News & Brews September 22, 2022
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Lawmakers push for regulatory reviews
House Republicans—along with some Democrats—are pushing for a review of thousands of government rules to evaluate whether they still need to exist. PennLive reports, “Six standing House committees so far have voted … to send letters to the state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission asking it to look at regulations at least three years old and ripe for review to determine whether they remain in the public interest.” The move stems from the temporary suspension of many regulations during Covid. House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff noted, “It’s been our philosophy that if you could suspend a … regulation for 18 to 24 months, that begs to ask the question do you still need them or should they at least be modified.”
Fetterman’s record of absenteeism
One of the duties of the Lt. Gov. is to preside over the state Senate, but Fox News reportsthat since taking office in 2019, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman “failed to preside over 33% of the state Senate’s legislative sessions.” This includes missing 50% of sessions during the height of Covid in 2020.
Regional election previews: Pa. House
PoliticsPA has begun a series of stories looking at candidates for the state House, region by region. Check out the story on northwest Pa. here, southwest Pa. here, and the Allegheny County region here.
Will inflation lead to public pension cost-of-living increase?
The Inquirer reports that “[w]ith inflation topping 8% this year for the first time since 1981, Pennsylvania officials are mulling what to do about state and public school retirees’ demands for the first pension cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) since 2004.” Two Democrat lawmakers plan to introduce legislation that would provide for COLA for retirees in both the Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) and the Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS). But with the systems already having tens of billions of dollars in unpaid liabilities, the cost of such an increase would undoubtedly raise questions.
Podcast: ‘Oil & gas = jobs and growth’
In the latest episode of the Delaware Valley Journal podcast, Stephanie Catarino Wissman, Pennsylvania Executive Director for the American Petroleum Institute, and PA Chamber of Business and Industry Director of Government Affairs Kevin Sunday discussed how the energy sector affects private sector jobs and how government policies on energy production can lead to higher bills. Listen here.