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MARCH 11, 2010 | Policy Brief by NATHAN BENEFIELD, ELIZABETH BRYAN
The Case for a Citizen Legislature
The operating cost of the Pennsylvania General Assembly has steadily increased, while Pennsylvania's economy has been stagnant. The Keystone State's burden of state and local taxes is among the heaviest in the country, while it ranks near the bottom in economic growth and freedom. This reality can be addressed by a number of reforms that woul
JANUARY 21, 2010 | News Release by COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION
CF Challenges Gov. Rendell to Explain What's In the Bill
Yesterday, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told Fox News that voters oppose the current health care reform proposal because "the administration and its supporters, myself included, haven't done a good enough job explaining to people what's in this bill." The Commonwealth Foundation formally welcomes Gov. Rendell to join their efforts to educate the
DECEMBER 3, 2009 | Policy Points by COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION
Spending Transparency & Accountability
There is a national movement to make government spending and finances accessible to taxpayers. Pennsylvania lags behind, but state lawmakers are moving toward greater transparency.
Recent Blog Posts
MARCH 11, 2010
Need for an Independent Fiscal Office in PA?
A new Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office was the subject of a recent legislative hearing this week, with several lawmakers arguing the need for the office (which was included in last year's budget deal, but still requires enabling legislation).
On the other hand, the Rendell administrations says its not needed. Pennsylvania Budget Secretary Mary Soderberg says the office is unnecessary, because "there is no disagreement about the numbers". Pete Decoursey of Capitolwire makes a mockery of this statement (subscription).
What? This is a woman who is regularly, reliably $300 million or more wrong, nearly every year, on the amount of welfare spending the state does. Pennsylvania’s annual negative welfare balance, usually $300 million or more in the red, is the most regular ‘surprise’ in state government.
...During budget negotiations, her predecessor, Mike Masch, used to tell legislative leaders that he could justify whatever percentage increase of the budget they wanted, once they agreed on the overall increase in budgetary spending for the coming year.
The dollar amount wouldn’t change, neither would the actual cost of running state government. But you move a program back to last year, take another one off-budget, and presto, a 5-percent budget increase is down around 3-percent. As long as nobody paid close attention, anyway.
Besides possibly correcting bad numbers, and Independent Fiscal Office would do a number of things the administration does not do now. As pointed out in our Policy Points, the office would conduct dynamic analysis of tax proposals and their effect on the economy. The new office would also provide evaluations of programs based on their established goals and measures - not just "look at all the good I've done" press releases typically put forward by politicians.
This was the subject of a recent episode of the Tempo program on WLVT Allentown, on which I made a brief appearance (via phone).
posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 02:03 PM | 0 comment
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
Where has PA Stimulus Money Gone?
I've gotten a couple requests for information on where Pennsylvania's stimulus money has gone.
- The Pennsylvania stimulus site is here.
- The Federal site on the stimulus, Recovery.gov, has a Pennsylvania page.
- Propublica has a tool highlighting stimulus money by county.
- Stimulus Watch has a good tool to search for awards/grants by area.
posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 09:17 AM | 0 comment
FEBRUARY 3, 2010
Hearing on Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office
The PA House and Senate Finance Committees held a joint hearing on creating a "Independent Fiscal Office". The IFO was authorized in the fiscal code (part of the budget deal), but takes addition steps to actual be created. Sen. Browne has video from the hearing and testimony presented.
Click here for our PolicyPoints on state spending transparency, which included a discussion of the Independent Fiscal Office.
posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 05:10 PM | 0 comment
