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Pa. Legislature Looks to Help Families with Education Expenses

• Michael Torres
• July 15, 2020

July 15, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — Members of the Pa. House and Senate have sponsored legislation would create “Back on Track” Education Scholarship Accounts (ESA) to help families afford growing education…

Press Release

Government Accountability

Pa. Supreme Court Grants Governor Unchecked Emergency Powers

• Charles Mitchell, Michael Torres
• July 1, 2020

July 1, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — The Pa. Supreme Court ignored the commonwealth’s tradition of checks and balances between branches of government in a ruling on a lawsuit between…

Press Release

Government Accountability

CF Amicus Brief Calls out Wolf for Overstepping his Authority

• June 25, 2020

Commonwealth Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief in the case of Wolf v. Scarnati et. al.—arguing that the Governor must follow the legislature’s concurrent resolution to end the declaration of…

Testimony

Regulation

Occupational Licensing Reform Passes Unanimously, Goes to Wolf

• Jessica Barnett, Michael Torres
• June 25, 2020

June 25, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — The Pa. General Assembly unanimously passed SB 637 (Sens. DiSanto and Schwank), a bill that will remove professional licensing employment barriers for roughly 3 million…

Press Release

Commonwealth Foundation Congratulates New House Leadership

• June 24, 2020

June 24, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. —  Following the retirement of House Speaker Mike Turzai, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives’ elected a new Speaker and several new members of the majority…

Press Release

Commonwealth Foundation Congratulates Speaker Cutler

• June 22, 2020

June 22, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — Today, Rep. Bryan Cutler of Lancaster County earned a bi-partisan majority vote to become the next speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Commonwealth Foundation Vice President…

Press Release

Government Accountability

Pa?s unemployment rate down in May, but still at near-record levels

• Nathan Benefield
• June 22, 2020

More than 13% of Pennsylvania workers were officially unemployed in May, according to U.S. Department of Labor data released Friday. That’s an improvement from April’s record-setting 15.1% unemployment rate, but still the second highest rate…

Media

Criminal Justice Reform

Legislation Moves to Reform Licensing Laws for Citizens with Criminal Records

• Jessica Barnett
• June 16, 2020

With a unanimous committee vote, the state House has opened the door to prosperity for 3 million Pennsylvanians. This week, the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee passed legislation helping incarcerated citizens…

Media

Education

Understanding Back on Track ESAs

• Colleen Hroncich
• June 12, 2020

Key Points Pennsylvania children lost months of schooling—many without access to educational resources. Families are bearing increased expenses from at-home learning. Back on Track Education Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) will help…

Media

Shutdown Poll: 74% of Pa. Voters Support Relaxing Restrictions on Businesses

• Michael Torres
• June 11, 2020

June 11, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — An overwhelming majority of Pennsylvanians favor allowing businesses to safely resume operations, according to a poll released today by the Commonwealth Foundation.  The poll of…

Press Release

Commonwealth Foundation Thanks Speaker Mike Turzai

• Michael Torres
• June 10, 2020

June 10, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — Today, Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Mike Turzai announced that he will resign from his seat in the General Assembly effective June 15. Turzai…

Press Release

Pa. Legislature Votes to End Gov. Wolf’s COVID Disaster Declaration

• Michael Torres, Nathan Benefield
• June 9, 2020

June 9, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — Today, the Pa. Legislature passed a resolution (HR 836) to end Gov. Tom Wolf’s COVID-19 disaster declaration with bi-partisan majorities in both chambers.

Press Release

Government Accountability

Fed Data Shows Wolf’s Shutdown Caused Unemployment Spike

• Michael Torres
• June 5, 2020

June 5, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s shutdown was done earlier, was more expansive, and had fewer exemptions than most other states, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of…

Media

Health Care

How Bad are April’s Unemployment Numbers for Pa?

• Nathan Benefield
• May 22, 2020

More than 15% of Pennsylvania workers were unemployed—the highest level on record—according to U.S. Department of Labor data released today. More than 1.1 million payroll jobs were lost since February,…

Media

Government Accountability

Pa. Shutdown Revolt Met with Threats from Governor

• Charles Mitchell
• May 11, 2020

May 11, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — After this weekend's news that at least eight counties in Pennsylvania would no longer participate in the governor's reopening directives, Gov. Wolf has…

Press Release

Government Accountability

Wolf Makes Reopening Concessions, but Stops Short of Transparency

• April 20, 2020

April 20, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — Today, Governor Wolf vetoed a bill, SB 613, that would have brought clarity to Pennsylvania’s controversial business shutdown and provided hope for the future. But…

Press Release

Health Care

Pa. Legislature Leads National Move Toward Safe Reopening

• April 15, 2020

April 15, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — Today, the Pennsylvania State Legislature passed a bill that would partially repeal Gov. Tom Wolf’s sweeping shutdown of so-called “non-life-sustaining” businesses, which has caused more than 1.3…

Press Release

Criminal Justice Reform

Ensure Prisoner Release is Reasonable and Safe During COVID-19

• April 10, 2020

April 10, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — Today, Governor Wolf announced that his administration will be releasing qualified state prisoners under the Temporary Program to Reprieve Sentences of Incarceration Program. The Commonwealth Foundation…

Press Release

Education

Pa. Lawmakers can Help Families and Businesses Overcome COVID-19

• March 25, 2020

March 25, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — Today, Commonwealth Foundation released a package of key policy solutions to help reduce the harm caused by COVID-19 and the response to it.

Press Release

Health Care

Recommendations to Ease Mounting Healthcare Burden

• March 16, 2020

March 16, 2020, Harrisburg, Pa. — The Pennsylvania State Legislature should prioritize flexible medical care as it returns to session this week aiming to mitigate the spread of the novel…

Press Release

It’s Time to Take Action

• Tirzah Duren
• February 25, 2020

Being a state legislator is just like being Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Or Jennifer Lawrence in Hunger Games. Or Captain America in Avengers. In other words, they have to take action. Protecting…

Media