December 9, 2009 | Testimony by NATHAN BENEFIELD

Costing-Out the Price of Education

In the last two years, Gov. Rendell has used the "costing-out" study to justify proposed increases in state education subsidies. Yet while costing-out or "adequacy" studies have been conducted in over 35 states to quantify the amount of education funding needed, in no case did spending increases result in dramatic improvement of adequacy standards.

December 9, 2009 | Testimony by COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION

Project Labor Agreements

PLAs are agreements between government and state contractors that contain stipulations beneficial to unionized labor, such as: requiring employment of unionized workers, use of union apprentice programs, and payments into union funds. 

Yet PLAs result in higher costs for taxpayers and create unfair and discriminatory contract privileges.

November 16, 2009 | Testimony by COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION

Prison Overcrowding Solutions

Corrections costs and prison population have skyrocketed in Pennsylvania over the last decade. In 2007, one in 28 adults in Pennsylvania was in prison, on probation, or on parole, costing taxpayers more than $1.8 billion. The 2009-10 budget includes a $175.2 million increase in corrections spending. The state's incarceration rate increased 280% since 1982, and within the last nine years the inmate population has increased by 40 percent.

November 6, 2009 | Testimony by RANDAL O'TOOLE

Testimony on Proposed Pennsylvania High-Speed MagLev

The proposed 17-mile Pittsburgh Airport-to-Greensburg maglev line is projected to cost $3.7 billion, or nearly $220 million per mile. Projects like this typically go over budget by an average of 40 percent, so the real cost is likely to be more than $5.2 billion and more than $300 million per mile. That is easily enough money to build an eight-lane urban freeway of the same length (which typically costs well under $20 million per lane mile).

June 17, 2009 | Testimony by ELIZABETH STELLE

State Spending Transparency

Pennsylvania needs greater transparency in how taxpayer money is spent. Creating an online database to track all of the state’s spending is key to spending reforms; it allows every citizen to become a government watchdog and see for himself how government money is being spent. It’s inexcusable, particularly in our current economic environment, for lawmakers to deny Pennsylvanians the cost-saving tool available to taxpayers in more than 20 other states.

May 21, 2009 | Testimony by MATTHEW BROUILLETTE

Now is the Time to Practice Fiscal Restraint

Testimony of Mathew J. Brouillette President & CEO, Commonwealth Foundation, to the PA House Appropriations Committee

You really only have two choices: You can raise taxes or you can reduce spending.  You can do both, of course, but raising taxes during a recession for more government spending is precisely the wrong prescription for our current economic ills.  Even Keynesian economists recognize that raising taxes now would be harmful to our economy. 

April 28, 2009 | Testimony by COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION

Public Television Subsidies

Testimony from the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives to the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee
April 28, 2008

We would like to thank the members of the House State Government Committee for inviting us to submit testimony on the important issue of taxpayer-subsidized public television.

April 14, 2009 | Testimony by MATTHEW BROUILLETTE

Jobs and the Economy

Testimony of Mathew J. Brouillette, President & CEO, Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives to the Pennsylvania House Majority Policy Committee
April 14, 2009

March 16, 2009 | Testimony by NATHAN BENEFIELD

Pennsylvania's Charter School Law

Testimony of Nathan A. Benefield to the Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee, March 12, 2009

August 19, 2008 | Testimony by MATTHEW BROUILLETTE

Reducing the Size of the General Assembly

Testimony before the House State Government Committee, August 19, 2008

Thank you, Chairwoman Josephs, and members of the House State Government Committee for the opportunity to testify today on the issue of reducing the size of the Pennsylvania legislature.

My name is Matthew Brouillette and I am a president and CEO the Commonwealth Foundation, a public policy education and research organization based in Harrisburg.