbury said. “Unfortunately, the process is often too burdensome and expensive for prospective local business owners to take on because it requires experienced lawyers to navigate all the complexities.” Read more

 

Train derailment focus of upcoming bipartisan policy hearing

(Mar 10, 2023)

The House Majority and Republican Policy Committees will host a bipartisan hearing in Beaver County next week on the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment and how Pennsylvania is responding. Read more

 

Hearing: Affordable Housing Crisis

(Mar 10, 2023)

HDPC hearing on the affordable housing crisis in Pennsylvania Read more