Increasing Minimum Wage Would Help PA’s Budget Situation, Tartaglione Says

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 3, 2014 – As the Corbett administration continued its subterfuge during its final mid-year budget briefing, state Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione today said Pennsylvania would generate new revenue if it finally approved a minimum wage increase.

“Other state economies that are doing a better job recovering from the recession have one thing in common,” Tartaglione said. “They have increased their minimum wage rates.

“Raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage from its poverty-level $7.25 an hour to at least $10.10 an hour by 2016 will not completely close Gov. Corbett’s new $2 billion deficit, nor will it completely change the opinion of those who set our credit rating. It also will not make paying for basic education a more equitable system.

“Raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage will, however, help employers keep and hire more productive workers. It will put more money in workers’ pockets and it will deliver more income tax revenue for the Corbett-decimated economy,” the senator said.

No proposal to increase the minimum wage was voted out of committee during the 2013-2014 legislative session, including Sen. Tartaglione’s proposals to incrementally increase the base hourly rate from $7.25 to $10.10 by 2016 and to make the tipped minimum wage 70 percent of the regular minimum.

Tartaglione said she will re-introduce proposals to increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage when the legislature opens its new session in January.

“We need a higher minimum wage because Pennsylvania workers need it to survive and to be less dependent on social services,” Tartaglione said.

Ten states and Washington D.C. increased their minimum wage rates in 2014, including Delaware and Maryland.

Minimum wages will increase in nine states Jan. 1, including in New Jersey and Ohio.

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Corbett’s Minimum Wage Comment Ignores Plight of Working Women, Men

HARRISBURG, Dec. 9, 2013 – Gov. Tom Corbett’s revelation that he is against raising the minimum wage because he is worried about its affect on the economy is another example of how this governor is only worried about the rich, the state’s leading minimum wage advocate, Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione said today.

“Corporations have been making record profits on the backs of hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania residents who have not had a pay raise in nearly five years,” Tartaglione said. “Meanwhile, countless executives have enjoyed increases and bonuses every year that have equaled far more than $1.75/hour.

“Why does this governor think giving hardworking men and women another $70 a week is going to hurt the economy? The answer is woven in all of the other actions he’s taken since his election. Whether it is his historic $1 billion cut in basic education funding, his Scrooge-like welfare cuts, or his lack of investments in job creation programs to get people back to work, this governor has proven time and again that he doesn’t believe the people who make this economy run are worth it.”

Corbett told the Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader on Friday that he “always worries about changing the dynamic when we’re starting to come out of the (recession).”

“To many unemployed Pennsylvanians – and even our neighbors who have found work but are working three minimum-wage jobs to try and make ends meet – the Great Recession continues,” Tartaglione, the Democratic chair of the Senate Labor & Industry Committee said today.

“Multi-billion dollar corporations are paying their employees poverty-level wages and it is flat wrong,” she said.

Tartaglione sponsored Senate Bill 858 to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $9/hour by 2015. She has also crafted legislation to increase the minimum hourly rate for tipped employees to 70 percent of the regular minimum wage. The tipped minimum has been $2.83/hour since 1999.

“How many more holidays are our dedicated and committed workers going to have to suffer through wondering if they’re going to have enough money to buy food and pay their rent, let alone by a present for a loved one?” Tartaglione asked. “This Scrooge mentality has got to go.”

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Follow Sen. Christine Tartaglione on Facebook and her website.

Tartaglione Rejects Republican Budget Plan

HARRISBURG, June 30, 2013 — State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione today voted against a Republican-backed budget plan that continues more than two years of economic backsliding and education failure.

“Pennsylvania has been sitting in the ditch watching the rest of the country drive past and the administration’s plan to get us moving is simply more of the same,” she said. “We’ve heard the same trite sound bites for two years but the facts are hard to ignore.  This cynical and political approach to budgeting is not working.”

Two years after cutting $1 billion from Pennsylvania’s schools, the budget passed by the Senate today restores a meager $130 million, while dozens of schools teeter on the brink of bankruptcy.

“The plan to help Philadelphia schools will only serve to make sure that the schools will continue to operate on a razor’s edge for the foreseeable future,” Tartaglione said.  “We need real leadership to resolve crises, not preserve them,”

Tartaglione was among the supporters of an alternate budget plan that included $212 million more for education, $125 million more for job creation along with support for small cities facing economic distress.

When they offered the plan several weeks ago, Senate Democrats said it would use funds generated from liquor modernization, savings created by expanding Medicaid, and a one-year hold on the phase-out of the Capital Stock and Franchise Tax to produce the revenue needed to invest in the state’s economy.

Some senators have seen the wisdom of that plan and Medicaid expansion passed the Senate on Saturday, while the budget plan that passed also contains a freeze on the Capitol Stock and Franchise Tax.

At Tartaglione’s request, the plan nearly doubles funding for assistive technology devices that help get Pennsylvanians with disabilities back into the workforce.

Tartaglione said the plan also includes funding for three new classes of state troopers and increases for the state court system.

“As long as we keep ignoring our failing education system, we have to make sure we train new police and expand our court system,” Tartaglione said. “That’s the bottom line with this budget.”

 

Tartaglione: PA Leaders Head South…Along with PA Economy

HARRISBURG – April 12, 2013 — Bad news continues to pile up for Pennsylvania workers, while the state’s economic leaders look to South America for answers, state Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione said today.

Figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor this week show Pennsylvania with the sharpest rise in new unemployment claims, while claims for the nation as a whole fell sharply.

“We need serious leadership and commitment right here at home,” Tartaglione said. “We continue to fall behind the rest of the country in job creation while leading in unemployment claims and the answer isn’t going to be found thousands of miles from the cities, towns and schools that need help.  We have the ability, right here, to create a 21st century economy.”

New unemployment claims jumped by more than 3,000 in March, according the the Department of Labor.  U.S. unemployment claims dropped by more than 300,000.

The news comes on top of reports that Pennsylvania has had a higher unemployment rate than the rest of the country for six consecutive months, after having a better jobless number for nearly four years.

“The last two years have been a disaster in terms of where we stand among states in our ability to create jobs and participate in the national recovery,” Tartaglione said. “Simple solutions, like investment in transportation infrastructure, schools and tax reform are collecting dust while administration officials and hand-picked friends are collecting souvenirs.  It’s unthinkable.”

In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, administration officials announced that a South American company will create 74 jobs in Central Pennsylvania.

“That probably didn’t go over very well with the 3,000 people who just filed for unemployment,” Tartaglione said.

Missed Opportunities Result in Rising Unemployment

Harrisburg, March 19, 2013Employment numbers released by Pennsylvania labor officials this week show the state continuing to move in the wrong direction while falling far behind surrounding states in job creation, two leading state senators said today.

 “The unemployment rate is still rising in Pennsylvania while the rest of the nation is recovering from the recession,” said state Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione, Democratic chair of the Senate Labor and Industry Committee.  “It’s stunning that the governor continues to prioritize cutting family-sustaining jobs with more than a half-million people still out of work.”

January’s unemployment rate – up to 8.2 percent from 7.9 percent in December – is Pennsylvania’s highest rate in more than two years, while unemployment has fallen 1.4 points in the rest of the country.

“We’re moving in the wrong direction and the administration is even more determined to cut jobs and give breaks to corporations making record profit,” said Sen. Vincent J. Hughes, Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  “The proof is in the numbers.  The U.S. economy is moving forward and Pennsylvania workers are being left behind. We need a shift in focus or we’re going to be the national example of how to ignore opportunity.”

Before the most recent figures were released, Pennsylvania had fallen from the top ten to a dismal 34th among states in job creation, Tartaglione said. The disappointing January revisions drop the state to 43rd.

“The governor’s preoccupation with gas drilling to cover for a lack of imaginative investment in job creation and training has failed Pennsylvania workers, small businesses and struggling communities,” she said. “After two years of sliding, Pennsylvanians are angry and impatient at the governor’s misplaced priorities.”

Over the past year, New Jersey saw employment grow by 66,000, while New York created 110,000 new jobs, Hughes said. Pennsylvanians saw only 35,000 new jobs over the past year, as new entries into the labor pool outpaced opportunity.

“Young people coming out of college with enormous debt won’t have much choice but to give up on this administration and look for work in states that can provide jobs,” Hughes said.  “We’ve heard over and over that we’re cutting corporate taxes to compete for jobs and, two years in, we’re in a competitive free fall.  We have to change course if Pennsylvania families are ever going to see the end of the recession.”

Tartaglione and Hughes have each sponsored portions of a plan they said would create 80,000 new jobs.

The plan, called “PA Works” would make use of state resources, leverage private resources and make critical long term capital investments that would create new opportunities for future growth and development.

“We could create thousands of new jobs by simply adopting the recommendations of the transportation funding advisory commission,” Hughes said. “Next month it will be two years since the commission was named and we have nothing to show for it but a dusty report.

“There is also an opportunity to draw down $43 billion in federal funds to expand Medicaid, provide health insurance to low-income workers, and create 41,000 jobs.  It’s been one missed opportunity after another.”

Tartaglione said the administration’s preoccupation with awkward attempts to sell the successful Pennsylvania Lottery to Britain-based Camelot Global Services while forcing a massive expansion of liquor licenses, will kill jobs at a time when policy should favor job preservation and creation.

“The governor has distracted himself with selling off the lottery to a foreign company and gutting thousands of good jobs from a profitable liquor system,” Tartaglione said. “Looking back at teacher layoffs forced by education cuts and we’re seeing a deliberate strategy to cut jobs, not create them. After two years of it, the result is clear.”

Tartaglione Statement on Liquor Privatization

HARRISBURG, January 30, 2013State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione today released the following statement regarding Gov. Corbett’s plans for Pennsylvania liquor stores:

“It’s obvious that there is little support in the General Assembly for the governor’s strange agenda and holding school funding hostage reveals a sad desperation.

After gutting staffing for unemployment call centers, Gov. Corbett’s plans for selling off liquor stores and handing the lottery to a foreign company would push the number of family sustaining jobs he wants to eliminate or ship overseas to more than 5,000.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want Pennsylvania children to get a first –class education and they’re willing to work to find a stable, sound revenue plan for the future.  They’re not going to fall for a liquor-for-schools scheme. Both the lottery and the liquor store systems are returning significant revenue to the state, while providing jobs that keep families out of the social service safety net and provide substantial local tax revenue.

These are the type of jobs that Pennsylvania public policy should be fostering and encouraging, rather than eliminating or shipping overseas.

While Pennsylvania’s job-creation ranking has plummeted and its unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high, the administration has busied itself by tinkering with the parts of state government that are functioning well.

Making it a little easier and a little cheaper to purchase alcohol is an odd priority to hold while our cities struggle to put enough police on the street to make people feel safe, while a million citizens have no access to health care and while urban and rural schools wonder how they’re going to make ends meet.

Gov. Corbett should be making jobs, health care and education easier to get not booze.”

 

Tartaglione Praises Corbett Commitment to Intellectually Disabled

HARRISBURG, Nov. 29, 2012 – State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione today praised Gov. Corbett’s recently expressed commitment to cutting the long waiting list of intellectually disabled adults who need community-based services.

Tartaglione was reacting to remarks made during the governor’s visit to Vision for Equality, in Philadelphia, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“I’m encouraged that we might be seeing a change in direction for the administration which had previously targeted programs for vulnerable Pennsylvanians during budget cutting,” Tartaglione said. “We would welcome the governor to join us in the effort to create opportunity for every Pennsylvanian who is willing to work despite the challenges they face.”

Thousands of intellectually disabled adults have been idled on Pennsylvania’s waiting list for services that provide work training, personal care and therapy after they pass the age of 21.

During his visit yesterday, Corbett expressed the goal of finding the money to “eradicate the waiting list,” according to the Inquirer.

“Over the past two years, vulnerable Pennsylvanians have borne the burden of severe budget cuts and curtailment of services,” Tartaglione said. “My colleagues and I have offered a few good suggestions on how we can realign priorities to fund these services, but we’ve gotten no support from the administration.  It looks like that might change.”

 

Senate Democrats Say Corbett Administration Fails to Address Job Creation

Harrisburg – October 19, 2012 — Senate Democratic Leaders today called Pennsylvania’s latest employment report “unfortunate, but not surprising” given the lack of interest in rising unemployment on the part of the Corbett administration.

 “It’s a trend that needs to be reversed immediately,” said Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa. “The national economy and economic picture are improving while Pennsylvania is going in the other direction.”

For the first time in six years, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is higher than the national rate, and the state has fallen from seventh to 38th in job creation.  The state’s unemployment rate for September was 8.2 percent, well above the national average of 7.8 percent.

“The rest of the nation is showing job gains and economic recovery and Pennsylvania is economically in reverse,” Hughes said. “The administration’s answer is to give tax breaks to wealthy corporations while it cuts programs that train Pennsylvania’s workforce and keep our citizens employed.”

Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione, the Democratic Chair of the Senate Labor and Industry Committee said the jobs trend is disturbing.

“The fact that our unemployment rate is higher than the national average is eye-opening,” she said. “The governor’s lack of comprehensive job and development plans cannot be ignored any longer – we need investment in education, transportation and workforce training programs that will put Pennsylvanians back to work immediately.”

The Democratic leaders called on the Corbett administration to end more than a year of procrastination on transportation and job creation plans and detail to the legislature what he wants in the way of legislation.

“There are plenty of good ideas to create jobs,” Costa said.  “When we return to session we should have a detailed transportation and jobs plan from the administration in front of us that has the support of businesses, unions and public officials across the state. Right now, we’re getting only silence from the Corbett administration.”

Among the plans cast into legislation is one from Senate Democrats called “PA Works” which is aimed at creating more than 80,000 new jobs.

PA Works would make use of state resources, leverage private resources and make critical long term capital investments that would create new opportunities for future growth and development.

 

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Op-ed: Corbetts Blindness a Disability He Can Overcome

The barricades and the extra police at the end of a Capitol hallway tell you everything you need to know about the administration of Gov. Tom Corbett.

From Day One, the governor, who campaigned bravely about ordinary citizens reclaiming their government, has shown curious fear of those same citizens.

Feeling safer with a small audience of unquestioning supporters, the once-courageous reformer has recently taken to using his massive security apparatus to turn away the unwashed masses.

When a group of citizens in wheelchairs visited the Capitol in February, the former criminal prosecutor who spent a dozen years as a National Guard infantryman, took no chances.

Capitol Police were deployed and barricades were erected to keep the dangerous wheelchair people at bay.  This wasnt too difficult.  The security detail explained that they were told to not to let people in wheelchairs on the elevators.  Blocking the elevators was all it took to keep them on the ground floor, a safe distance from the governors lair.

Meanwhile, lobbyists, pages, pizza drivers and politicians continued to enjoy access as usual.

It was a breathtaking metaphor for the Corbett administration, a policy-as-performance-art moment that wrapped the Corbett fear and loathing in a tidy package.

It might be illegal.

Does that matter?

It should at least matter to the tough, law-and-order prosecutor who boldly took on the entrenched Harrisburg powerbrokers before running off to his Capitol office and blocking the elevators.

And it should matter to the millions of Pennsylvanians that dont have lobbyist credentials and Capitol security badges.

As the new security policy was explained by underlings in the administration, you can not only be banned from the building for causing a ruckus, but you can be banned if the administration thinks you might cause a ruckus.  Or if somebody who looks like you has caused a ruckus.

Its scary where this leads.  Any justification that can be mustered for a people-in-wheelchairs policy can be rolled out again for race, religion, shoe-size, hair-do or lack of proper manicure.

But there is no justification for the administrations unilateral security actions. No legal justification anyway.

If the governor thinks that the wheelchair people will quietly roll away in deference to his show of force, he doesnt know what the view of the world looks like from this seat.

On the occasions that I have been asked about how my accident changed my life, I often say: It took my legs, but it opened my eyes.

There are more than a million Pennsylvanians who use wheelchairs for one reason or another and Ive met a lot of them.  The weakest and most vulnerable among them have shown me more courage than this governor.

Sure, theres a tendency when youre faced with adversity to lock yourself in a dark room, surround yourself with friends and block out the world.

But one day you realize that whatever the adversity, it must be faced directly.  Boldly. Courageously.

When the governor sent his security team to stop the wheelchairs, it wasnt just a cowardly overreach of executive authority.

It was also a missed a chance to overcome his own disability: a blindness to the plight of ordinary people.

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