00:00 - The Capital Blue Cross Forum is sponsored in part by Capital Blue Cross.

00:06 - Good morning.

00:07 - I'm Doug Furness, and this is episode

00:10 - of the Public Affairs Forum sponsored by Capital Blue Cross.

00:13 - Capital Blue Cross is a regional Blue Cross plan serving approximately

00:16 - 800,000 members in central Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley.

00:20 - I want to thank the Pennsylvania Cable network, PCN, our long time

00:24 - partner in these broadcasts, for their commitment to the program

00:27 - and to the relationship it has with Capital Blue Cross willing.

00:31 - We look forward to continuing that relationship for many years to come.

00:35 - Our format today is familiar to many of you.

00:40 - Our guests will make a brief presentation

00:42 - followed by a question and answer session moderated by me.

00:45 - If a member of our live audience wants to ask a question,

00:47 - please submit it through the chat function and I'll ask you to be our guest.

00:51 - The whole program will last about an hour.

00:54 - Our guest today is familiar to most of us.

00:57 - He's a repeat guest on the Public Affairs forum, and our guest today is.

01:01 - Senator Scott Martin,

01:03 - from Lancaster County.

01:06 - Sarah Martin is a Republican member of the Pennsylvania Senate,

01:09 - representing the 13th district since 2016.

01:12 - He's a lifelong resident of Lancaster County and currently serves

01:16 - as the chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee

01:19 - overseeing the development of state budget and reviewing

01:22 - legislation for its fiscal impact to all of us.

01:26 - Before his tenure in the Senate,

01:28 - Senator Martin served as the Lancaster County Commissioner, where he focused

01:32 - on government reform, reducing debt and lowering costs for taxpayers.

01:37 - His legislative accomplishments include laws aimed at improving school safety,

01:41 - supporting pediatric cancer research, enhancing environmental conservation,

01:47 - and strengthening penalties for repeat DUI offenders.

01:51 - Senator Martin is a graduate of Millersville.

01:54 - And along with, his fellow Millersville alum,

01:59 - Jordan Harris, who was last months guest, they have,

02:02 - a very strong control over their hands on the Pennsylvania state budget.

02:06 - So, and as a state system graduate myself, I appreciate that.

02:12 - So please, let's welcome Senator Scott Martin as our guest today.

02:17 - Good morning. Scott. How are you?

02:19 - Good morning. How are you doing?

02:21 - Doing well. It's great to be with you.

02:24 - You can

02:25 - give a short, presentation to our group if you want.

02:28 - Sure. Absolutely. Well.

02:30 - Well, it's always great to be back on the program.

02:33 - Obviously, we've come a long way since the last time we talked.

02:37 - And and getting through that budget that ended in November.

02:39 - I will say that, you know, part of that delay was making sure

02:44 - that there were things

02:45 - that went beyond just, hey, we're going to agree to your spend number

02:49 - and that's it.

02:49 - We wanted to make sure that we had a lot of policy

02:51 - wins in order to position this Commonwealth for future growth.

02:56 - Things that we've been working on over the course of the last 3 or 4 years.

03:00 - We want to make this state more competitive.

03:04 - So we've been focused on

03:05 - lowering the corporate income tax to make it more competitive, adding in,

03:09 - more permanent solutions to permitting reform,

03:13 - inside of statute that go beyond just reimbursement

03:17 - because we actually want the growth to actually happen in pay.

03:20 - We were very much focused on the regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative,

03:24 - which has been a huge dark cloud looming, over Pennsylvania

03:29 - and creating uncertainty for investors to strengthen our grid

03:32 - and add more base load capacity so we could actually,

03:36 - have more affordable energy in the state.

03:39 - And so to get it statutorily, the removal,

03:42 - from that program that Governor Wolf and Governor Shapiro were fighting

03:46 - for, was a big win for, our caucus, because we really believe

03:52 - that energy is one of the cornerstones

03:54 - in terms of Pennsylvania's economic recovery.

03:57 - We also had another big win on a program called

03:59 - grow PA, which I know I talked about with you guys before.

04:02 - Grow PA is focused on, really being honest with our kids

04:08 - about what the high demand job fields in PA are and what will lead

04:11 - to a family sustaining job and financially supporting them

04:15 - if they agree to get into that high demand field.

04:18 - And for every year they take that grant, they're agreeing to work

04:22 - in the high demand field and live in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

04:25 - And so in that first, full year that we had, we had over

04:29 - 11,500 students in Pennsylvania who made that commitment.

04:35 - The number one field, coming out of year

04:38 - one was nursing and allied health that people signed up for.

04:42 - But we saw kids getting into finance and accounting, which we have a shortage of.

04:46 - We have people that, we need more engineers,

04:49 - more teachers, specifically math and science teachers.

04:53 - And of course, in the trades, and we, saw trade

04:57 - related schools finish in the top five Penn College of Technology.

05:01 - Thaddeus Stevens.

05:03 - So it was very successful.

05:04 - And we were able to, no pun intended, grow the program in year two.

05:08 - And hopefully our colleges will continue to offer and our other post-secondary

05:13 - institutions, relevant curriculum that Pennsylvania really needs.

05:16 - But more importantly, really, start to turn the trend

05:20 - on some of our demographic challenges that we have in the state.

05:23 - I don't happily report, you know, our

05:27 - still our fastest growing age demographic is 80 and above.

05:30 - The second fastest growing, growing age demographic is 65 to 80.

05:35 - And, of course, from last year to this year when we talked last,

05:39 - there's another 17,000 less, K

05:42 - through 12 students graduating in Pennsylvania.

05:45 - So that future workforce, future tax base is something that we really focused on.

05:50 - How do we how do we close that?

05:52 - We were also able to capture about 80 students

05:55 - who, were from out of state.

05:58 - And that's important.

05:59 - We're really focused on this as well, because, you know,

06:01 - we're the second largest importer of out-of-state students in the country.

06:05 - Unfortunately, most of them don't stay here.

06:07 - They take advantage of a lot of our resources as well.

06:10 - And they turn around and go back to their home state.

06:12 - So we want to take a page out of, some of the playbooks of other states

06:16 - that have been growing

06:17 - who have figured out a way how to poach a lot of our own kids.

06:20 - And we want to keep their kids here.

06:23 - So we had 80, and we're really working on new ways we can kind of penetrate

06:26 - the educational information pipelines out there.

06:29 - To make more kids, know that they can come the Pennsylvania in-state

06:33 - tuition rate if they agree to stay and work in that high, high demand field,

06:38 - for 12 months, where every year they take that opportunity.

06:41 - So, very pleased with that.

06:43 - What I'm not really pleased with is obviously

06:47 - the current state of Pennsylvania's financial condition.

06:51 - You know, even with the current dynamic of the House

06:54 - Democratic majority, Senate Republican majority and a Democratic governor,

06:58 - we realize they're continuing the for us to, continuing

07:02 - spend more than what we want to that that what we're taking in.

07:06 - And I gotta admit, especially after last year, we've been telling people

07:11 - and warning people as to where we would be, which

07:15 - if anyone saw in the last couple of weeks, our Ifo, has really reinforced it.

07:19 - We're exactly where I have told you in the past we would be.

07:23 - We have no money pretty much left in the fund balance whatsoever.

07:26 - And now we're in a place where we have a structural deficit,

07:30 - with about $7.8 billion in the rainy day fund.

07:34 - And if, we don't close that structural deficit,

07:39 - we're going to continue to have issues moving forward, not only in our ability

07:44 - to provide services, but, of course, some other ramifications.

07:48 - The governor's proposed a 5.4% increase, even though we're currently dealing with,

07:54 - a budget that already spends, over $4 billion more than what it's taking in.

08:01 - If we were to approve the governor's budget.

08:04 - And when I say that his spending increases and his revenue

08:08 - new revenue proposals, which are in the realm

08:12 - of adult use cannabis recreationally and games of skill,

08:16 - he would still have to take $4.6

08:19 - billion out of the Commonwealth's rainy day fund.

08:23 - If he doesn't get weed and he doesn't get games of skill.

08:26 - Two issues that have been very controversial,

08:29 - in terms of getting done and they don't exist.

08:32 - Currently, you're looking at basically wiping out all

08:37 - but maybe a few hundred million dollars left in the rainy day fund.

08:40 - That is a fund that we have fought very hard to stabilize.

08:45 - Ironically, it's called the Budget Stabilization Account Fund.

08:49 - It led to us getting, better bond ratings.

08:52 - We were able to refinance debt and save money on what

08:55 - we're paying in debt service.

08:56 - And the governor is touting

08:58 - that success of being able to do it, but unfortunately, he's also,

09:02 - what his actions that he was proposing to do will actually unwind that.

09:07 - And so

09:09 - but the thing

09:09 - I just want to point out, more importantly, is that every dollar

09:12 - that comes out of that fund is a one time infusion of cash, right?

09:17 - So if it's applied to reoccurring revenue, that means every dollar taken from

09:21 - this year will have to be replaced by something else next year.

09:25 - And so if we wipe out that rainy day fund, the Commonwealth could be in a position

09:29 - where you have a $7 billion

09:32 - structural deficit with absolutely no money in reserves.

09:36 - And of course, I think we all know there's only really three

09:39 - painful solutions to that.

09:41 - And that's either greatly reducing spending, greatly

09:44 - increasing taxes at a time when we're trying to compete and grow.

09:48 - Or a combination of both.

09:51 - And so this, this budget cycle

09:55 - is very, it's critically important.

09:58 - Obviously to it's an election year, as everyone knows.

10:02 - And so that has a different kind of, feel to it,

10:05 - as well as in terms of where members want to be.

10:08 - But at the end of the day, we're trying to work on a product

10:11 - that, will not have us completely go off the financial cliff,

10:15 - that that does not impede our goals of being competitive

10:19 - and drawing investment and and trying to grow this state.

10:23 - And so, you know, we've been actively engaged

10:26 - with the administration, and going in that back and forth.

10:31 - But I've used this term in the past.

10:33 - I'll just use it again

10:34 - and I hope, all watching, you know, we'll notice is math is math.

10:38 - And unfortunately, sometimes

10:42 - smoke and mirrors a lot of times is put forth.

10:45 - In order to create a perception that, we're not going to have to touch this or,

10:50 - or we got enough revenue to last, you know, one of the latest is, you know,

10:55 - we're having a, a better than expected revenue projection year.

10:59 - You know, I think we're running about $900 million.

11:01 - Give or take a little bit, over what our estimates would be.

11:06 - And a lot of people look at that and say, oh, this is a great opportunity

11:10 - to spend more money.

11:11 - Well, you know, I quickly remind people that our revenues are performing better,

11:15 - but yeah, yeah, instead of a $5 billion structural deficit, we now have a $4

11:19 - billion structural deficit.

11:21 - Yeah, it's

11:21 - moving in the right direction and I hope it really continues to move in that.

11:25 - But the Commonwealth has a real problem with the fact

11:28 - that our rate of growth of spending has greatly surpassed

11:31 - the rate of growth of revenue here in Pennsylvania.

11:35 - And we have to level that out for the sake of our, our fiscal stability.

11:39 - So, I know you have a lot of questions you want to ask me, too, Doug.

11:43 - And I'll just say, the good news.

11:46 - I'll tell all of you

11:47 - that there are solutions to a lot of this, but it takes difficult things.

11:50 - I could sit here in real life,

11:51 - all kinds of ways, where the Commonwealth should be doing things better

11:55 - and more cost effective and and where we can right size

12:00 - given our current demographic shifts and service shifts as well.

12:05 - In terms of various high,

12:06 - high dollar spending areas that we have in our budget.

12:10 - So I'll, I'll, I'll kind of cut it off there right now.

12:14 - Doug, if we want to start doing questions.

12:18 - Absolutely.

12:19 - And thank you.

12:20 - And before we get started, I do want to say thank you for doing this.

12:23 - You do this every year, and I.

12:25 - I like to get you as the Senate, majority appropriations chair.

12:31 - And I, you know, invite your counterpart in the House,

12:34 - to do the same so that the people watching in the audience, around

12:40 - the state can see the different attitudes and positions

12:45 - of the different parties, as it relates to the budget process.

12:49 - So I thank you for that.

12:50 - And I also want to thank you because I enjoy the back and forth

12:54 - that we have, because, I, you know, I think you're a great guest.

12:58 - You get this format and, and, and I think you excel at it.

13:02 - So thank you for that.

13:03 - But also before we get started, how are you doing?

13:07 - It's been a while since, you and I have talked.

13:09 - How are things in the Martin household and in Lancaster County?

13:12 - How are the kids doing?

13:14 - Yeah. You know, listen, I, I,

13:17 - these are the time of year, which I,

13:19 - I wish I could see them a lot more, but, you know, you know, they're kind of used.

13:23 - This is my 10th year in the General Assembly.

13:25 - They're kind of used to dad not being around much in, in, in June

13:28 - historically, but now a little bit further into the summer, you know, usually too.

13:32 - So but we had our last year, we had our first,

13:35 - probably since last time we talked, we had our first high school graduate.

13:39 - She's now a freshman at Millersville.

13:41 - Really excited about that.

13:43 - Especially since I have a wife who went to Westchester.

13:45 - So winning that battle and sending her to me was a big household win for me.

13:49 - We'll forgive her for that. Yeah.

13:52 - And then my oldest boy, he graduated this year.

13:55 - He's going to be going to play some,

13:56 - basketball, prep school in new Jersey, next year.

13:59 - Very proud of him.

14:00 - He just graduated from Lampeter-strasburg High School.

14:03 - And we still have two more left.

14:05 - A rising junior and a rising sophomore.

14:07 - So, you know, family's doing great.

14:11 - I appreciate you asking that.

14:12 - But as you can tell with

14:14 - with the number of ones that are either just entering college or about to,

14:17 - I don't know if I'm going to be able to retire anytime soon, but,

14:20 - you know, it's, but, you know, it's it's it's it's

14:23 - I get to look at my kids and I want them to have a bright future,

14:25 - and I want them to stay in PA, as a dad, I really want that.

14:29 - And it's a really big motivator for me, as in terms of,

14:32 - you know, the things we look at doing up in Harrisburg,

14:35 - you know, not just on education or graduating with less debt, but

14:39 - you know, we're working on issues related to housing affordability,

14:42 - you know, things like because we want to keep them here,

14:44 - we want them to be able to plant their roots here.

14:46 - And, you know, and sadly, we're losing.

14:48 - You know, I was just reading an article not too long ago, Doug, where it was

14:51 - focused on South Carolina, which is growing leaps and bounds.

14:55 - I think they lead the country in growth.

14:57 - But they were talking

14:58 - about almost half of their out-of-state students at their four big schools.

15:02 - And, you know, Clemson, South Carolina, Coastal Carolina,

15:06 - the almost half of them are from Pennsylvania, Maryland and new Jersey.

15:11 - So they have been targeting our kids.

15:14 - I can see it in the mailings I get in our house,

15:16 - and I see the pressures they're up against.

15:19 - And so, it really motivates me in terms of how can we counter that

15:23 - and say, you know, kids, we want to invest in you

15:25 - and we want you to stay here and have a family here.

15:28 - And, that means a lot to me.

15:31 - Well, I appreciate that.

15:32 - And it's a great segue into the conversation.

15:35 - And you started talking about grow, pay.

15:37 - And, and I have grandkids.

15:39 - I'm on the back end of all of that.

15:40 - So my kids are out of college and they're starting in the second,

15:44 - the their second year, the second generation.

15:47 - And I have the same interest that you do, is is what is ahead for them.

15:53 - And, and and you can take that conversation

15:56 - and ask, okay, what what does the future for the state system look like?

16:00 - I'm a proud graduate of Shippensburg University.

16:03 - But you and I both know there's a number of

16:07 - of of those universities that have been consolidated.

16:11 - They're dealing with demographic problems themselves.

16:14 - What's the future for the state system?

16:16 - What is the future for, your kids?

16:19 - My grandkids.

16:20 - And I know that we're doing a lot of of

16:23 - of good things on that front, but you just pointed out these states,

16:28 - we compete with other states, and they have the same desire.

16:32 - They realize that growth for them, is a benefit.

16:38 - Yeah, especially for young people.

16:40 - And so if we make a move, they're going to make a move.

16:43 - How do we, you know, is there a big.

16:46 - Here's my question.

16:47 - Is there something big that we can do to reverse that trend?

16:53 - Or is this going to be about just, you know,

16:56 - the blocking and tackling, using a metaphor from your past, blocking

17:01 - and tackling the small incremental changes to keep kids around here for the future?

17:08 - Yeah.

17:08 - You know, from from from our kids perspective, I'll say this

17:12 - because it ties into the bigger perception, too.

17:14 - And I know you've heard this before.

17:16 - We often get, you know, compared to like, well, hey, New York

17:19 - does this or new Jersey does this or, you know, those states and

17:23 - I gotta be no, no, no insult at all to those states.

17:27 - But you know, they're kind of in the same position we are.

17:29 - And so I think we need to look at the states that are growing

17:32 - and saying, what what are they doing to compete in that marketplace.

17:37 - And, and it goes beyond just kids.

17:38 - It's it's drawing business investment in jobs.

17:42 - And, you know, maybe this new world, you know, for sure that we're living

17:45 - in, we're we're so connected and easy access to information where you see

17:49 - a lot of people kind of voting with their feet.

17:51 - Now, there's more and more at this time,

17:54 - people fleeing whether it's high tax areas or whatnot.

17:57 - And we have to realize that I don't want to compete against Maryland,

18:01 - new Jersey, New York.

18:02 - I want to compete with the South Carolina's in the texass in the Floridas,

18:06 - in the southeast part of the the country, because that's

18:09 - where you're seeing a lot of the folks going to right now.

18:12 - And though they can tap sunshine down there, you know, we have so many

18:16 - amazing things that the state historically from a natural nature perspective.

18:21 - And of course, we have historically been known as a state that was very dense

18:27 - in post-secondary education opportunities and research institutions.

18:33 - That is true.

18:34 - But at the same token, as you are seeing now with our demographic shifts,

18:38 - you saw what Penn State went through and I get

18:41 - I give President Ben and Pudi a lot of credit.

18:43 - Those those conversations are never easy.

18:45 - But when you have a campus that has 300 kids on it

18:47 - and it's built for 3000 and staff

18:49 - for 3000, you can see why those numbers aren't sustainable.

18:53 - You see the stories and I think there was one recently

18:56 - I was reading where there's a whole lineup of some of our private institutions

19:01 - in Pennsylvania, many there's some that have already either closed or been

19:05 - bought by other, you know, entities that are healthier financially.

19:09 - But there's a whole lineup of others, and they they educate 47% of our graduates

19:13 - and PA but then that leads me to the state system.

19:16 - And the state system, is something that we've really been focused on

19:21 - and trying to get some of these, these shifts under control and right size.

19:25 - You mentioned the merger, Senator, former Senator Tomlinson

19:28 - and I really led the charge on the Penn West Commonwealth, scenario.

19:33 - But I will tell you that

19:34 - we only could go so far them because of the current with Governor Wolf.

19:38 - There.

19:38 - You know, we couldn't go beyond just administrative mergers at the time.

19:43 - But the reality is, is some of these schools are operating

19:47 - at like 10% capacity of what they were built for and staff for, and it's

19:51 - either our tax dollars or higher tuition, which is kind of propping that up.

19:57 - And and I know I've probably said this before, it's

19:59 - maddening to think that you can have college

20:01 - departments that have 12 professors and only ten kids in the major.

20:04 - We really need to think that.

20:07 - And the system for a while took a stance where they were taking money

20:10 - away from the West.

20:12 - Chester's the Millersville,

20:14 - the slippery rocks, the schools that are found a way to compete.

20:16 - Right. And be relevant.

20:17 - And what they're offering and shift it

20:21 - over to the schools that were kind of refusing to adapt.

20:24 - And some of them have done a good job of adapting.

20:27 - IAP was the largest 16, 17, 16 to 17,000 students.

20:32 - When I think they're below eight or around 8000,

20:35 - I give, President Driscoll there a lot of credit.

20:38 - They they have right sized building staff and really have done a way to position

20:43 - that, that institution for being healthier.

20:45 - So I, I'm we're still hyper focused on that.

20:49 - I think we're probably over saturated.

20:51 - It's not an easy conversation

20:54 - in that have but we have to be creative and what we turn these opportunities into,

20:59 - if we would have the right size even more.

21:01 - But if we don't, you can continue to see, and,

21:06 - the things not being done necessarily the right size on that side of the ledger,

21:11 - which will be we'll we'll keep us from being able to invest in other areas.

21:14 - So I, I it's definitely a passion of mine to work on this subject.

21:20 - We've been working on many different from many different perspectives,

21:24 - to make sure that we're being relevant and to what we can keep here,

21:27 - but how we can incentivize kids

21:29 - to be here as well, too, so that that's going to continue that,

21:32 - it's it's part of the planks you want to growing state.

21:35 - Well, you got to have you want to have tax revenue to fund programs.

21:39 - You have to have a healthy tax base, healthy future workforce.

21:43 - And as long as the birth replacement rates, continue

21:47 - to decline like we've seen them,

21:48 - we gotta find other ways to, to to grow in attracting to Pennsylvania.

21:54 - You know, I appreciate I appreciate that.

21:55 - And I think what our guests appreciate the most about you is the, the wide

21:59 - angle lens that you approach everything with that it's not it is.

22:03 - And and let's face it, I mean,

22:05 - there's not a lot of your colleagues who look at things from that big picture.

22:08 - It's it's what's happening

22:10 - today, what's happening tomorrow or to the next election.

22:12 - But you're you tend to look at things from that big picture.

22:16 - And I guess, you know, we just talked about kids

22:19 - and and the educational piece, but Pennsylvania, you know, there's

22:24 - there's parts of Pennsylvania like where you're from that, you know,

22:28 - a person from Lancaster who doesn't know that big picture would go, yeah, growth.

22:33 - We've got a growth problem in Lancaster County from when I grew up 30,

22:38 - 40 years ago, where it was a sleepy little town,

22:41 - that was, showcased in the in the movie witness to now

22:46 - where you have, Ferrari dealerships and sorority

22:50 - dealerships down along route 30 and, and,

22:54 - you know, so you have that, but then, you know,

22:56 - you go to some of your colleagues districts

22:59 - out in the western and northwestern parts of the state where it is real.

23:03 - And so,

23:04 - you know, how do

23:05 - we, how do we and I know I ask this question,

23:09 - I ask this question to you almost every year because it fascinates me.

23:12 - How do we do that, fix the demographic problem without

23:19 - the rich get richer

23:21 - and the poor or the the declining,

23:25 - not benefiting from it so that in ten years

23:28 - Lancaster is like, oh my goodness, it's just suburban Philadelphia.

23:32 - And, you know,

23:35 - Westmore land County is smaller than it was now.

23:38 - I mean, how do we do that if that's even if that's a possibility?

23:42 - Yeah.

23:43 - Well, and certainly,

23:45 - you know, listen,

23:46 - you know, people that may come up to that building

23:47 - and they are just hyper focused on the things in their district.

23:51 - Right?

23:51 - I'm only up there to fight for Millville or so.

23:53 - I'm only up there to fight.

23:55 - And listen, I'm not saying I'm not going to fight for those institutions.

23:57 - I kind of look at it through the lens of, you know, as being a state senator

24:02 - and as part of state government.

24:04 - I have to make sure that everything in that whole system is done correctly,

24:08 - that the best that we can to balance all the things that you just referenced,

24:12 - you know, how do you balance the fact that not only, have

24:17 - we had outmigration from the state, but we've had a lot of internal migration,

24:22 - even within Pennsylvania, from certain aspects.

24:24 - And, and I try to have an understanding of, you know,

24:28 - when you have places in the Commonwealth that every census there

24:32 - 10% drop in population, 10% drop in population.

24:35 - Right.

24:36 - Understanding, you know, how some of these decisions

24:39 - could have real local impact.

24:41 - And the fact is, if you're going to close, let's say a prison that's up there

24:44 - or a state college institution,

24:46 - what are you bringing back to that local community that helps spur growth?

24:50 - Right.

24:50 - How do you look at it through the lens of opportunity of, hey,

24:53 - we got infrastructure here.

24:55 - Yeah, it may not we may not been able to be successful forever as a college, but

24:59 - wow, this would be a great place to draw some big industrial project or,

25:02 - you know, or commercial manufacture or something like that.

25:05 - So I try to look at that through that lens.

25:09 - But I will say, what you just described, though, is a huge issue

25:12 - because a lot of our funding formulas were based on, on, on where

25:16 - the demographics were going back, you know, generations ago.

25:20 - And so, you know, probably the one that gets the most spotlight is education

25:24 - and that funding formula, however, it applies to,

25:27 - you know, human services, them, the money our kids with developmental

25:30 - disabilities are getting.

25:31 - And if you have a declining utilization rate in different parts of the state,

25:36 - that's correlated

25:37 - with their declining population, but yet they've never gotten a penny less.

25:41 - And then the other areas of the state that are that are growing

25:44 - and have really not kept pace because the money never really went

25:48 - through the new formula that that respected population growth and you higher

25:53 - utilization, you create this disparity where you have some kids in Pennsylvania.

25:58 - I'll just use education as an example that are being educated at close to over

26:02 - $40,000 per child and other places that are getting 13 or 14.

26:08 - And what's even more maddening in the whole picture is,

26:12 - is some of the places we spend

26:14 - the most amount of money, not only have lost the most amount of kids,

26:18 - but if you were to overlay performance in proficiency in reading,

26:23 - in math, in science, it's very clear some of the places

26:27 - we're spending the most amount of money, we're getting the worst outcomes.

26:30 - And so and though people use percentages

26:33 - like, you know, you know, we're down 17% over the last decade

26:37 - when we're projected to go down another 17% by 2035.

26:41 - If we don't start adding more people here in PA,

26:45 - that's an average statewide.

26:48 - We have areas that might be growing healthy 2%,

26:51 - 3%, but I have some core urban areas.

26:54 - I think Philadelphia's down over 30 some percent.

26:56 - And their enrollment just in the last 3 or 4 years alone.

26:59 - That's why they're having a debate about right sizing

27:01 - 18 to 20 of their school buildings, because it's gotten so obvious.

27:05 - Lancaster School District in the heart.

27:08 - You know, I think they're down 14, 15% in the last 3 or 4 years.

27:11 - They're closing an entire elementary school that is smart government.

27:15 - I know it's it's not easy to make those changes,

27:18 - but if you're not right sizing in certain areas,

27:21 - it especially in the position we're in that now where revenues

27:24 - are lagging behind spending, it's hard to invest in areas.

27:27 - You know, we started off earlier talking about the aging population.

27:31 - Well, of course that's led to more long term

27:33 - care costs and other things like that.

27:35 - It's hard to to match up that investment when you're not right sizing over here.

27:41 - And and no, I used education as a, a starting point to talk about.

27:46 - I'll say, if, you know, we got one of the things we negotiated

27:49 - last year was the closure of two correctional facilities,

27:53 - like big dollars, like,

27:55 - because some of these cost over $100 million a year annually to operate.

27:59 - Right.

28:00 - But if I were to sit here and tell you, Doug, that even as they go through that,

28:03 - we still have 7000 excess

28:06 - correctional beds and that we need the right size.

28:09 - So not easy decisions, but and at a time when we have a shortage of workers

28:14 - as well, be nice to consolidate them in into certain facility.

28:17 - So whether it's past schools, whether it's prisons, you know, another

28:21 - big part of our budget, whether it's Medicaid

28:23 - and in some things that we need to make sure that we're minding

28:26 - the store better on, we have that's part of our job.

28:30 - You know, as appropriators, it should not be just about appropriating,

28:34 - patting ourselves on the back and going, there needs to be accountability here.

28:37 - You know, big top tip ticket in Medicaid is the the

28:43 - the explosion of growth in, at home family supervision

28:46 - that we're paying for, you know, it's a big cost.

28:50 - You know, right now you have people getting paid for like 120 hours in a week

28:55 - to watch your own family member, you know, and that that can be very different.

28:59 - We want justification. We want to see things.

29:01 - You know, we have childcare slots that are given the entities

29:04 - that are no longer doing business or they remain unfilled.

29:08 - You know, I think the school District of Philadelphia had over 700,

29:12 - child care slots and big topic for areas of the state

29:15 - that really, are trying to to meet that need.

29:19 - And so we,

29:19 - we got to delve in and get answers and get justification on utilization.

29:23 - And, you know, it's, it's when you talk about $50.5 billion

29:27 - in a budget and all the things that it touches,

29:29 - you know, it keeps those budget analysts and our

29:31 - and our team very, very busy because you want to do the right thing.

29:35 - And often, again, I try to look at it from a statewide perspective as opposed

29:40 - to, well, yeah, I might be down 30%, but no one's taking any of our money,

29:44 - even though it could be hurting another part of the state.

29:47 - And so that's that's the eternal struggle up there.

29:51 - And that's a segue into the question, how do you,

29:53 - as the chair of, of appropriations, I mean,

29:58 - you're still in a in a political environment

30:00 - and, you know, how do you prioritize, programs?

30:05 - I know, I can I can ask you multiple ways.

30:08 - How did it how did the Senate Republicans prioritize that?

30:11 - How do you prioritize that?

30:13 - What gets funded?

30:14 - What gets cut, those kinds of things?

30:16 - How do you how do you do that?

30:19 - Because I think the, the, the folks watching and the folks around

30:23 - the state would be interested in how that all works.

30:25 - How do you how do you come to that conclusion when one of your best

30:30 - friends in the legislature may have something that you're like,

30:36 - right.

30:36 - We've got to close that prison in his or her district,

30:40 - or we've got to do something

30:43 - from an education perspective that that that shrinks,

30:47 - a state university in their district.

30:50 - How do you how do you manage that dynamic?

30:54 - Right.

30:54 - And I'll say,

30:56 - I think you have different types of membership personalities

30:58 - that, you know, some will immediately be, you know, when Neely was closing

31:02 - some state schools or others you might see people will immediately just come out.

31:05 - We are against this no matter what the ramifications might be,

31:09 - or the justification could be the best in the world.

31:11 - And she's doing the right thing.

31:12 - People would want to just fight back.

31:14 - I do have members that come to me like, listen, I see the writing on the wall.

31:19 - But what can I bring back to my community?

31:20 - So my community is still healthy.

31:22 - What what can we work towards?

31:23 - You know, how can we be smarter for especially for a state that,

31:28 - has never been known, you know, to be, you know,

31:30 - the three things

31:31 - that we're always been known not to be super friendly on

31:33 - are we had some of the highest corporate taxes.

31:35 - We had one of the worst permitting systems, in the state.

31:39 - And we were often known as an area that didn't have a lot of designated

31:42 - growth sites, right.

31:44 - Prep prep sites to be able to do a project.

31:46 - They've come at it through the logic of, but I do have this prep site

31:50 - and why can't I then take this idea, though?

31:53 - It's under the state system of higher education,

31:55 - and maybe this might change

31:56 - or it's under corrections and we, you know, might have to close the building

31:59 - and approaching the folks and community and economic development or the governor

32:03 - who, you know, he wants, you know, work on the sites, program up

32:06 - where we can have these things here. It's ready.

32:08 - But how do we merge these ideas to come out of this with a positive?

32:12 - So that member goes back and says, yes,

32:14 - we may be losing this and it's the right thing to do.

32:16 - But here's what I'm fighting to bring back for you and what we can do here.

32:20 - And here's the positives of what we can do.

32:22 - You know, for me, that's, you know, we do have members that think through that

32:27 - lens, too, but it's never easy to lose something, in your district.

32:32 - But sadly, we we need to turn that around.

32:35 - And, and for me, part of our job is appropriators.

32:38 - You know, it's it's one of the things that really bothers me about,

32:42 - you know, sometimes how the media portrays things like,

32:46 - oh, they're not in session, so they're not at work.

32:50 - Right?

32:51 - Well, I, I will tell you, that session is just a

32:55 - it's like the mountaintop of the work, right?

32:57 - That's where your work then gets the stamp of approval,

33:00 - like all the work in terms of the legalities of fitting in the codes

33:04 - and statutes and ideas and putting pen to paper,

33:07 - that all occurs outside the bill that occurs when you're not in session.

33:12 - The same thing I'll say about budgets.

33:14 - You know, our team has been working on we're working on this years, but

33:18 - this current the one we're coming up with budget

33:20 - even before the last one was passed.

33:22 - It's a never ending process.

33:23 - You can imagine how many line items we have in Pennsylvania's budget,

33:27 - whether it's, you know, right on with the general fund or special accounts

33:32 - that are out there analyzing what's coming into that account,

33:35 - what came out of that account, trying to apply outcomes.

33:39 - Did the administration not spend money?

33:41 - I mean, we we have historically fought to get billions

33:44 - of dollars of lapsed funding money that's been approved.

33:48 - The prior year budget that wasn't spent by prior governors,

33:52 - not just this one, but other ones before them

33:54 - that then they want to create new programs for that never using.

33:57 - Oh, I have this excess money right now.

34:00 - We need to claw this back and repurpose it through the appropriations process.

34:04 - So those things are ongoing and are constant communications.

34:08 - And our team is having, as part of these negotiations.

34:12 - And you make sure that you're spending your money wisely.

34:16 - And there's plenty of places

34:17 - I will tell you where the money that goes, new accounts,

34:21 - where it's not being spent within the current fiscal year,

34:24 - or the rate of growth of revenue into a special account, is far exceeding

34:28 - the historical average of expenditures. What do we mean?

34:31 - We need to repurpose that.

34:33 - And those are never ending, budgetary battles

34:37 - because, as you can imagine, governors don't like to give up those prior funding.

34:42 - And and it's always part of the negotiation process, quite frankly.

34:46 - Well, I mean, you make an excellent point, obviously, you know, the

34:50 - the folks that are, that work for Capital Cross course know what I do?

34:55 - I advocate for our company.

34:56 - And so everything that you're putting,

34:59 - your hands on within the state budget has a constituency.

35:03 - And they're going to have people who are going to tell you

35:08 - if, Senator, it's a good idea or it's a bad idea.

35:10 - And so, all I can say to the viewers

35:14 - is, I appreciate you, because the one thing you can always count

35:18 - on from Senator Martin.

35:19 - So, listen, we'll put you through your paces.

35:22 - You got to. You got to prove it. So thank you for that.

35:24 - And we appreciate, the role you have, on the Appropriations Committee

35:30 - because I think we're all benefiting from that,

35:33 - you know, and I think I to say, though, and you can appreciate that had been a dad

35:36 - now a granddad, you know, it's, you know, at the root of any family.

35:40 - And just like in government, you got to start off at, from a real,

35:44 - point of trust, and facts with, you know, when you're, when your teenager thinks

35:49 - it's wise to spend X number of dollars or you overuse a credit card, right.

35:54 - And what the implementation, the

35:56 - listen, that's that's a lesson that even as a

35:59 - as us as elected officials and running government,

36:02 - you know, you have certain meetings and you know,

36:04 - and sometimes I say this respectfully, it feels like I'm I'm

36:07 - having the same kind of conversations, but from a different lens,

36:11 - about the importance of the stability of our household as a commonwealth.

36:15 - Right.

36:16 - And making sure that we are living within our means,

36:20 - that that we're not putting us down a bad path

36:22 - and have all the negative effects, as if one of our kids had run up

36:25 - a credit card debt,

36:27 - you know, and how long it takes to get out all the interest that you pay.

36:29 - Like there's all

36:30 - there are similarities and, you know, I have this discussion with my wife too.

36:35 - You know, it's very similar in business.

36:36 - You know, you have, you know, certain ways

36:38 - you got to do process improvement and gain efficiencies and do other things.

36:42 - And and if you don't do that, you find yourself falling behind

36:45 - or losing business or becoming irrelevant in the business world.

36:49 - So, we just need a lot more of that.

36:51 - And I try to bring that common sense approach to how

36:54 - I discuss the budget and what we fight for at the table.

36:57 - I, I just personally, I think you do and I appreciate you for it.

37:01 - So thank you for that.

37:02 - And if we can, transition, get a little bit, deeper into this.

37:06 - We talked about demographics and we talked about economic growth.

37:10 - And those tend to to overlap.

37:15 - Is there

37:16 - any and we've done yeoman's work in that space.

37:19 - Right.

37:20 - We're, we're we're trying to do things

37:23 - and maybe some are more successful than others.

37:26 - What does the future of that of that effort in those areas?

37:31 - How do we keep kids home?

37:32 - I know what we're doing now.

37:35 - What does the future look like?

37:37 - Are there are there things you're looking at specifically of,

37:40 - you know, got to scratch my head because we've got to stay,

37:43 - you know, step ahead of South Carolina or step ahead of Florida.

37:47 - And we need, to do

37:51 - governmental innovation to assist in that.

37:54 - What does the future look like

37:57 - from the Senate Republicans along those line?

38:01 - So, you know, we laid out a lot of these goals

38:03 - about how we wanted to grow and be relevant and compete,

38:07 - truly competing for growth, and most everything.

38:10 - If I would go back through these years of what I would call budget wins that

38:14 - we thought were wins or things that we negotiated that were really important,

38:19 - they all are centered around this piece of growth.

38:23 - And whether it's the stabilizing

38:25 - the finances, which, you know, it started under Governor Wolf.

38:28 - In terms of us negotiating, we went from being one of the,

38:32 - I think, the worst state in the country that we had like enough money

38:34 - in reserve to operate state government for like ten minutes, to now

38:39 - being in the middle of the pack

38:40 - and getting bond upgrades and all those benefits

38:43 - and having money in case it really, truly is an economic downturn, a big one

38:46 - or a, potential disaster or an emergency like Covid.

38:51 - The other pieces were realizing when you had the second largest corporate

38:55 - income tax in the country, which often when people wouldn't

38:58 - choose Pennsylvania to come to and open and plant their roots,

39:02 - they pointed to that, and even more so, our permitting system.

39:06 - You know, this is something I've had way too much experience with.

39:09 - You know, I you know, I, I don't know if I've ever shared

39:12 - this example with you guys, but years ago, when I was a county commissioner,

39:15 - we competed to bring Perdue, to Pennsylvania

39:19 - to open up a soybean extraction facility along the Susquehanna River.

39:24 - And it was going to be a great boom for our farmers.

39:26 - They were going to purchase energy

39:28 - from our waste to energy plant along the Susquehanna River.

39:31 - The Commonwealth proceeded to put them through eight years,

39:36 - holding them to the highest air quality standards in the history of the country

39:41 - on a product called hexane that had a 75 year safety record.

39:46 - And that's not a political statement because it went through

39:48 - an, Democratic administration and a Republican administration.

39:51 - I'm the only if it wasn't for Lancaster County and Central PA

39:55 - agricultural intensity.

39:56 - I'm stunned still to this day that Purdue didn't pull the plug on it.

39:59 - But, you know, you see those and there's other ones.

40:02 - Yeah.

40:03 - We live Kennett Square, the mushroom capital of the world.

40:06 - Great idea.

40:07 - Let's open up a mushroom processing facility. Right.

40:09 - Makes sense.

40:10 - Well, after two years of grappling with local

40:14 - permitting and other deep related stuff, they actually pulled the plug.

40:17 - Went down to Maryland, about 20 minutes south from where.

40:20 - Kennett is, and they were building like in 90 days.

40:23 - Those are the kind of things that we've been focused on improving,

40:28 - but probably the real big one was, you know,

40:32 - no matter what your industry is, when you are educating kids,

40:35 - whether you're running a health care facility, whether you are a household,

40:40 - whether you're a manufacturer, energy or a food producer,

40:44 - energy is a component of your cost, right?

40:48 - And if you really want to make things affordable for Pennsylvanians,

40:51 - we have to have reliable, affordable energy.

40:54 - And and we found ourselves in this, this tug of war over the regional Greenhouse.

40:58 - Gas Initiative.

40:59 - You know, you know, Wolf, you know, we won in court, in the Commonwealth Court

41:03 - that you can't implement a carbon tax on your own,

41:05 - which was about a $1.5 billion impact on ratepayers.

41:09 - But then they appealed it.

41:11 - Shapiro Governor Shapiro, poured it and it chased away.

41:15 - I was I watched billions

41:16 - of dollars of investment going to Ohio and West Virginia, you know,

41:20 - and that's the dynamic we were trying to change,

41:23 - like we want to grow here in Pennsylvania.

41:25 - If you notice, I didn't say I want to do anything unsafely.

41:28 - Right.

41:29 - You know, I want to do it in a way that's good for

41:33 - for Pennsylvania and our environment and, and more importantly, for our grit

41:37 - and for our ratepayers.

41:38 - It's one of the key things, I think.

41:41 - And I and I there since it occurred, there is a lot of chatter about new

41:45 - potential base load capacity coming online, some of which is not even related

41:49 - to artificial intelligence and data centers and things like that.

41:53 - But,

41:55 - the piece of this,

41:56 - the Corbett that you use as an example, though, is and what I love about grow PA

42:01 - is that it comes out of us listening

42:05 - to all aspects of industry, government, non-profits.

42:08 - What are your needs?

42:09 - What are we struggling with and being reactive to that?

42:14 - It's about us being honest with kids, about what type of majors or career paths

42:19 - they choose, and what will be able

42:21 - to get them a job at Pennsylvania, but a good family sustaining job.

42:25 - And it also makes colleges accountable.

42:27 - Because if you want these kids

42:28 - and the resources they're bringing, you got to compete and be relevant.

42:31 - In terms of that course curriculum

42:34 - and the way the legislation is designed is in, you know, here,

42:38 - I think within a year

42:39 - you're going to get labor and industry, all those business groups

42:42 - and another industry together, again, working with the CFO to say, okay, well,

42:47 - you know, we had a great run of nursing and health care positions.

42:51 - But man, the welder issue in Pennsylvania, we need more welders, right.

42:55 - Or we need more math teachers.

42:57 - You know, those kind of conversations

42:59 - we can be reactive to and it makes us better investors to it.

43:03 - And so hopefully will continue down this path.

43:06 - And looking at new ways to make it better.

43:08 - And I like that.

43:09 - I wish more government programs took the act, you know, because right now

43:13 - a lot of people have cruise control, right?

43:15 - Because changes work. Change is difficult.

43:18 - You know, I like looking at

43:20 - how do we make it better because not only is it going to be better

43:22 - for taxpayers, it's going to be better for consumers on the back end.

43:26 - And so I wish we we kind of looked at more programs like that.

43:28 - And we are we're going to try,

43:30 - but you know, we are completely focused on how we grow the state.

43:33 - And for anyone who cares about government services,

43:36 - you need that growth in the state to fund it.

43:40 - Without question, if you don't have that, you have a shrinking future tax base

43:45 - because as we all know, our seniors, which the top two it

43:49 - growing age demographic, they don't pay, taxes on their retirement income.

43:55 - Right.

43:56 - So your most expensive demographic also is an a contributor to the tax base.

44:00 - And now you have a shrinking tax base.

44:02 - I think everyone can understand that is not going to end well for Pennsylvania.

44:10 - Absolutely.

44:10 - I think, we've covered a lot of, of a broad strokes here.

44:16 - I'm curious from a, a micro level

44:21 - or what's the 4th of June?

44:23 - What are or what are the sticking points in this current budget?

44:27 - If you're scratching your head, you're like, okay, if the House Democrats

44:30 - want want this, the the governor wants this, we want this.

44:35 - The Senate Republicans want this.

44:37 - We you know, if you know, I'm a teacher, right.

44:40 - If that Venn diagram is where do the lines cross and and and what are the

44:45 - the challenges, that we need to overcome in the next, 26 days?

44:51 - Well, you know, I tell people, you know, for the first

44:54 - six years of my career, you had a House Republican majority

44:57 - in a Senate Republican majority, and I wasn't in leadership them.

45:00 - But I imagine being able to lock arms with the house and you just have this

45:04 - one on one negotiation with the governor is a much similar format.

45:09 - Then when you have three way negotiations, because you obviously have scenarios

45:13 - where especially if the House

45:14 - and the governor aren't on the same page, then you no one will agree.

45:18 - And you think you have this to set aside, but then the other one doesn't agree.

45:22 - Or they say, all right, if we get this, you get that.

45:26 - And now they're saying, well, if either of you want that, we want this.

45:29 - And all of a sudden, especially from a financial standpoint, you know,

45:32 - a $50 million program just turned into 150 million of expenditure.

45:36 - You know, like it's it's, a more complex dynamic,

45:41 - that, that we have going on right now.

45:44 - So, you know, for me, the sticking

45:47 - points, you know, this is it's no secret.

45:50 - The number one thing that they usually want to see happen are large,

45:53 - very large increases in the public k-through-12 education space.

45:58 - Not only

45:59 - that, they want to do it through the add a quote unquote adequacy formula,

46:03 - which really drives dollars to select schools.

46:06 - It doesn't really respect population growth or decline in these formulas.

46:12 - I'm not a fan of it.

46:14 - I will tell you, Doug and I, I say this respectfully to everyone who ever came

46:17 - before me, and I say this someone who sat on one of these

46:20 - funding commissions,

46:23 - remember when we talked about legislators who care about

46:25 - what's going on in our district and how it impacts our schools?

46:28 - Well, you get a room full of people who may have that same mentality.

46:31 - The product that comes out of it not necessarily is in the best interest

46:34 - of the entirety of the Commonwealth, and that's how you lead with these.

46:38 - I would argue that it makes the whole system more inequitable than what it is.

46:43 - I would get rid of all the ways that we fund education

46:46 - right now in terms of creating a formula that respects.

46:50 - But true enrollment reflects

46:53 - true poverty data as an individual.

46:56 - So, you know, we're not treating the entire school as if it's poor.

47:00 - But if you have 200 kids that fit that criteria, you get a bump, right?

47:04 - Have a special education pot based on real utilization.

47:08 - That is not how we do it right now.

47:10 - We'll look at a school district and say, well, that school district's rich,

47:13 - but and they get like a tremendously less amount of funding.

47:16 - And their parents are paying higher property taxes to make up the difference.

47:20 - In reality, that kid is not getting extra services because his school is all in.

47:25 - You know, where they're better off.

47:26 - You know, it's it really could be simplified.

47:30 - I personally, if I read the court decision,

47:32 - which I always tell people, never has a dollar amount in it,

47:35 - no matter what they say, there's no specific amount.

47:38 - The way we do it,

47:39 - the most equitable way we build something, it's let's make it equitable.

47:43 - But we have everyone fighting to keep their piece of a pie.

47:46 - And so as much as it maddens me that you can have a school district

47:50 - that lose 30% of enrollment and not only seizes a penny less,

47:55 - but also gets massive increases,

47:58 - that, to me, is what's broken and needs fixed in the Commonwealth.

48:02 - And until we get to that point, but that's going to be a huge

48:06 - another huge part, whether it's the funding level, the,

48:10 - the formulas that go into it versus a lot of the things that we want to

48:14 - continue to see happen for that position, this state for economic growth.

48:18 - But the probably one of the biggest things is, is,

48:22 - I cannot underscore the importance enough that,

48:27 - you know, when you talk about the state's rainy day fund,

48:31 - if the further you go into that rainy day fund,

48:34 - I can't even begin to tell you how bad next year will be.

48:39 - In terms of rhetoric.

48:40 - And of course, we all know we have an election coming in November.

48:43 - And I joke,

48:44 - you probably all heard

48:45 - politicians say it's the most important election of your lifetime.

48:48 - I'll just say this.

48:49 - The pieces of the puzzle that get sent to Harrisburg are truly going to determine

48:55 - whether or not the answer is just keep massively spending more money

48:59 - than we're taking in.

49:01 - Or are we going to rightsize,

49:03 - where some of the examples I gave you earlier make tough decisions

49:07 - to get the Commonwealth on path, because there is no more play room.

49:12 - The runway is gone.

49:13 - Something has to give here.

49:16 - And so it's frustrating for me because I see the pathway

49:20 - and I wish I could get everything

49:22 - at the bargaining table, but I think is in the best interest of us.

49:25 - From my appropriation standpoint fiscally.

49:27 - But I also realize that I'm not the only one at that table.

49:30 - And a lot of times people don't necessarily care about that

49:34 - because in their mind,

49:35 - the answer is we'll just go back to taxpayers and

49:38 - and at a time when we're trying to compete, for our young people

49:43 - and to grow this state, or you have people that, you know, I get protesters

49:48 - all the time outside my office saying, we need to reverse the Senate

49:51 - reduction or the net operating loss, carry forward, you know, like.

49:57 - Squeezing the side of a balloon makes another side blow up.

50:00 - And yet it's great to talk about.

50:02 - But when you end up losing, you know, a thousand jobs and investment

50:05 - to another state because you're not a friendly state that needs to grow.

50:09 - Then it has ramifications to even the services that they care about.

50:13 - So 100%, I mean, obviously my, my industry,

50:18 - we're all very sensitive about affordability and,

50:23 - you know, it's, it's one of those one of those challenges of how you,

50:27 - how you continue to try to to maintain affordability

50:31 - while the pressures surrounding you keep,

50:34 - keep changing, so to speak.

50:37 - If we can change a little bit and shift gears,

50:39 - and I imagine in your current role, you rarely get asked this anymore, is

50:45 - you're the chair of the Appropriations Committee.

50:46 - And that's a very powerful position within, the General Assembly.

50:51 - But first of all, you're still the senator from Lancaster County.

50:54 - And when you were first elected, you weren't elected as the

50:58 - appropriations chairman.

50:59 - You were elected a senator.

51:03 - Do you still have those

51:05 - those things that maybe unique to you that you're interested in,

51:09 - that you advocate for, that are outside of the budget?

51:13 - I know, just listening to you, that wide angle

51:16 - lens occupies, let's say, 95% of your time.

51:20 - What's that?

51:20 - What's in the other 5% that you, you know, hey, let's do this.

51:25 - Maybe I can make a small difference in a in a smaller,

51:29 - on a smaller issue than the state budget.

51:32 - Yeah, well, there are a bunch of things.

51:34 - You know, it's truly an honor to represent Lancaster

51:36 - and now portion of Berks County to the southwest corner of Berks.

51:40 - You know, when you come from the number one agricultural county in Pennsylvania,

51:45 - when you run into issues like related to avian influenza and its impact,

51:49 - not just to Lancaster County and, on, on, on families and jobs and, you know,

51:54 - you know, we're the fourth largest layer hand,

51:57 - county in the entire country.

51:59 - You know, we're the 10th largest county in terms of cows.

52:03 - So we think we have more cows in Lancaster County than all the state of Virginia.

52:06 - You know, like it's it's, it's pretty intense.

52:09 - But, you know, some of the things I'd really love to work on here

52:13 - locally was obviously how we prepare better

52:16 - for those kind of avian influenza, and work.

52:19 - We're better prepared to, to quickly react, to stop the spread of that.

52:23 - I've done a lot of work, as I serve on the Chesapeake.

52:27 - Bay Commission in Lancaster County because of a lot of those, farms and things.

52:31 - We have clean water, and getting the Commonwealth

52:35 - to buy into it that this is an issue

52:37 - not just important to the Bay, but it's important to Lancaster County.

52:40 - It's important to Pennsylvania

52:42 - that our water resources are not overly polluted at all.

52:47 - And we've made great progress, getting streams delisted.

52:51 - You know, Conestoga River went from a very dirty river down to now it's

52:55 - the river of the year in Pennsylvania, you know, seeing that kind of work.

52:59 - But, you know, I'll always have at my core,

53:03 - I love the outside, the box kind of things,

53:06 - you know, like our Tech Central program that started at soccer, and we doubled it

53:10 - here of, underemployed and unemployed individuals who want to make their lives

53:15 - better for their families and coming to get a new skill, right.

53:18 - And and economically go up the, the, the ladder.

53:22 - And, you know, now we're replicating it in York and Lebanon and Harrisburg

53:27 - and, Redding and now Allentown

53:30 - and Philly want to do it because we're getting really good results out of it.

53:34 - But probably at my core, I would say, one of my newest ventures is I, I,

53:40 - I've always loved doing things that that make this world better for our kids.

53:44 - Right.

53:44 - And, one of the things I think we're all aware

53:47 - of, though, there's a lot of positive aspects to it,

53:50 - but there's a lot of negative two related to this new world of AI.

53:54 - We've had some incidents here related to AI

53:57 - generated pornography of of minors

54:00 - and the distribution of it, schools not reporting it.

54:05 - And so not only did we do a lot of work,

54:08 - in that framework to toughen laws about that,

54:12 - but also to improve mandated reporting, and quite frankly, laws

54:18 - related to AI chat, chat bots, who, you know, sadly.

54:22 - Secondly,

54:23 - but not only can convince your a child to commit suicide, but they even help them

54:27 - write the suicide note like it's it's a world out there that we're working on.

54:32 - And so much so that, few months ago, we kind of kicked off a new program.

54:37 - We started a week to honor, it all started with the young man

54:41 - who was lost, was on Instagram for 48 hours

54:45 - and was extorted and ended up taking his own life.

54:49 - And, in honor of the day that, his the day that he passed.

54:55 - And around the beginning of the school year,

54:57 - we wanted to create a social media awareness and internet safety day,

55:01 - because I really want schools to start sharing tools with kids.

55:04 - And we did a forum with, you know, victims experts in the field.

55:09 - And my goal when I did this at Lampeter-strasburg High School,

55:12 - which were my, my, my boys go, is that we can create a model that I can

55:17 - then hand off to other senators around the state,

55:20 - other House members and our comms team is putting this all together, saying,

55:24 - this is how you do this.

55:25 - And so now we're having a statewide want to have a statewide conversation

55:29 - for our kids about how we can and parents and teachers

55:32 - about how we can keep them safe from a lot of the negative things that are going on

55:37 - related to these technologies that keep advancing so rapidly.

55:40 - So, there's never a shortfall, you know, as you mentioned earlier,

55:44 - you know, like Sutter County is, definitely seeing growth.

55:49 - It's still the national leader in farmland preservation.

55:51 - But on the flip side of it is is a housing crisis.

55:54 - So how do you make housing more affordable and have workforce housing.

55:57 - And so we're working on a bunch of things related to that and traffic congestion

56:01 - and intersection improvements.

56:03 - You know, you know, all the all the things that that that are good

56:06 - locally and, and eventually end up in a ribbon cutting somewhere, maybe.

56:09 - But, so I, I do enjoy that, that part of the job too.

56:13 - And, and I think, you know, I love the competition

56:16 - of trying to get things done and working with others to get them done.

56:19 - And when the day comes that, you know, I feel like I'm not fighting for something

56:23 - or competing for something. That's a good day to pass the baton.

56:27 - Well, I speak on behalf of

56:29 - capital BlueCross, and obviously the folks watch,

56:30 - and we appreciate you being on watch on all of those, because I think

56:34 - just by listening to you, the the passion for these issues does come through.

56:38 - So thank you for your service.

56:41 - Senator, we have a couple minutes left.

56:44 - I could ask you another question.

56:46 - I mean, obviously, Representative Harris, he told he he

56:50 - he threw the gantlet down there.

56:51 - Just get

56:52 - get tell Scott we'll meet him on, campus, middle school, and we'll get this.

56:56 - We'll get this all settled.

56:58 - And is there anything to that?

56:59 - I want to break some news here today.

57:01 - Can we get you and Jordan Harris?

57:03 - On the campus of Millersville in the next,

57:05 - two weeks, and and just settle this man on me.

57:10 - Wait a minute.

57:10 - Is this a wrestling match?

57:12 - Well, see?

57:13 - Oh, the old school way of settled out.

57:15 - Here's the thing.

57:16 - I mean, there's obviously a lot of voices involved in this process, and,

57:20 - I get asked all the time.

57:22 - Are we going to have it done?

57:23 - Are we going to have a budget done by June 30th?

57:25 - You know, and, I'll say it, that's that's always the goal.

57:28 - But I just want to make sure that there's clear, distinct lines,

57:32 - that one thing for us is we have to be very mindful that the.

57:35 - But it'd be easy all just, hey, let's just approve the governor's budget

57:38 - and I'll just pat each other on the back and go home.

57:40 - You know, we'll worry about the rest later on.

57:43 - It's not a way to run a healthy organization.

57:45 - And as I explained there, be there.

57:49 - The less careful that we are in, what comes out of this budget

57:53 - is really going to determine what kind of your next year will be.

57:56 - It's going to be a difficult year regardless.

57:59 - Of course, the players who get sent back are going to determine what to do,

58:03 - but the one thing I want to make sure do that we're not all

58:05 - just patting each other in a van as we drive off a cliff,

58:09 - and let someone else deal with picking up the pieces.

58:12 - And so, my commitment is I'm going to try my best to meet that deadline,

58:17 - but I, I will promise you that the budget come out of this.

58:21 - We're going to do our best to make sure that, the investments

58:24 - are as right as they can be and as as effective as they can be,

58:28 - and that we do not completely unwind the Commonwealth's fiscal foundation.

58:35 - I think that's the last word.

58:36 - Thank you for appearing on this episode of the Public Affairs Forum.

58:41 - And always thank you.

58:43 - You've been, you've been a friend to me, obviously, French capital, Blue Cross,

58:47 - and the folks around the, around the state are,

58:50 - are better off for you being in the position that you are.

58:53 - And so good luck over the next month and,

58:56 - hopefully,

58:58 - you know, we'll see you back here next year for, for your,

59:01 - for your report on the state budget and where we go from there.

59:06 - Wow. I always enjoy this, Doug.

59:07 - I appreciate you guys having me on.

59:09 - And if I can just close in one thing and that is this.

59:12 - Or you have a child or grandchild that that's coming of age here in Pennsylvania.

59:16 - Please, please, please check out the field website and check out grow PA.

59:21 - Because we want your young people to stay here and we want them

59:25 - graduating with less debt.

59:26 - And we want them to have a good job and that matters to us.

59:28 - So please check it out.

59:30 - Well, that truly is the last word. Thank you.

59:32 - Scott Martin, sir Scott Martin from Lancaster County for appearing,

59:36 - today on the Public Affairs forum sponsored by Capital Blue Cross.

59:39 - And please stay tuned for, the next episode.

59:42 - We're going to take a little hiatus over the summer.

59:45 - In the fall, when we return, for our next broadcast.

59:50 - Thank you. And have a nice day.

59:53 - The Capital.

59:54 - Blue Cross Forum is sponsored in part by Capital Blue Cross.