Budget Moving in PA—And Actions are Needed on General Assistance, Minimum Wage

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Budget Deal Moving in the PA General Assembly

From the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center (http://www.pennbpc.org):

As you might have heard, a budget deal is now advancing in the PA General Assembly. On Monday the House Appropriations Committee amended the bill that will be serving as the budget with language that is reported to be agreed to be legislative leaders and Gov. Wolf.  The amended bill received an affirmative vote from all the Republicans on the committee and three of the Democratic representatives – Reps. Flynn, Sanchez, & Schweyer; the bill was opposed by the 9 remaining Democrats on the committee – Reps. Bullock, Cephas, Comitta, A. Davis, Donatucci, Kim, Kinsey, Krueger, & McCarter. It is expected that the budget will receive a vote on the House floor tomorrow and then be passed by the Senate on Thursday.

The legislation does NOT include funding for General Assistance (another sign that GOP leaders intend to eliminate the program in conjunction with implementation of the budget), and there is no minimum wage increase included in the budget deal. There is also a 20% cut to the funding increase for public schools proposed by Gov. Wolf, as well as $25 million expansion of the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit, which allows wealthy Pennsylvanians to direct some of their tax dollars to private schools. The bill also includes smaller increases than those proposed by the governor for several crucial public investments, including a $50 million increase for Special Education and an additional $25 million more for PreK programs. Read the PA Budget & Policy Center statement about this disappointing budget.

Tell the PA Senate to Vote No on Eliminating General Assistance

HB 33– the bill that would eliminate General Assistance (GA), passed in the PA House and has moved to the PA Senate. This bill is scheduled to be voted on by Thursday, and we need to act NOW.

Please commit to contacting your State Senator to ask him/her to protect GA by voting NO on HB 33. Call this toll-free number to be connected to your State Senator: 833-730-5882. Thanks to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center for setting this up!  Alternatively, you can call directly—find contact information for your Senator at http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/index.cfm#address.

Thanks for standing with us to #SaveGA!

Tell PA Legislators: It’s Time to Raise the Minimum Wage in PA

We did not manage to get a minimum wage increase into the Pennsylvania budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year, but it still needs to be done. Please watch the video below and contact your Pennsylvania legislators to tell them it’s time to #RaisetheWage NOW! Find their contact information at http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/index.cfm#address.