Marcellus Shale

Senate Bill 1100 is one of the most hotly contested bills being offered up as legislation in the Pa House and Senate this year.  This bill, pertaining to the drilling for Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, would charge a $50,000 drilling fee for each new well, and then would decrease for each successive year that the well is in use.  Overall, the fee would generate $360,000 in revenue over 20 years.  This bill, sponsored by Republican Senator Scarnati, has received much heat from the left side of the aisle, because Democrats claim that the bill doesn’t charge enough, nor does it provide for sufficient environmental protection.  Republicans are hesitant to extract any more revenue from Marcellus Shale because they claim it will dampen business and hurt the economy.  In addition, Governor Corbett has put out a statement saying he will veto anything that has the faintest smell of a tax.  The bill passed the senate along party lines, and now is due for consideration in the House of Representatives.

Actual Text of the Bill - http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2011&sind=0&body=S&type=B&bn=1100

Pennsylvania Policy and Budget Center Analysis - http://pennbpc.org/sb-1100-out-sync-most-energy-rich-states-0

Pitt SGB Elections

Just past eight last night in Nordy’s Place, the results of the 2012 Student
Government Board were announced. James Landreneau will serve as President and
the Board Members – listed in order of highest votes – are Natalie
Rothernberger, Gordon Louderback, Alex Murdoch, Zoe Samudzi, Julie Hallinan,
Olivia Armstrong, Halim Genus, and Megan McGrath. This year, about 24% of the
student body voted – a 5% increase from last year. Together with the increase
of voters last year, the percentage of Pitt Students voting for Student
Government Board has increased by about 10%. With the increasing support of the
student body it is becoming clear that there is an increased interest regarding
what is going on at Pitt. The Student Government Board has the power to allocate
$2 million from the Student Activities Fund and in the past, the lack of
interest in the elections has been a concern. Last year, the board encouraged
students to come to allocations meetings, held informative sessions, and pushed
for students to come to Harrisburg to lobby against reductions allotted to Pitt’s
state-related funding. President-elect Landreneu hopes to begin a summit for
student leaders in the future that will continue to improve the interest
student organizations have in SGB. Student Government Board has the ability to
do a lot for the student organizations on campus and with the increase of
interest the future of the Student Government Board to be an efficient entity
is promising. 

Pittsburgh's Fiscal Dilemma

On Monday, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl gave his annual Budget Address. In it, he outlined a “5-year plan” to get the city back on track financially. After citing Pittsburgh’s struggling economy of the past few years, Ravenstahl pointed out that on many fronts, the city is improving, and the budget has been balanced. The major issue facing the city currently is paying off the pension fund. Pension payments are increasing, and the city’s budget is suffering. The mayor describes his efforts to find “revenue streams” to support this growing demand, and also his desire for an immediate “large cash infusion” into the pension fund. He says that these solutions are the only way to avert the impending crisis. He also wants to reverse the “state takeover” that has been in place for the last few years under state Act 47. Pittsburgh was considered “financially distressed” and qualified for help from state authorities to balance the city’s budget and prevent financial crisis. Since the state authorities have stepped in to assist the city, Pittsburgh’s fiscal situation has improved, as Ravenstahl points out, and therefore is ready to be released from this oversight. He says that his plan is one “that recognizes the reality of state takeover and makes sure that Pittsburghers can get through the next five years unharmed even when confronted by pension payments that double and triple.”

Source Article: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11320/1190114-192.stm

Read the Budget Address: http://www.pittsburghpa.gov/mayor/2011_budget_address.htm

Allegheny County Property Tax Reforms

Last night, Councilman Robinson along with 8 other democrats on the Allegany County council proposed an ordinance that would increase the property tax by a 21.3%. The current property tax is .469% and would be increased by this ordinance to .569% so a property worth $100,000 would see a tax increase of $100,000. However the proposal might be against state law that prohibits a property tax increases over 5% during property reassessment years. Allegheny county has just such a property reassessment in 2012. Councilman Robinson proposed this ordinance in order to fund programs that County Executive Onorato proposed cutting in order to meet a budget cap. The proposed cuts, which total twenty three million dollars, would be to a local community college, child welfare and afterschool programs. Onorato’s proposal would also get rid of 120 county employees and possibly 1,000 to 2,000 people working for companies contracted by the county. At any rate we shall have to wait until the Thursday’s business and finance committee meeting to find out the fate of the proposal.

Source Article: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11318/1189884-100.stm

Non-Profit Issues By Robert Beecher

Non-Profit Issues

By Robert Beecher

Hey everyone! With so many pressing issues facing the region, and with a gap between the services that government is capable of providing and the services needed to run society, over the past few decades we have seen the rise of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) that are shaping public policy. With non-profits now seen as the “third sector” of the economy, it’s important that students be aware of the challenges and successes of the non-profit industry. Each week, I’ll be sharing a story about an NGO or related topic, with an emphasis on local issues. This week’s post, however, will focus on an issue that can sometimes be overlooked: the funding of non-profits in rural communities.

Source Article

< http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/article/detail/rural-nonprofits-lag-on-revenue-access-4178>

This article details the challenges faced by rural non-profits in obtaining funding for their worthy causes. As the article points out, “22 percent of the nation’s poor live in rural areas…[but] those areas account for only 8 percent of the total spent by nonprofit organizations”. This is a shame, the article states, because “They may be more fiscally responsible than those organizations located in urban and suburban areas. Just 39 percent of rural nonprofits reported a deficit in 2007 as opposed to 41 percent in urban areas. In addition, 30 percent of rural organizations had less than 3 months of reserves compared to 38 percent of urban groups.”

The article also points out the difference in revenue sources, with a larger percentage of rural non-profit funding coming from both service fees and individual donors. This means that they are receiving les money both in terms of dollars, and percentages from governmental agencies and grants. The article sites the relative lack of education in rural populations and smaller budgets as the reason that talented grant seekers are difficult to find and retain.

Overall, the article discusses the trend of rural non-profits to network together to provide their services. This is different from urban non-profits; when I served in an AmeriCorps program, I saw how many services were duplicated by different small non-profits that had enough funding to self-sustain.  The current trend is to link with national NGO’s, though one source discourages this, and says to instead focus on local grassroots efforts.

So next time you want to volunteer, why not check out a rural community? You may be surprised by the rewarding feeling of helping out a population that isn’t typically considered when we think of those in poverty.  And for those interested in the non-profit career, why not try to market your grant-writing skills outside of the city; you never know what opportunities it might bring!

Texting While Driving Law

 This past Wednesday, Pennsylvania became the 35^th state to ban texting while driving.  Passing both the House and Senate with much bipartisan support, the law makes texting while driving a Primary Offense.  This simply means that someone can be pulled over for texting while driving, as opposed to it being a Secondary Offense, in which the perpetrator would have to be pulled over for a different offense.  According to Governor Corbett, 13,790 crashes were caused by distracted drivers in 2010 alone, and 1,100 involved the use of a handheld messaging or communicating device.

 

Article regarding bill passage - 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/09/us-texting-pennsylvania-idUSTRE7A86KB20111109

Actual text of the law - 

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2011&sind=0&body=S&type=B&bn=314

Voter ID Bill

For the past few months, there has been much debate over the controversial “Voter ID Bill” that passed the PA House Legislature in June.  Much of this debate has been due to some stringent measures laid out in the bill.  According to the original bill, every individual intending to vote in a primary or general election must present a valid photo ID, or a valid non-photo ID in the case of an elector who has a religious opposition to being photographed.  The reasoning for this bill is to eliminate voter fraud, but at the expense of disenfranchising part of the population.  Many people with low economic standards don’t have access to valid photo ID, and many elderly people do not possess a valid photo ID.  In addition, this is extremely prevalent to college students, because college IDs would not be accepted, according to the original text of the bill.  After passing the house, the bill has been sent to the “State Government” committee in the Senate.  As of now, it appears that the bill is being amended to accept other forms of ID, such as college student IDs.

Original Text of the Bill -
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2011&sind=0&body=H&type=B&bn=934

Article from June Post Gazette –
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11175/1155889-454.stm

Article from Philadelphia Inquirer –
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/132314833.html