The Next 1,360 Days

Governor Wolf marked his 100th day in office by providing a list of accomplishments. In reality, the memo is more of a status update since many of his initiatives, including the natural gas tax and his budget proposal, are a long way from passage.

But the real question is not what the governor accomplished in an arbitrary 100 days, but what he can do over the next 1,360 days to improve the lives of Pennsylvanians. Here’s a few suggestions based on the governor’s goals for Pennsylvania:

Protect taxpayers to foster “jobs that pay.”
Elected officials should pass the Taxpayer Protection Act (TPA) to protect the middle-class from reckless spending and tax increases. The TPA limits future government spending to inflation plus population growth. Reining in government spending is critical to creating an economic climate that attracts jobs—and working Pennsylvanians deserve a government that lives within its means.

Put students first to build “schools that teach.”
Our education system is broken. From the commonwealth’s senseless funding formula, to wasteful mandates like prevailing wage, to the need for more school choice, there are many ways for the governor to create an education system that truly serves students. Gov. Wolf should work with the legislature to create a funding formula where dollars follow the students, repeal prevailing wage and remove obstacles to greater school choice, such as creating alternative authorizers for charter schools.

Enhance transparency and accountability to create a “government that works.”
The lack of transparency in Harrisburg and special privileges enjoyed by select groups have created a system ripe for corruption and abuse. In his next 1,360 days, Governor Wolf has an opportunity to continue promoting transparency by opening the closed-door union contract negotiation process and ending the government unions’ unique privilege of using taxpayer resources for partisan politics.

These reforms are by no means exhaustive, but they would move our state in a pro-growth direction after years of profligate spending, which have failed to revive our historically weak economy. After decades of focusing on finding more revenue for state coffers, it’s time to restrain excessive government and transform Pennsylvania into a state of opportunity again