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PA Poised to Opt Out of REAL ID
Pennsylvania could soon become the 16th and largest state to opt out of the federal REAL ID Act. Under REAL ID, state-issued drivers’ licenses would have to meet certain federal criteria. PennDOT would also be required to store copies of its license holders’ identifying documents, and link its databases with those of DMVs across the country.
“REAL ID, with the nationwide database, would really create a gold mine for identity thieves,” says ACLU of Pennsylvania legislative director Andy Hoover. He also complains that the federal law would turn state-issued drivers’ licenses into de facto national ID cards.
Congress enacted the REAL ID Act of 2005 in response to the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations for more secure standards for identification. The report cites that, “All but one of the 9/11 hijackers acquired some form of US identification document by, some by fraud.”
The Department of Homeland Security has extended the implementation deadline to January 15th, 2013, but the ACLU of PA’s Andy Hoover says REAL ID cannot function without state participation.
REAL ID is not a new issue under the state capitol dome. The House passed a bill to block REAL ID in 2008; the Senate passed one in 2010, but time ran out in both of those legislative sessions. This year’s bill (SB 354) passed both chambers with broad, bipartisan support. Governor Tom Corbett is expected to sign it.
Tax Freedom Day Arrives April 17th Nationwide, a Day Later in Pennsylvania
The Tax Foundation has calculated this year’s Tax Freedom Day and it’s April 17th, the same day as the deadline to file your state and local income taxes.
Tax Freedom Day is the point at which you’ve satisfied your total tax burden. It differs for each state, but the national date this year is four days later than last year. The Foundation says the later date is due to mainly to increased federal personal and corporate income tax collections, due to the rebounding economy.
Dr. William McBride, an economist with the Tax Foundation, says Americans will pay more in taxes in 2012 than they’ll spend on food, clothing and housing combined.
McBride says if you added in federal deficit spending, Americans would have to work 27 more days to cover that bill. He says Tax Freedom Day would have been three days later this year, if it were not for the extension of the payroll tax holiday.
McBride says the total tax burden varies by state, but residents face a higher total federal tax burden. He says it takes on average 69 days to pay the federal tax burden and 38 days to pay the state and local tax burden.
Tax Freedom Day falls in Pennsylvania on April 18th. The earliest Tax Freedom Day in the U. S. was in Tennessee on March 31st and the latest is in Connecticut on May 5th.
State Revenue Picture Brightens
State Sen. Vincent Hughes
General Fund collections lagged expectations in each of the first seven months of the fiscal year. The state got a reprieve in February, when the state collected $15-million more dollars than expected. March was an even better month for the Commonwealth, as the Department of Revenue reports that collections topped expectations to the tune of $95-million.
Governor Tom Corbett’s February budget addressed was based on an estimated year-end shortfall of $719-million; the year-to-date shortfall currently stands at $387-million.
“We believe the deficit is probably going to be closer to $300 – $350-million dollars,” says Senate Democratic Appropriations Chair Vincent Hughes.
Senator Hughes tells Radio PA that he’ll be keeping a close eye on revenue collections this budget season. “I think it’s going to change over the next days and weeks, as we go forward,” Hughes says, “thereby creating new revenue for us to reinvest in the people of the Commonwealth.”
Senate Democrats view a revised revenue estimate as one of the keys to restoring cuts to educate, human services and other funding priorities.
Last month, Governor Tom Corbett told us that it was too early to revise the revenue estimates. We’ll check in with him again this week on the April edition of Ask the Governor.
One-on-One with Steve Welch, Republican for US Senate
Steve Welch
Steve Welch isn’t your typical Washington politician. The Republican State Committee-endorsed candidate knows what it takes to build a business from the ground up.
An engineer by degree, Welch started several successful companies in southeastern Pennsylvania and believes too few members of Congress have actually done anything in the private sector. “They’re career politicians that have run for office after office,” Welch says, “and they just don’t have the frame of reference to understand how their decisions are affecting entrepreneurs and small business owners.”
Upon a follow-up question, Radio PA learned that Welch supports both term limits and a lifetime ban on Senators and Congressmen serving as lobbyists. “I think going to Washington should be a privilege to serve, it shouldn’t be the road to riches that it really has become,” he explains.
Republicans are at a 1-million voter disadvantage in the Keystone State, but Welch believes they can grow the party by focusing on the values of a smaller government, personal responsibility and family values.
Welch was first drawn into politics in the wake of the trillion dollar federal stimulus package of 2009. He even left his job for six weeks in 2010 to work for now-Senator Pat Toomey’s campaign, serving as a surrogate speaker to business groups.
But Welch says there is misinformation being spread about some time he spent as a registered Democrat in the mid-2000s. Here’s what he had to say about the issue:WELCH
Radio PA has reached out to all five candidates running for the GOP nomination for US Senate. We’ll continue to post updates here from all that respond, and run our full interviews on Radio PA Roundtable.
Administration Takes First Step Toward Privatizing PA Lottery
The state has issued a “Request for Qualifications” to pursue a private management agreement for the Pennsylvania Lottery. It’s the first step toward privatizing one of the nation’s oldest and biggest state lotteries. The next step would be to accept bids from qualified companies.
“This initiative is simply part of my administrations’ efforts to tap private sector innovation to make state government work more efficiently and effective, which is precisely what taxpayers expect,” Governor Tom Corbett said in a written statement.
The Pennsylvania Lottery would not be sold; rather it would be run by a private management firm in hopes of maximizing the revenues that are used to fund programs and services for older adults in the state.
The Pennsylvania Lottery just celebrated its 40th anniversary last month, and has generated $21.5-billion dollars for older Pennsylvanians since its inception. However the Lottery’s profits have only grown by an average of 0.3% a year of late, and a recent study indicates that seniors will compose 22.5% of the state’s total population by 2030.
The state Department of Revenue oversees the lottery, and Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser says the Lottery’s ability to grow cash flow for senior programs has become uncertain.
However House Democrats have their reservations. Democratic Leader Frank Dermody (D-Allegheny) says the current system isn’t broken, and fears that any changes could hurt the thousands of seniors who rely on Lottery-funded health and safety programs.
One-on-One with Marc Scaringi, Republican for US Senate
Marc Scaringi
After experiencing both Washington and Harrisburg as a staffer for former Senator Rick Santorum and former Attorney General Mike Fisher, Marc Scaringi returned to the private sector to open his own law firm in suburban Harrisburg.
“Then came Barack Obama, the financial crisis and the great recession,” Scaringi explains, “and now I feel called and compelled to once again reenter pubic life, go back to Washington DC and stop the Obama/Casey agenda.”
Scaringi is a would-be citizen legislator, who supports term limits and blames career politicians in both parties for running the economy into the ground. “This economy has been suffocated to death by borrowing, spending, taxing and regulating,” he says.
Small business owners are the ones who Scaringi says understand what policies work and don’t work, “because we have to suffer under the ones that don’t work out here in the private sector.”
The remedy for this economy, Scaringi says, is to cut government down to size. “When you have a significantly smaller federal government, you’ll have a healthier, more successful more vibrant private sector.”
One of the early entrants into the GOP US Senate race, Scaringi describes himself as a conservative constitutionalist. He believes that restoring freedom and personal liberty – combined with a free market-based capitalist system – can lift this country out of the economic doldrums. “We’re going to produce our way out, not borrow and spend our way out.”
Radio PA has reached out to all five candidates running for the GOP nomination for US Senate. We’ll continue to post updates here from all that respond, and run our full interviews on Radio PA Roundtable.
Horse Euthanized due to West Nile Virus
A horse in northeastern Pennsylvania had to be euthanized due to West Nile Virus earlier this month. The horse in Northampton County was diagnosed with the virus by blood test in mid-March, the earliest report of the illness in a horse in Pennsylvania since the disease first appeared in the state.
It’s believed the mild weather has brought mosquitoes out early in some areas. Amanda Whitman of the Department of Environmental Protection says the virus is difficult to predict, but the unseasonably warm temperatures have led to an increase in the number of mosquitoes much earlier than in years past. DEP does not begin full time monitoring for the season until April.
In 2010 and 2011, the first equine cases were not reported until August. Whitman says it’s a reminder not to wait to take steps like eliminating standing water around your home to control the population of mosquitoes.
To learn more about West Nile Virus, you can go to DEP’s West Nile web page, where you will find statistics and advice.
Radio PA Roundtable 03.30.12
Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week. Professionally produced and delivered every Friday, Roundtable includes commercial breaks for local sale and quarterly reports for affiliate files.
Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:
[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable03-30-12.mp3]