00:00 - The following program is sponsored in part by

00:03 - customer's bank.

00:14 - Rocketed the sand capital to preview on Phil Beckman

00:17 - today we'll talk about the state budget process but first we're joined by Steve

00:20 - Albrecht managing editor of politics phd thanks for joining me.

00:24 - Good morning

00:24 - thanks for having me

00:25 - that you wrote recently about a discharged position that the.

00:29 - Discharge petition that the senate democrats have issued

00:32 - for a minimum wage bill why did they do that.

00:35 - It's a way to force the issue Pennsylvania hasn't raised the general assembly has not

00:39 - raised the minimum wage of seven twenty five

00:42 - in the commonwealth since two thousand and seven

00:45 - it's always been a political beach ball that's gone back and for

00:50 - democrats push for a raise the minimum wage Republicans push against it

00:54 - and final the senate minority leader Jay costa said you know what

00:58 - we're not

00:59 - getting this

01:00 - bill house bill twenty five nineteen.

01:03 - Moving along as the senate labor and industry

01:06 - committee so he said to file a discharge petition which

01:10 - was a petition which actually

01:12 - removes the bill

01:14 - from the commit d

01:16 - and puts it forward to a vote

01:18 - and if is a majority vote in favor of the voting

01:22 - on the bill

01:23 - it will move

01:24 - right out of committee to the floor of the senate.

01:27 - How long

01:28 - did they have to act once the petition has been initiated

01:31 - once a petition has been initiated the senate has.

01:35 - No more than ten session days

01:38 - to.

01:39 - Move on it so the question now becomes

01:42 - when will that come up during the senate budget negotiations which

01:47 - of course has the statutory deadline of June thirtieth.

01:50 - When will be brought up will be brought up

01:53 - late at night will be brought up in the day

01:55 - with everything else going on

01:57 - i will get lost in the shuffle.

02:00 - So how does this issue breakdown in terms of partisanship the the

02:03 - senate is controlled by the Republicans senate democrats

02:05 - are in the minority who are trying to get this bill

02:08 - out for a vote.

02:09 - What kind of support does it have for the Republicans.

02:12 - Right now with the with the state senate controlled

02:15 - by repub chickens twenty seven to twenty three

02:18 - there does not seem to be much of an appetite

02:20 - to move this out of committee and that's

02:22 - why believe

02:23 - Sarah costa made this move

02:25 - and there are certainly some political implications that go along with this

02:28 - by bringing up the petition

02:30 - to discharge petition

02:32 - and forcing everyone all fifty members of the state senate

02:36 - to take a position yes

02:38 - we're willing to discuss voting on this

02:40 - no we want no part of this

02:42 - so certainly in an election year with twenty five state senate seats up for grabs

02:47 - putting everybody on the record is part of the

02:50 - machinations that go along with the discharge petition.

02:54 - They imagined that Pennsylvania's

02:56 - minimum age seventy seven dollars and twenty five cents an hour

02:58 - how does that compare to surrounding states.

03:01 - Great question great question thirty four states

03:04 - in the union currently have a higher minimum wage than Pennsylvania

03:07 - new York is at sixteen dollars per hour new

03:09 - Jersey is fifteen dollars and fifty two cents

03:12 - Delaware is fifteen Maryland is fifteen Ohio is eleven

03:16 - and the one that people really like to point out

03:19 - even west Virginia is higher than Pennsylvania

03:21 - eight dollars and seventy five cents so

03:24 - once again you point to the fact that the general assembly has not acted on this

03:28 - in what is approaching

03:30 - twenty years

03:31 - is now the time that action will be taken

03:34 - remains to be seen.

03:35 - What are some of the reasons why people oppose raising the minimum wage.

03:39 - We often hear that it would

03:41 - cost lower paying worker.

03:44 - Workers in these jobs who would actually cost their jobs that would raise

03:48 - the costs for small businesses around the commonwealth obviously

03:51 - if you're making eleven dollars an hour and

03:54 - someone is making nine dollars an hour gets there

03:57 - wage raised to fifteen

03:59 - then the eleven dollar workers obviously going to see their wages

04:02 - increase as well

04:04 - so it's really the competitive pricing that's going to

04:08 - affect small businesses that's been used as a cudgel by senate Republicans.

04:13 - Now raising the minimum wage is

04:14 - a perennial issue.

04:16 - Why why is there such a hard time finding common ground on this.

04:20 - It certainly is a political beach ball

04:23 - that

04:23 - goes back and forth as a negotiating tool that's been used over the last twenty years

04:28 - it will continue to

04:30 - you would think that the two sides would be able to come together there are only four

04:35 - hundred i think if the rage went up

04:37 - it would affect about four hundred and eighty thousand pencil rainier workers

04:41 - which in the grand scheme of things does not seem to

04:44 - be a large number you often hear Republicans say that

04:47 - well people aren't even making that wager making

04:49 - more than that's why do we need to increase it

04:52 - democrats are saying well there are people that are

04:54 - are making that we need to.

04:57 - It does seem like the two sides should be able to find

05:00 - common gg around on all this why they haven't Phil

05:03 - is still kind of beyond me.

05:05 - Governor Josh shapiro has

05:06 - proposed raising the minimum wage as part of his budget process

05:09 - and as you mentioned earlier that

05:10 - the deadline for the budget is the end of the month

05:12 - so is is the timing of the discharge position

05:14 - do you think connected with the budget process

05:17 - absolutely

05:18 - absolutely is the time to put everybody on the record

05:21 - you're going to be able to use that during negotiations with appropriation ns

05:26 - and it is

05:27 - this is clearly a political move

05:30 - to get

05:31 - everybody on the record if it's not going to move out of the committee

05:34 - senators don't have to vote for discharge petition

05:37 - accomplishes both.

05:39 - Goals in that.

05:41 - What have you heard from the governor about this petition.

05:45 - Governor really hasn't come out and taken a position

05:49 - more than this achieve his goal as you mentioned

05:52 - i spent part of his budget for each of the last three proposals

05:56 - he has been a champion for raising the minimum wage

05:59 - so i think he doesn't need to talk about the

06:01 - petition more so than to just take the stance that.

06:04 - The this is something that i believe in and it's nice to see senate democrats pushing

06:09 - the issue and hopefully they can get a bill

06:12 - with Republicans that will come to his desk which will get his signature.

06:16 - This is also an election year governor shapiro

06:19 - and as state treasurer

06:20 - state security are going up against each other

06:22 - and then we also have the.

06:25 - The house representatives.

06:27 - Write for reelection

06:28 - this do you think this is an issue that will

06:31 - play into any of these races.

06:33 - I do

06:33 - think that.

06:35 - The Democratic party in the state of Pennsylvania has certainly identified

06:39 - for five seats that they think they can flip and

06:41 - perhaps.

06:43 - Turn over majority control

06:45 - to do democrats and achieve perhaps a trifecta having democrats in charge of the

06:49 - governor's mansion the state house and the state senate as well

06:53 - so i think this is an opportunity that

06:55 - democrats feel is important and those in those competitive races

07:00 - certainly in the state house which has a one seat Democratic advantage

07:04 - as well as the state senate where democrats are looking to flip control

07:08 - can you use a no vote by a republican against the

07:13 - raising the minimum wage

07:14 - to your political advantage.

07:16 - Steve o'Rourke managing editor of politics pa thank you for joining us

07:20 - Phil thank you

07:21 - more of the PC and capita preview after a short break.

07:27 - America has not known a great

07:30 - writer.

07:32 - Man

07:33 - in August Wilson's.

07:35 - American playwright of the twentieth century

07:37 - thank you for seeing black pittsburghers and for loving us enough to tell our story

07:42 - your work screens volume to the black community

07:45 - you gave us an American epic and the untold stories of the African American culture

07:50 - and he's brought them to life changed my life

07:52 - tremendously and his legacy will live on for me

07:55 - thanks for showing the world that

07:57 - our lives and stories.

08:05 - Explore the interactive two hundred and fiftieth map on PC and select dot com

08:10 - click on any county to see enlisted programs you can watch anytime for free

08:14 - go to PC and select dot com flash map

08:18 - click on the two hundred fiftieth tab to start watching today

08:21 - pcn

08:22 - celebrating america's two hundred and fifty then Pennsylvania

08:25 - welcome back our guest today our state representative

08:28 - Gina curry a democrat representing Delaware county

08:30 - and representative Josh kail a republican representing parts of beaver and Washington

08:34 - counties thank you both for being here.

08:36 - So it's June where a few weeks away from the

08:38 - June thirtieth deadline for the state budget

08:40 - are we looking.

08:42 - Thanks for having me here first of all

08:43 - feel i appreciate you know what i i think this

08:46 - budget season

08:48 - we're going to get a result i i don't think it's going to go as long as last time

08:52 - heading into an election year usually people want to get out of Harrisburg

08:57 - and go back to their districts and hear from their constituents

09:00 - but you never know and so we're going through the process now and.

09:04 - Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we'll start

09:06 - seeing some things moving along through the house and

09:09 - i'd like to get done

09:11 - by June thirtieth which is the deadline

09:13 - and so we can get back to our districts and hear

09:15 - from the people that that that we represent.

09:18 - Represent Korea where what are your thoughts on the process

09:20 - that's been going on

09:21 - well thank you

09:22 - having me here today as well and i

09:24 - think we.

09:26 - Are negotiations are ongoing

09:28 - we cannot do what we did last year

09:30 - absolutely not i think we have to

09:33 - make sure we're really narrowly focusing in

09:36 - and

09:37 - we have passed

09:38 - the budget.

09:40 - On the house side

09:41 - and we're waiting and

09:42 - so we really need to make sure that we are

09:46 - doing what we're there to do

09:48 - and for the people

09:49 - and not have them wait until the end of the year.

09:53 - So over the past few months

09:54 - the governor gives his budget address in

09:55 - February that kind of kicks off the season and.

09:58 - So as you go through those months leading up to now

10:00 - how how do you as represented assess your priorities based on your districts based on

10:06 - what you think's important for Pennsylvania.

10:09 - Well i can say.

10:11 - I do represent the one hundred and sixty fourth legislative district.

10:15 - In Delaware county

10:16 - but when i'm looking at the priorities i always

10:19 - look at the priorities not just for my district

10:22 - but for the entire county well

10:23 - so of course we talk about agriculture we talk about

10:27 - rural health

10:28 - those things are not

10:29 - necessarily.

10:31 - Impacted my district

10:32 - and

10:33 - you know directly

10:35 - but in all

10:36 - actuality it does because

10:38 - the entire budget

10:40 - is determined around all of those issues

10:43 - so when i'm looking at my priorities of course i'm looking at my district

10:47 - and the things that are going to help the southeast delegation

10:51 - but

10:51 - in all areas we have to look at everything and that's

10:55 - why this budget period is so critically important.

10:59 - Yeah what when when you watch the budget

11:01 - budgeting is really a list of priorities

11:03 - right what's important to your district

11:06 - what's important to the commonwealth what's going to move

11:08 - us forward but we can never lose sight that every dollar

11:12 - that we spend is a dollar we're taking from Pennsylvania taxpayers so we've got to be

11:17 - very cognizant that the public fisc is

11:19 - public trust and we got be responsible

11:21 - with those resources that we are handling

11:24 - one of the reasons why it wasn't know on this budget was because it was too far over

11:28 - what the revenue spend number is going to be

11:30 - and that's something that needs to be a priority

11:32 - moving forward get a fiscally sound budget in place

11:36 - ever since coven

11:37 - we've had extra resource she says that we put away into the rainy day fund and we

11:41 - slowly been dwindling those resources

11:44 - and i fear once that rainy day fund runs it's course

11:47 - we're going to be in a very difficult situation where we

11:50 - were either going to have to take more resources from the taxpayers or cut services

11:54 - i'd rather get our fiscal house in order

11:57 - now to ensure that we don't have to do those types of things down the road.

12:01 - Now

12:02 - everything comes down to money at some point right people could put together their

12:05 - list of things but the Nevada independent fiscal office

12:07 - projects six a six point five

12:09 - or six point seven billion dollar baseline deficit

12:12 - for the next fiscal year

12:14 - and.

12:15 - Their new revenue sources that the governor's

12:17 - proposed recreational marijuana skill games

12:19 - some of these other other sources

12:22 - and but it also includes a transfer from the rainy day fund

12:26 - a four point six billion dollars this is from penn live.

12:29 - Is that a good idea to take money out of the rainy day fund

12:31 - it's never a good idea to take money out of the rainy day fund but we have

12:36 - a loss in revenue

12:38 - and so right now the democrats we're trying to

12:41 - work on proposals as the governor did to get some revenue in the commonwealth

12:46 - we see it with our neighboring states they've done it

12:49 - we need Pennsylvania needs to

12:52 - wake up

12:53 - and really have a chance to say hey we have opportunities

12:57 - to bring more resources into the car

13:00 - well

13:00 - but if we sit on it

13:02 - we're going to continue as my

13:04 - colleague said dwindle in

13:06 - to these resources we have to increase resources not keep decreasing them.

13:12 - Yeah and and i agree we do need to increase resources where where i disagree is i

13:18 - don't believe the way to get those resources to grow is by taxing more we need to

13:22 - grow our economy and increase our tax base so that we have more people that are

13:27 - coming to Pennsylvania more people that are working.

13:30 - In Pennsylvania so if we can grow our our economy our revenue numbers

13:34 - will go up so we've gotta be focused on growth policy this

13:37 - budget season as well and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania

13:41 - what's the best way to increase the population if.

13:43 - Obviously people

13:45 - the united states is a

13:46 - country where people move come and go a lot

13:48 - yeah how do you keep people who are from

13:49 - Pennsylvania Pennsylvania and how do you attract

13:51 - new people.

13:52 - It's jobs

13:53 - a lot of it comes on the jobs

13:55 - people are going to go where the jobs are i you can't

13:57 - move to an area without being gainfully employed

14:01 - and

14:01 - then it's also taxes

14:03 - people don't want to pay burdensome taxes they

14:05 - will move to places where the taxes are lower

14:08 - i'm in an interesting situation because my district

14:11 - is on the border of Ohio oh and west Virginia

14:13 - and the tax structures different in Ohio west

14:16 - Virginia and even the job opportunities are different

14:19 - there but Pennsylvania is uniquely positioned for this

14:23 - modern economy

14:24 - that we're walking into right now

14:26 - we have natural resources we have a workforce

14:29 - we have access to markets we're so close to the largest markets

14:32 - and the entire

14:33 - planet really in the northeastern part of the united states

14:36 - we have access to capital

14:38 - we need to get Harrisburg out of the way

14:40 - we need to ensure that we're not trying to make some

14:43 - decisions from here and let the markets work so that people can come to

14:48 - the commonwealth and grow and start businesses and

14:51 - if we do that that i think we'll see a second renaissance in Pennsylvania and we

14:56 - could really see some exciting things happening and we could become the keystone

14:59 - state of our nation's economy once again.

15:02 - We can't do that without investing and so

15:06 - i feel like i'm in an interesting

15:08 - space as well i came here from Baltimore Maryland.

15:12 - As a fry sherman

15:13 - in

15:14 - college

15:15 - went to st Joseph's university

15:17 - in Philadelphia and and.

15:20 - You know when you think about getting your degree

15:23 - you spend a lot of money on education

15:25 - you want to get a good job

15:27 - i can remember when i graduated many moons ago

15:30 - we were in a bit of a crisis that was in nineteen ninety four

15:34 - so you know what i did i stayed

15:37 - and went to

15:37 - graduate school

15:38 - because at that time

15:40 - the jobs were not plentiful the government was kind of shut down

15:44 - and i was looking for a government job at that time

15:47 - to work in

15:48 - law enforcement

15:50 - as a criminal justice major

15:52 - and so when i think about it actually staying in Pennsylvania

15:55 - it's going to be really important

15:57 - not only for us to

15:59 - think about the things that we have to

16:01 - cut

16:02 - but we have to bring in more.

16:05 - Resources as i spoke up before

16:07 - you know those revenue.

16:10 - Aisles that we can really depend on

16:12 - to them for ring

16:14 - our students from other places to come on in and say hey

16:17 - I'll

16:18 - probably have an opportunity here in Pennsylvania

16:20 - you know i laugh and tell people

16:22 - i'm the commonwealth stream

16:24 - i came to Pennsylvania i met my husband

16:27 - i had a family

16:28 - and now i work for the state

16:30 - and so that's the kind of thing that we want we want current

16:34 - students to say hey i'm coming here

16:36 - or i'm staying in-state

16:38 - you know my mother would have loved if i would have stayed in Maryland

16:40 - but i actually came to another state and stayed

16:43 - and really thought about what Pennsylvania meant to me

16:47 - and when i looked out

16:48 - you know i was in the southeast right

16:50 - i didn't know a lot about

16:52 - you know the other parts

16:53 - the state

16:54 - now I've had a huge education

16:57 - about agriculture

16:59 - and the different resources that

17:00 - rep has talked about here

17:02 - and i think we cannot continue to decrease we have to increase

17:07 - those resources so

17:08 - having folks want to stay

17:10 - is important through our education system but also

17:13 - what

17:14 - rep said here about

17:16 - the actual workforce

17:17 - we know we're struggling with the workforce here

17:20 - we're struggling with education workforce we're trying to get teachers

17:23 - to stay right here in Pennsylvania

17:26 - to teach

17:27 - were also struggling in the business areas

17:29 - of having good businesses stay

17:32 - so that we can make sure that that

17:34 - our graduates are coming here not only staying in Pennsylvania

17:38 - but coming from other areas we need to attract

17:41 - our families to be able to stay here.

17:44 - So i

17:44 - i i loved the story that she just told about how she came from Maryland and that's

17:48 - something that we should be applauding and i i agree and

17:52 - i'm one of seven i grew up in southwest Pennsylvania

17:55 - and at one point in time six of seven of my siblings

17:58 - i was only one actually that was still in Pennsylvania

18:02 - and it wasn't because they they do didn't want

18:04 - to be here it was because opportunity wasn't here

18:08 - so i love hearing stories like that because i have eight kids of my own

18:12 - and that's why i do this just for me and in my district and my family and our region

18:17 - we want to keep families together with opportunities in Pennsylvania

18:22 - so it's encouraging to to hear a story like that and i think there's

18:26 - some

18:27 - certain common agreements in that now

18:30 - as it relates to resources and and revenue streams my point is this

18:36 - you can't tax your way to prosperity at raising taxes might increase revenue for a

18:42 - short period but eventually it's going to drive people out of the state which is

18:46 - going to mean there's less people to tax

18:48 - which means your revenue is actually going to shrink

18:51 - the way to increase revenue is to increase the economy is to grow the economy

18:56 - is to make sure

18:58 - that

18:58 - this is an attractive place to come and to stay and to work and to live.

19:03 - So it may seem counter attitude of

19:05 - but at some point

19:07 - tax cuts is going to need to be discussed as a means of

19:10 - attracting more people to the state and the more people

19:13 - that you can bring here

19:14 - that means there's more people on the tax rolls and that

19:17 - means that we have more revenue and more resources so

19:20 - i i think that's the key and that's where we need to be focused they're going for

19:24 - i think we have great models in our neighbors.

19:27 - That have done the work

19:29 - i don't want to focus on where i'm from but

19:32 - you know

19:33 - that have put these.

19:35 - Revenue increasing opportunities in place and it's successful

19:39 - and so i think there's a bit of fear here

19:42 - about talking about taxation

19:44 - if you go

19:45 - the revenue in

19:46 - we're in a better place

19:48 - right now we are tapping in

19:50 - to

19:51 - a rainy day fund because it's raining

19:53 - and so we really need to be able to look

19:56 - at some other opportunities and i think

19:58 - we're getting shut down on that when

20:01 - to me it feels like a bit of fear.

20:03 - Instead of

20:04 - letting moving forward

20:07 - and bringing some of these other revenue streams in so that we can see

20:11 - actually what type of revenue

20:13 - we can get here in Pennsylvania

20:14 - to actually build on it

20:16 - right now we don't have it

20:18 - so we're we're we're leveling out

20:20 - where we're at a point where we're leveling and we're

20:23 - going to be under soon if we don't get these streams

20:25 - revenue in

20:26 - that the governor is proposing.

20:29 - One of those revenue streams is

20:31 - recreational marijuana.

20:33 - Is is the need for money

20:35 - enough to get that over the finish line

20:37 - represents kill

20:38 - i i think that the numbers are overstated as it relates to

20:41 - recreational marijuana i think maybe at one point in time

20:45 - making it wrecked creation on the commonwealth of Pennsylvania would have brought

20:48 - those types of revenue numbers in it but now

20:51 - as the representative has mentioned the states around us have made it

20:54 - legal.

20:56 - You're going to see less people attracted to

20:59 - buying it because they could go other places so they're basing it off of Colorado's

21:04 - number in Colorado was the first state to do.

21:07 - In that region and so everyone was going to Colorado to buy.

21:11 - The the legal

21:13 - marijuana.

21:15 - Now that there's so much common usage i don't think

21:17 - those revenue numbers are actually going to project but

21:19 - i i think you also have to look at

21:21 - Colorado it's it's you know a tale of two stories yes there's a revenue number that

21:26 - that increase sure but social service numbers increase significantly

21:30 - in their studies now coming out that for every dollar that was brought in by revenue

21:35 - from marijuana there's been a four dollar increase

21:38 - in social service needs because of marijuana

21:41 - so you gotta look at the effect that it's having

21:43 - beyond just the simple revenue number

21:46 - are we just growing issues

21:48 - in our region with it

21:50 - states like Oregon are looking at legalization and they're starting to scratch their

21:54 - heads and wonder did we do the wrong thing did we go too far

21:57 - and they're starting to actually claw back on some of the third laws there so

22:01 - we have other states to look at

22:03 - now we need to be thoughtful as as we go through this process and we certainly need

22:09 - to look at more than just the revenue when you look

22:12 - at the impact and also how much it's costing us.

22:16 - Not just in numbers dollars and cents but also human costs.

22:21 - Sure i i think that

22:23 - you know

22:24 - the social service

22:26 - statistics

22:28 - and

22:29 - can't just be pointed at marijuana

22:31 - i'm going to say right now people are living in poverty

22:34 - we don't have a minimum wage

22:35 - we are struggling

22:37 - for people to make needs

22:39 - that get their needs met

22:41 - and so when you talk about social service statistics

22:44 - marijuana is the least of those marijuana is something that people are going to do

22:49 - period

22:50 - and when we look across the bridge

22:52 - we pay a toll

22:54 - to get to new Jersey

22:56 - to then

22:56 - put our dollars

22:58 - into new Jersey

22:59 - and so that's why we need to look at

23:02 - seven hundred

23:04 - plus

23:04 - million dollars

23:06 - in the first year where that could put us

23:09 - in terms of our revenue

23:10 - we keep going in circles about

23:13 - what we're doing and why the social services and i

23:17 - appreciate you bringing that up

23:19 - but we know that there's so much more to those sos full surface numbers

23:23 - people can't eat.

23:24 - They have no housing.

23:26 - We're in a place right now where our children are heaven

23:29 - and.

23:30 - A lot of issues we know that kovac came in and showed us all the inadequacies

23:36 - how we were living and doing things

23:38 - and so social service numbers are up because of those many reasons not to marijuana

23:43 - so and that that very well may be the case it's just

23:46 - that particular study was drawing that correlation

23:49 - in

23:49 - in in Colorado but

23:51 - i

23:52 - i also have an issue with

23:55 - you know not just whether or not we legalize it but how we do so

23:59 - right

24:00 - in Colorado you can go into a gas station and there's

24:03 - gummies that that my kids might be attracted to

24:06 - that have marijuana

24:07 - in it

24:08 - and so we need to make sure that

24:10 - if we do end up

24:12 - legalizing that it's done in a way that's

24:14 - responsible and and has our kid ids in mind

24:17 - with your constituents say about this issue when you talk to them.

24:20 - Well

24:20 - i know a lot of my constituents you know people are up in the air

24:24 - because they don't know what to expect

24:26 - but i do know people that go across to new Jersey

24:29 - to get the marijuana

24:30 - or

24:31 - you know people are going to do it in ways that

24:35 - aren't safe now

24:36 - rep Cal i agree with you

24:38 - where it comes to our children

24:40 - and

24:40 - right now we have smoke shops we know them very

24:43 - you know

24:44 - in all the spaces

24:46 - where schools are you know we're looking at legislation to make sure

24:49 - that these smoke shops are not allowed

24:52 - to go through

24:54 - the planning process in certain boroughs

24:57 - and municipalities

24:58 - to say you can't

25:00 - have a smoke shop right up the street from the highschool

25:03 - because we know what happens

25:05 - and their hours start at

25:06 - seven thirty in the morning right before you know

25:09 - school starts

25:11 - and so yes we have to have regulation

25:14 - and we can have regulation that's why we're here

25:16 - in Harrisburg to regulate

25:18 - these things but again back to your question we're talking about the budget today

25:23 - we have to bring these revenue sources in

25:25 - we're

25:26 - going to continue to be banging our heads

25:28 - if we have revenue sources that are proposed by the governor

25:33 - that

25:34 - you know we haven't even talked about skill games or

25:37 - minimum wage

25:38 - these are things that

25:39 - if we really turned the corner

25:42 - we're going to see some results

25:44 - i think the fear is there and we gotta

25:46 - we gotta get past that

25:48 - but let's talk about school games

25:50 - that's a big issue see i'm all over the state

25:52 - and

25:53 - every little store that you stop in.

25:56 - How does that looking

25:57 - in your district do you think their support

25:59 - in

26:00 - in the house

26:01 - for some type of skill games legislation.

26:03 - I i think there is i think it just depends on what it is right.

26:09 - A lot of us don't view this so much as a skill

26:11 - games issue but as a small business issue

26:14 - my district is it's rural there's vf dubbed he is

26:17 - they're small businesses there's taverns there's

26:20 - restaurants.

26:21 - That depend

26:22 - on these games for revenue source

26:24 - and it's important that

26:26 - they're able to continue to depend on those revenue sources

26:30 - for their business

26:31 - and

26:32 - as far as an overall revenue generator and we can talk about rec operational

26:37 - marijuana the numbers it could bring we could talk about skill games or we're just

26:41 - putting band aids on bullet holes

26:43 - the issue in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania is we need more people moving into the

26:47 - commonwealth which means we need job growth

26:50 - we need to grow our tax base

26:53 - and so we need to facilitate an environment that

26:57 - is going to lead to that

26:59 - in the meantime we could talk about plugging holes with this tax that tax but we're

27:03 - not going to be able to tax our way to prosperity and we're not going to be able to

27:06 - smoke our way to prosperity either and so we have to

27:10 - really be focused on the big picture

27:12 - and that means keeping taxes low

27:15 - that means facilitating an invite arraignment where jobs will continue to come in and

27:20 - grow in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania

27:22 - and that means creating a commonwealth where our kids want

27:26 - to stay

27:27 - and that's what we need to be focused on that's what our caucus is focused on.

27:31 - South Korea so a couple of weeks left until

27:33 - the deadline for the budget

27:35 - do you think that's enough time to find common ground

27:37 - and the school gives a shit.

27:40 - This.

27:41 - Game issue is a really sticky one

27:44 - and

27:45 - listening to rep Cale speak about it

27:47 - i think

27:48 - the majority of people are not smoking their way into it

27:51 - and the

27:52 - you know when we talk about these overarching.

27:56 - The majority behaviors everybody is not doing it

28:00 - so you know we know that

28:02 - the.

28:03 - The

28:03 - the folks that support these

28:06 - regulations

28:08 - are looking to support it

28:10 - so that you know we can actually see the clear consumer

28:14 - protections

28:16 - right and so

28:17 - we know that these skill games

28:19 - are important to small business and we talk a lot about small business and

28:25 - in

28:25 - our budget

28:27 - and

28:27 - the the issue at hand is

28:30 - again

28:31 - looking at the overarching picture about how

28:35 - the regulation can act actually indeed help.

28:39 - We know we can't go in and yank them out

28:41 - we know some people want to

28:44 - but we have also come to the agreement that people

28:47 - you know are going to fight for that

28:50 - but

28:50 - again just like we talked about the marijuana issue

28:54 - it has to be regulated

28:55 - we just can't

28:56 - throw things into stores and

28:59 - you know the marijuana you can go into a gas station or the crate and i think it is

29:04 - that drunk

29:05 - these gummies we don't know

29:07 - what's happening to them so the regulation is important

29:11 - and i don't.

29:12 - Think that we're going to come to an agreement on skill games

29:15 - in a few weeks i don't think there's more to talk about

29:19 - there's more to be seen about how it works

29:22 - and you know

29:23 - again the revenue that would come forward

29:26 - is another seven hundred million

29:29 - in the first year of this regulation.

29:32 - Well let's give our guests a break for a

29:33 - minute while we look at program notes for pcn.

29:37 - On our next PC and capita preview we'll talk about energy policy in Pennsylvania

29:41 - with representative Elizabeth Fiedler majority chair of the house energy committee

29:45 - and representative Martin causer

29:46 - minority chair of the house energy committee

29:49 - they will be on our guests tomorrow morning at nine o'clock.

29:52 - On this week's journalist roundtable our guests will be

29:55 - energy Ellie from capital are state affairs

29:58 - capitalist from wv i a

30:00 - is Zach hoops from penn live join us Thursday night at seven

30:03 - then stay with pcn and watch the juneteenth day of freedom program

30:07 - organized by susquehanna university Thursday night at seven thirty.

30:11 - For this week's history and culture programming

30:13 - we'll have the script writer of the Ken burns documentary the American revolution

30:17 - author Jeff reward will be here Tuesday at eight pm.

30:20 - It's history documentary

30:22 - this week explores Pittsburgh's revolution a new fort pitt museum exhibit about

30:26 - western Pennsylvania pivotal role

30:28 - in the revolutionary war that's Wednesday night at night.

30:31 - You can watch this show and all of our public affairs

30:34 - programming free of charge by visiting PC and select dot com

30:37 - while you're there you can download our streaming service PC and select

30:40 - piece cn is everything Pennsylvania

30:42 - where a five oh one c three nonprofit television

30:44 - network that relies on viewers like you

30:47 - to make a donation visit PC and

30:49 - TV dot com.

30:51 - Let's take a few steps back and

30:53 - tell us about your district that

30:54 - where in Pennsylvania is it winters characteristics and

30:57 - tell us about it

30:58 - so my district is as far western Pennsylvania as you can go it's on the border of

31:02 - Ohio and west Virginia so it's beaver and Washington ky the west side of beaver kind

31:06 - of the west side of Washington county.

31:09 - It's a wonderful area.

31:11 - Beautiful little small towns

31:13 - over the district

31:15 - and lots of natural resources natural gas

31:18 - coal assets though in a district

31:21 - the firm first commercial nuclear plant in the world

31:24 - that was used for generation of electricity.

31:27 - Is in the district now the the original building is no longer there but they read it

31:31 - in the nineteen seventies as the beaver valley nuclear

31:34 - facility that we have there so energy is is a big deal

31:38 - and of course we have the Ohio river that that ends up going down in Pittsburgh so he

31:42 - had manufacturing assets up and down the river

31:45 - some of those manufacturing assets are still going

31:47 - blue collar

31:49 - region and

31:50 - you know when i was born in nineteen eighty six

31:53 - the unemployment rate in beaver county was about twenty four

31:56 - twenty five percent

31:58 - and people don't forget that they remember what

32:00 - happened with those men factory jobs and how they left

32:03 - and since then we've been working to facilitate

32:06 - an environment in beaver county in Washington county

32:10 - that is pro jobs and brings jobs back to the region so that we can

32:15 - we can see our kids moving back to the area and and the

32:18 - kids that that we have now they're living there can stay

32:21 - in the region.

32:23 - Tell us about your dessert

32:24 - thank you and

32:25 - my district is right outside of west Philadelphia and delco

32:30 - and

32:31 - i dunno if people know where Delaware county is but

32:34 - it is this

32:35 - that's right it's a special county

32:38 - that is right outside of Philadelphia

32:41 - and you know border is basically Wilmington

32:43 - and you know Delaware

32:45 - you leave and you're right there in Delaware

32:47 - and.

32:48 - I love my district not only because it was the first place that i moved to

32:53 - after i graduated from college

32:55 - but

32:56 - have as

32:57 - strong roots there.

32:59 - Now that I've been here i really you know

33:02 - feel like i am a delco girl even though i wasn't born and raised there

33:07 - and.

33:08 - We actually have one of the

33:10 - largest immigrant populations that comes through upper darby

33:15 - i live in upper derby so there's lansdowne east lansdowne

33:19 - the little tiny borough of Melbourne

33:22 - and part of checks will help that is my district.

33:25 - We have great opportunity through our transit system

33:29 - that comes you know from Philadelphia into

33:32 - Delaware county

33:33 - right there at sixty ninth street is where the start of the market frankford El

33:38 - is and we have

33:39 - lots of different areas where septa.

33:42 - Can get people to their jobs into their homes

33:45 - and we have a great opportunity that just.

33:49 - Is

33:49 - underway

33:50 - right in my own backyard in Philadelphia

33:53 - the cobbs creek

33:55 - project

33:56 - which is the first.

33:58 - Public golf course

34:00 - and it is looking beautiful if anybody wants

34:02 - come visit there i know it's not my district

34:05 - but it borders my district and a little bit of upper darby is right on the edge

34:09 - of that golf course

34:10 - and

34:11 - really the beauty of our district is

34:14 - so many different languages so many different cultures

34:18 - foods from everywhere.

34:20 - Having the opportunity

34:21 - to have a dive diversity in our

34:25 - district is an amazing part

34:27 - of who we are in the one sixty fourth.

34:30 - Represent kill you mentioned energy as it is a significant issue in your district

34:33 - a chocolate what about that

34:35 - what types of policies

34:37 - would you like to see implemented

34:39 - related to energy based on

34:40 - the interests of your district so

34:42 - you know any rg is seven seven percent

34:46 - of our economy

34:47 - and and

34:48 - what what we don't quite always get is that as the first seven percent

34:52 - and nothing else moves unless we have energy and we we saw it with

34:57 - the crisis that's going on in Iran and thankfully

34:59 - that looks like it's coming to a close right

35:02 - when energy prices go up everything

35:05 - goes up so you want to talk about affordability

35:07 - and the ability to to travel and to get from here to there and reasonable sense.

35:14 - It's energy everything is energy so

35:17 - Pennsylvania is very uniquely positioned right

35:20 - we have so much natural resources here we have coal natural resources we have natural

35:25 - gas of course we have the ability to generate a lot of energy a lot of electricity

35:32 - but over the course of the last ten years there's been this unfortunate energy policy

35:36 - that we've seen in Harrisburg and not just in Harrisburg but also in DC

35:40 - where we have been encouraging people

35:42 - to electrify air everything right

35:44 - plug this in like that whether it's our furnaces whether it's or stoves whether it's

35:48 - our cars were giving tax credits for these things.

35:51 - While at the same time

35:52 - we are discouraging the generation of energy

35:56 - so we're shutting down coal fired plants we're not building

35:59 - natural gas plants we're trying to do renewables that don't work all the time on

36:04 - and so we have this energy crisis that we are walking into

36:07 - while demand is going up up up for electricity.

36:11 - Supply is going down down down and so we need to

36:14 - facilitate an environment in Pennsylvania again

36:18 - where we look forward and change directions on our energy policy

36:23 - when the facility create an environment where we will be

36:26 - generating what's called baseload energy baseload energy is

36:29 - electricity.

36:31 - That is generated

36:33 - from coal and natural gas and nuclear

36:36 - from sources.

36:38 - That are consistent that that we can ramp up but we

36:41 - need the ramp up so that we can have a stable grid ID

36:44 - and that'll keep our energy costs low and also keep our

36:48 - lights on Pennsylvania has the natural resources fort

36:51 - and we have the ability and the workforce to do it

36:54 - we need Harrisburg to get in line understand the future of this commonwealth it

36:58 - starts with it's energy just like it's past started

37:02 - with it's energy edge as well

37:05 - and you know i

37:06 - i.

37:07 - I'd be remiss if i didn't mention also the economic opportunities that come along

37:12 - with this this isn't just about consumers

37:14 - although consumers are of the utmost importance

37:16 - our residential consumers have people paying electricity bills

37:20 - but it's also about jobs.

37:22 - You can't bring manufacturing ing assets to the region if

37:26 - you don't have affordable and reliable energy resources

37:31 - there's no way shell

37:33 - the petrochemical facility that came to my district

37:36 - at one point was the largest construction project in the world it was a fourteen

37:40 - billion dollar project that ended up being

37:43 - would have come to pence Albania

37:45 - if we didn't have reliable and affordable energy if we didn't have our natural gas.

37:51 - So

37:52 - we need to leverage that

37:53 - and make sure we're getting the most out of our energy

37:55 - resources and what's fascinating now close on this

37:59 - what's fascinating is his energy during the

38:01 - industrial revolution is what made Pennsylvania yeah

38:05 - the keystone state it was our coal assets it was gas and was also oil people think

38:11 - Texas is where the oil was from i dunno

38:13 - Texas followed Pennsylvania

38:15 - we were the ones that discovered the oil here first

38:19 - and

38:20 - that led to of course you couldn't have the steel mills without the coal to generate

38:24 - the

38:25 - the energy

38:26 - to make the steel

38:27 - well now here we are one hundred and fifty or so years later

38:31 - and we we find ourselves with the natural resources again with natural gas of course

38:37 - with coal but we find ourselves into this next wave of

38:40 - the industrial revolution with advanced manufacturing

38:43 - with artificial into elegance

38:45 - wit with all these different things happening Pennsylvania

38:48 - should be right in the middle of it and we need to make wise decisions to ensure

38:53 - that our constituencies are getting the most out of what we have in Pennsylvania.

38:57 - Represent Korea

38:59 - maternal health is is an issue that

39:01 - poses a lot of challenges

39:02 - how would you assess the state of maternal health of Pennsylvania right now in what

39:05 - kind of policies would you like to see implemented

39:07 - wow

39:08 - thank you for asking that question because anybody

39:11 - who knows me knows that maternal health is at the

39:14 - center of my heart.

39:16 - When i first got into this position and twenty twenty one.

39:21 - At the top of the year

39:22 - i had a nurse

39:24 - give me a call from

39:25 - Delaware county memorial hospital which was under the Crozier system

39:29 - in Delaware county and

39:31 - that nurse said.

39:33 - Rep curry you don't know me i don't know you

39:36 - but i want to let you know that our labor and delivery unit is closing

39:40 - on January twenty nine

39:42 - and literally

39:44 - i came in on educate in policy public

39:46 - and

39:47 - housing and small business and i was like oh maternal

39:50 - i started

39:51 - turning towards

39:53 - health equity and health equity for women

39:56 - and i realize we're losing a whole hospital

39:59 - that birth.

40:00 - Hundreds of thousands of babies

40:02 - for many many years my husband was born there

40:05 - and so i started looking at the maternity deserts

40:09 - and

40:10 - looking at the crisis that we were in.

40:13 - Particularly around women dying the maternal mortality rates

40:17 - that were in Pennsylvania were

40:19 - are astronomical

40:21 - and i started doing the research and then i

40:23 - bumped into representative surface and

40:25 - rough

40:26 - avatar city mayors from allegheny county came on

40:29 - and we decided to look at this.

40:31 - Really

40:32 - narrowly

40:33 - and talked to the governor about it

40:35 - and

40:37 - we started seeing hospitals just close.

40:40 - Delaware county lost a whole

40:42 - hospital system

40:43 - devastated

40:45 - our county

40:46 - we are one birthing hospital

40:48 - in Delaware county right now which is unbelievable we're like the

40:52 - fifth or sixth largest county

40:54 - in the commonwealth and we have one birthing hospital that was used to

40:59 - delivering about.

41:01 - Less than a thousand a year now they're way up over that

41:04 - so you know what that means

41:05 - it means more ask for funding

41:08 - their override written

41:10 - with

41:10 - concerns

41:12 - as far as maternity care an emergency

41:15 - and

41:15 - hms all of these things

41:17 - are major crisis right now so we created back in twenty twenty

41:22 - three.

41:23 - A mom the bus

41:25 - of

41:25 - modeled after to the federal mom and the bus

41:29 - to bring against

41:30 - bring about sensible legislation

41:33 - for maternal health and black maternal health specifically

41:36 - since the numbers

41:38 - have the mortality rate for black women.

41:41 - Exceed two to three times higher than anyone else

41:45 - in the state and three to four times higher than anyone else

41:48 - in this country

41:50 - and so we have got three of those bills

41:53 - across governor

41:54 - shapiro desk and we're proud to say

41:57 - as the co-founders and co-chairs representative

42:00 - safest and representative mays and myself

42:03 - have worked tirelessly

42:05 - to build this caucus

42:07 - to help our colleagues.

42:09 - On both sides of the aisle understand the importance

42:12 - of doula care and midwifery

42:15 - and

42:16 - putting dollars into

42:18 - maternal care we may not be able to

42:21 - save some of these hospitals

42:23 - but we need to figure out good planning

42:27 - and good solution so that as these hospitals rebuild

42:31 - in a different way

42:32 - that we can make sure that we're saving moms lives

42:35 - that is a critical

42:37 - most critical

42:38 - priority right now

42:40 - in Delaware county and throughout

42:41 - and i know representative Campbell and i were talking about this earlier

42:45 - the rural health issue

42:46 - has star good to collide

42:48 - right and we're looking at the fact that

42:51 - if these hospitals you know

42:53 - i'm in an.

42:54 - Urban suburban area i want to say

42:57 - we have

42:57 - Philadelphia right there that has some of the most.

43:01 - You know

43:02 - well known

43:03 - facilities for healthcare

43:05 - in this country

43:06 - but then you step

43:08 - to Delaware county and now

43:09 - we don't have any

43:11 - and then you go out to where

43:12 - Kale is here and you're like where are the hospitals

43:15 - you have to go into Ohio

43:17 - to have babies

43:18 - if they're going to west Virginia

43:20 - to have babies

43:21 - something's wrong with that so the commonwealth really

43:24 - needs to focus this is something

43:26 - i really appreciate representative Kurt Marie

43:28 - and her leadership and her team's leadership because it's

43:30 - not easy to do when when your district is urban suburban

43:35 - to to understand what's happening and in more rural areas that are very very

43:40 - different but they have shed light on those issues

43:42 - as well and it's very much appreciated because

43:45 - i know in my area

43:47 - you know we just had a hospital

43:50 - potentially be bought

43:51 - we're in the process

43:53 - of age and buying

43:55 - one of our our local hospitals which would be great cause

43:57 - it'll keep the hospital open but there was a real threat

44:00 - that you're going to have a hospital shut down.

44:02 - In beaver county which is about thirty five miles

44:05 - away from downtown Pittsburgh so you're not talking

44:08 - real far away from from a region but you're talking about two hundred and some

44:12 - thousand people and that certain vicinity

44:14 - whether to launch COD beaver county they'd go to this particular hospital

44:19 - there's hospitals getting shut down in northern

44:21 - tier as they call it the northern part of

44:23 - of the commonwealth in some places it takes hours

44:27 - to go to a hospital where you can have a baby

44:30 - and I've.

44:32 - I i hesitate to share these personal details because you know it's it's my wife was

44:37 - actually the one that delivered the child but i we've

44:40 - she's had a child at home and we've had dollars as well

44:44 - and it wasn't intentional but you know things happen

44:47 - and you got to you know be a be able to.

44:51 - Adjust and for for far too many people now

44:54 - if you're traveling that far

44:56 - it's going to create very dangerous situations

44:59 - so it's a problem that we're seeing across the board is something that that we need

45:03 - to address and i appreciate your leadership i thank you i appreciate it and the key

45:07 - the key word there is access

45:10 - because often times when we're thinking about rural you're like

45:13 - miles and miles

45:14 - but when you have folks who

45:16 - have the social determinants of health where they cannot get to a hospital situation

45:21 - and we know that postpartum

45:23 - which our governor

45:24 - has prioritized

45:26 - and

45:27 - is one of the main reasons for death

45:30 - after giving birth for mom's

45:33 - HP postpartum

45:34 - because a lot of times these women and they can't get to the care

45:37 - after they've had their babies

45:39 - so our infant mortality rates and maternal mortality rates

45:43 - are too high

45:45 - to be in twenty twenty six

45:47 - we have to

45:48 - continue to make policy which we have great policy and the mom the bus

45:52 - i we have a one point one to two point oh and i encourage folks

45:56 - to go look it up

45:57 - and pa black maternal health caucus

46:00 - we are in need of funding for those grassroots

46:03 - organizations that are doing the work on the ground

46:06 - every day

46:07 - and we like

46:08 - my colleagues and i we say all the time we're not the experts

46:11 - we're the legislators

46:13 - so we're here to make policy and get it through

46:15 - on both sides of the aisle

46:17 - and it's been working

46:18 - the senate

46:19 - has been passing

46:21 - some of the bills i know we just got a midwifery

46:24 - a huge

46:24 - livery bill

46:25 - pass and that's going to help with these mortality rates.

46:29 - What

46:30 - we only have a few minutes left

46:31 - and this is a big topic we could probably talk about this for while

46:34 - but why are we losing so many hospitals but it seems like

46:37 - it's in rural areas this is a suburban areas what's going on

46:40 - while we have public

46:41 - we have private equity

46:43 - i'm going to say that

46:44 - that's what tore down the Crozier system under prospect and i know i'm saying names

46:50 - but it's okay because

46:52 - right now we have a devastated Delaware county

46:54 - which spills over into Montgomery county

46:57 - which spills over into Philadelphia county

47:00 - to carry the load

47:02 - of a county that has a lot of babies every year

47:05 - we need to be able to

47:07 - understand

47:09 - and make policy and laws that are codified

47:12 - against these.

47:14 - Folks who think they can come in

47:16 - buy it up

47:17 - and then not invest in it

47:19 - the hospital

47:20 - that is right my area Delaware county memorial

47:22 - hospital that is in upper darby township.

47:25 - It is literally falling apart

47:28 - Crozier Chester.

47:30 - Hospital

47:31 - falling apart so anybody who comes in after

47:34 - has to invest

47:35 - to make sure this hospital is up to par

47:38 - and so that's putting a lot of weight so you have

47:40 - you know.

47:42 - Medical.

47:43 - Great medical.

47:45 - Areas and and and facilities that want to come in

47:49 - and change this

47:50 - but the dollars that they need to put in

47:52 - sometimes it isn't even

47:54 - you know it's not match

47:55 - it's not matched.

47:57 - Yeah it's it's a very complicated situation the healthcare market is something that

48:02 - you know we were trying to learn more about each and every day

48:06 - and

48:07 - I've talked to different hospital administrators and since coven for various reasons

48:14 - as relates to costs on things and

48:16 - how

48:17 - things are funded

48:18 - there's been a real struggle for independent health systems to survive.

48:23 - It's an interesting spot that we've

48:25 - put ourselves in because right now the ones that are thriving

48:29 - the systems that are thriving are the ones that also have insurance companies are

48:33 - there's this vertical integration that caused a lot of people

48:37 - some concern not that long ago

48:39 - but now those are the entities that i'm talking to you pm cst a chance

48:43 - at those are the attitudes that are building the state of the art

48:46 - facilities and are really bringing solid health care to regions.

48:51 - So

48:52 - there's you know.

48:54 - It's it's a complicated

48:56 - situation for independent hospitals

48:59 - and

48:59 - it seems as though the adjustment is to have these vertical integrated

49:03 - systems come in and

49:06 - and really buy up these independents but we gotta make sure that there's competition

49:11 - we cannot allow monopolies across

49:14 - the entire commonwealth of have one or two systems because

49:19 - you're gonna end up with a situation where that monopoly will.

49:22 - Wind up

49:23 - becoming complacent and so

49:25 - we need the competition we need to make sure

49:28 - that there is a healthy healthcare market

49:31 - and

49:32 - make some of those fixes to make all this possible.

49:35 - Well i guess today has been representative Gina curry

49:38 - and representative Josh kail thank you both for joining us

49:41 - thank you to.

49:42 - PC and recently spoke with representative Paul friel

49:44 - about his legislation regarding waste spreading.

49:48 - Welcome to our program

49:50 - you have proposed a bill regarding food processing residuals for those who may not be

49:54 - familiar can you explain what those are.

49:57 - Sure happy to show

49:59 - food

50:00 - processing residuals or food processing waste is

50:03 - the leftover materials when we're manufacturing

50:05 - usually you know could be some type of.

50:09 - It could be

50:10 - meat processing chicken

50:12 - and beef it could be

50:13 - making noodles but any any type of agricultural

50:16 - product that's going into manufacturing food

50:19 - and waste

50:20 - residue leftover so it's a wide variety of materials.

50:25 - That accomplish accomplish stuff food processing

50:27 - waste

50:28 - what does your bill say.

50:31 - So

50:32 - my bill really puts

50:34 - in there's really two bills one is the holler

50:36 - broker bell five house bill five eighty seven

50:39 - and the food waste bill five eighty six and it seeks to put in some regulations for

50:44 - the management and spreading of the f p r's on fields

50:48 - right now Pennsylvania doesn't have regulations.

50:52 - Regarding food processing waste and so we have more for

50:55 - example

50:57 - regulation of manure in Pennsylvania than we do

50:59 - on this waste material that's being imported out

51:02 - from out of state

51:03 - a lot of the states around us

51:05 - have

51:06 - limited or restricted this completely

51:08 - and Pennsylvania has an exception and the solid

51:11 - waste management act for normal farming operations

51:14 - it's that folks

51:15 - are taking advantage of this

51:17 - loophole and importing waste into Pennsylvania

51:19 - and paying farmers to spread it on

51:22 - on their fields

51:23 - the problem with that is we don't know what is in the material

51:27 - it's it can be really

51:28 - anything some of it's beneficial for soil oil

51:31 - and some of it is definitely not

51:33 - and some of it is that

51:34 - you can be

51:35 - you know contamination to that to the soil or

51:37 - can be high sodium contents and other stuff

51:40 - or it could be just really smelling

51:42 - terrible

51:43 - and if it's

51:44 - constantly all year round

51:45 - it can be a real nuisance to neighbours.

51:48 - What inspired you to propose this legislation.

51:51 - So we had a in my local district twenty twenty six

51:55 - which Chester northern Chester county Pennsylvania.

51:58 - We we had a a trucking company come in and buy a small farm

52:02 - and the

52:03 - trucking company was in the business of food waste hauling

52:07 - right

52:08 - so that kind of alerted a couple

52:10 - folks when they pee pull permits to put in a giant waste pit

52:13 - and it's a small farm about seventy acres and when you saw the amount of material

52:18 - millions of gallons that are going to important

52:19 - and it didn't really make sense from a agriculture

52:22 - or a

52:23 - fertilizing of the soil point of view to be wondering what was going on

52:27 - and really that's when i discovered what this loophole would allow

52:31 - basically

52:32 - an unregulated landfill to be created if we didn't put management in place to do this

52:38 - not only that i

52:39 - as we researched this we found that there was some real contaminations like down it

52:43 - and from Pennsylvania

52:45 - have out towards Carlisle Pennsylvania

52:47 - and

52:48 - some really

52:49 - aggressive application of f PR set of cars

52:52 - all the neighborhood and community all kinds

52:55 - of problems and we wanted to avoid that and

52:58 - obviously in our community and that's inspired

53:00 - me to go out and and seek legislation to fix it

53:03 - he mentioned Pennsylvania not having

53:05 - as many regulations on food processing residuals and

53:08 - do other states have this kind of stuff in place.

53:11 - Yeah most of the surrounding states either

53:13 - restricted completely and you can't spread it or

53:16 - have a pretty heavy regulation on on what types of materials

53:20 - how often can be spread testing requirements

53:22 - for the materials and it's just a loophole that

53:25 - the intent originally was allow farmers if they had

53:28 - no

53:29 - waste.

53:30 - Leftover they could use it and spread it on their

53:32 - fields which is absolutely fine thing to do.

53:35 - It the unintended consequences we had some.

53:39 - Kind of industrial players and waste haulers take

53:42 - advantage of this and start instead of going as

53:45 - to landfills where some of this waste would normally have gone

53:49 - as tipping fees for landfills gone gone up

53:52 - a lot of this stuff is liquid and it can only take

53:54 - so much of this material into a landfill at one time.

53:57 - They were looking for places to to to.

54:00 - Take this material and spread it so

54:02 - it created a sort of little cottage industry of paying folks to take it

54:07 - and because there's no regulation.

54:09 - You know some are doing a great job with it and doing it properly and some are are

54:13 - creating unregulated landfills and causing a big nuisance to the community so

54:18 - really needed something

54:19 - to manage it

54:21 - what feedback have you gotten regarding this bell.

54:24 - Mostly positive feedback i mean all the communities that we've been to with this bill

54:29 - a lot of the farmers and local farm bureau's have

54:32 - been really supportive of the efforts to do this

54:34 - think universally everybody real recognizes that there's

54:38 - a need for this regulation.

54:40 - So it's really been.

54:43 - Generally positive i think the only pushback

54:45 - we got was from those ways taller brokers

54:48 - and

54:48 - it you know in that industry pushing back and trying to.

54:52 - Limit the amount of regulation.

54:55 - Lastly where is your bill in the legislative process currently.

54:59 - So both bills passed the senate five eighty

55:01 - seven the first build a holler broker bill.

55:04 - That's that's managing the folks that

55:06 - bring it import it and transport it.

55:09 - That bill passed almost unanimously out of the house

55:13 - and the next bill the

55:14 - manages the actual application of fpr on the fields in the management of

55:19 - the holding of it

55:20 - that

55:21 - passed one hundred and seventy two.

55:24 - Loads so three quarters of my republican colleagues along with our

55:27 - Democratic colleagues pass it out of the house

55:29 - so now it sits over in the senate

55:32 - and i believe it'd be

55:33 - one of the bills in the agriculture committee

55:36 - now be the hula burger bill

55:38 - and the fpr bill it would be over in the energy

55:41 - environment and energy committee because that's where the solid waste management act

55:44 - which there's the exception for that's where that is so it sits in the senate right

55:49 - now and it's really up to the senate to

55:51 - to bring it over to the governor for

55:53 - them

55:53 - to get aside.

55:55 - Representative Paul frail thank you for your time.

55:58 - Thank you so much.

55:59 - That concludes today's show the piece and capita preview returns tomorrow

56:03 - we'll talk about energy policy Pennsylvania with representative Elizabeth Fiedler

56:07 - majority chair of the house energy committee

56:09 - and representative Martin causer minority chair of the house energy committee

56:13 - thus tomorrow morning live at nine

56:15 - and i'm Phil Beckman

56:17 - thank you for watching.