News & Brews January 16, 2025
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Harrisburg again eyes election changes
”If only.” That’s what comes to mind as lawmakers consider making changes to Pennsylvania’s election laws. “If only former Gov. Wolf had signed the Voting Rights Protection Act in 2021 instead of vetoing it over opposition to voter ID, only to flip-flopa few weeks later and say he wasn’t opposed to voter ID.” If only. But here we are, and lawmakers will once again seek to make changes to our election law. Spotlight PA reports, “Republicans are planning to champion expanded voter ID requirements, while Democrats want to answer county calls for more time to process mail ballots and implement early voting.” But as Rep. Seth Grove (York County), the lead sponsor of the 2001 legislation, posted, this past election Pennsylvania “had our vote counts completed in a timely fashion without additional precanvassing. It’s unneeded. Much more important issues to deal with: Errors in printing of ballots, Performance audits, Voter ID, Election timeline changes, [and] Voter registration.”
Central Bucks School Board members accused of violating Sunshine Act
Democrat majority members of the Central Bucks School Board are facing a lawsuit alleging they violated the state’s Sunshine Act by using the messaging app Signal to discuss official school board business. The Delaware Valley Journal explains, “The app generally deletes messages in about a day and has been used in the past by public officials hoping to skirt public records laws.” In response, “State Sen. Jarrett Coleman [Bucks and Lehigh counties] is looking into this and plans to hold a hearing soon to find out why officials are using apps that auto-delete messages in apparent contradiction to the right-to-know law.”
Lawmakers consider tying state university funding to performance
State lawmakers have begun considering “how to make at least some of the half-billion dollars-plus that the state sends annually to the Penn State University, the University of Pittsburgh and Temple University dependent on school performance,” the Post-Gazette reports. The story notes that currently, 31 other states factor performance into higher education funding. “They use a wide array of metrics like how many university or college students get degrees; retention; credit hours completed; and others.” Lawmakers held an initial hearing on the topic earlier this week, with three additional hearings scheduled over the next several weeks.
New Year, New Taxes in Pa.
Writing in RealClear Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth Foundation’s (CF) Elizabeth Stelle notes, “Four of Pennsylvania’s five most populous counties can expect increased property taxes. From Cumberland County’s modest 4% hike to Lackawanna’s whopping 33% tax increase, more than 5 million Pennsylvanians will pay higher county taxes in 2025.” What does this have to do with the rest of the state? Stelle explains, “These county-level property tax hikes are a prelude to an even more dire situation in Harrisburg … [where] state spending grows faster than state revenue – all without any real plans to cut spending.” Had lawmakers enacted the Taxpayer Protection Act covering the last five years, which CF and others have urged for more years than that, “we’d be facing a $2.8 billion surplus instead of a $3.6 billion deficit.”
Editorial: Cleveland-Cliffs CEO’s ‘bizarre rant’
The Post-Gazette Editorial Board writes, “A bizarre press conference held this Monday by Lourenco Goncalves, CEO of Ohio-based steelmaker Cleveland Cliffs, further underscored the imprudence of President Joe Biden’s move to nix Tokyo-based Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U.S. Steel.” The Ed Board explains, “No one questions Mr. Goncalves’ affection for his adopted country (he was born and raised in Brazil), but the hatred he expressed for Japan was shocking. ‘China is evil!’ the CEO shouted, before adding with emphasis, ‘But Japan is worse!’” These comments are particularly ridiculous as “there’s … hardly a country in the world whose interests are more aligned with America’s than Japan.”