News & Brews March 20, 2023

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Full schedule of budget hearings today 

The House and Senate appropriations committees are scheduled to hold budget hearings today. The House committee will hear from the Department of Education at both 10am and 1pm, and the hearings will be live-streamed here. The Senate committee will hear from the Department of Revenue (9:30 am) and the Independent Fiscal Office (1pm), and those hearings will be live-streamed here.

Norfolk Southern CEO to testify at Pa. Senate hearing today 

This morning at 10:00 a.m., the Senate Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the Norfolk Southern train derailment. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw is scheduled to testify. According to the committee, “Shaw’s appearance follows two previous committee meetings where … members approved subpoenas to compel … [him] to testify and provide documents to the committee.” The hearing will be live-streamed here.

Your questions answered: Virtual budget briefing tomorrow

Our friends at the Commonwealth Foundation are hosting a virtual Budget Briefing on Tuesday, March 21, from 12:00pm-1:00pm. Hear more about the budget lay-of-the-land, ask questions of policy experts, and more. Register here.

Lawmaker seeks to change Pa. nurse practitioner rule

In Pa., nurse practitioners must work under the supervision of a physician—unlike in 26 other states and the District of Columbia. Republican state Sen. Camera Bartolotta (Beaver, Greene, and Washington counties) hopes to change this. PennLive reports that Bartolotta has “authored a bill that would give nurse practitioners full independence, as they have in the bordering states of Maryland, New York and Delaware.”

SEPTA paying $450K to long-gone executive

Former SEPTA Deputy General Manager Robert Lund, Jr. left the agency in December 2021. But it turns out he’s continuing to receive pay until June 30 of this year. The Inquirer reports that “by then he will have collected a total of nearly $450,000 in salary and severance payments since SEPTA terminated his employment.” Not even joking.

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