Pennsylvania may finally be on the threshold of getting rid of the nagging inconvenience and economic inefficiency of a liquor control system designed in 1933 at the end of prohibition.

House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) has introduced House Bill 720 which is Governor Tom Corbett’s proposal to privatize the wholesale and retail side of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB). Leader Turzai hopes to bring the bill to the floor by the end of March.

Public Education

When he first took office, Governor Corbett walked into a public education funding gap. For over two years Pennsylvania’s school districts received a total of $1.7 billion in stimulus money. Over that same two-year period, public school employee salaries and benefits jumped by $1.3 billion.

Governor Corbett’s third budget proposal continues a restraint in pubic spending that over the past two years eliminated a $4.2 billion deficit without raising taxes.

“We stopped our fiscal cliff before it even had a name,” Governor Corbett said in his address before the General Assembly on February 5. “And we didn’t do it by raising taxes and increasing spending.”

The Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association announced its support for Governor Corbett’s 2013-14 budget. 

“Governor Corbett’s budget plan sets the course for expanding Pennsylvania’s economic growth,” said PMA Executive Director David N. Taylor. “It continues his leadership of fiscal discipline and recognizes that private sector job growth is essential for the future prosperity of our commonwealth.”

Lawmakers sworn in on January 1st to kick off the 2013-14 legislative session have an opportunity to act with no delay on a pro-growth agenda already vetted by industry, labor, and both political parties. The agenda was approved in August by the Governor’s Manufacturing Advisory Council (GMAC).

Keep Competition Thriving in Education: Approve Charter School Reform

Lawmakers have an opportunity in the few days left in the 2012-13 legislative session to make a 15 year-old charter school system, with a shining track record in Pennsylvania, even better. These reform proposals, however, are stalled in the General Assembly. The differences are over the approach.