Editorials from around Pennsylvania

Editorials from around Pennsylvania

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LEGISLATORS NEED TO SPEND MORE TIME IN SESSION, Feb. 3

Republicans were doing a lot of talking last November after swamping Democrats in the fall elections for the state Legislature. The Republicans gained control of both the state House of Representatives and Senate in numbers not seen in ages.

The Republicans maintained that the voters had given them a mandate, and they were going to change things in Harrisburg.

But one thing that hasn’t changed is the calendar used by the Legislature. It’s the same one that’s been used for generations, no matter whether Republican or Democratic lawmakers have been in charge.

And it’s one of the primary reasons why legislation seems to get bogged down every year with little progress made, if any, on major issues such as pension reform, gambling revenues and the elimination of property taxes.

The problem with the calendar is that both chambers aren’t in session enough to make the kinds of changes Republicans talked about making. While lawmakers are in Harrisburg for a variety of hearings and meetings, session days are the only days where lawmakers can actually vote. Thus, they are extremely important days on the calendar for lawmakers. But the problem is there just aren’t enough of them to make a real difference in how the Legislature operates.

Consider that after being sworn into office on Jan. 3, lawmakers recessed until Jan. 23. The House was in session for three days after that, with the Senate sticking around for six days, including three this week.

Both chambers will return to Harrisburg on Monday for a three-day session, but it will be dominated by Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget presentation on Tuesday, making it extremely unlikely that action will be taken by the Legislature on any of those days.

Both chambers will then recess until March 17, meaning the Legislature will only be in session for 10 days in the first 10 weeks of 2017 and the last six weeks of 2016. They will have a total of 18 session days in March, April and May before holding 15 session days in June.

The fall schedule hasn’t been set yet, but if last year’s calendar is any guide, the lawmakers will be on recess from early July until the middle of September and then come back for a handful of session days in October and November before calling it quits for the year.

Overall, the state Senate and House are scheduled to be in session for 43 and 42 days, respectively, in the first six months of the year. That’s simply not enough session days to deal with all the problems facing Pennsylvania.

There are always comments from lawmakers, especially near the end of the fiscal year, that they didn’t have enough time to get everything done. The problem, though, isn’t time. Lawmakers just have to get serious and knuckle down to the business at hand.

Of course, this isn’t to say that lawmakers aren’t busy. We agree that the vast majority of legislators work hard, attending a variety of hearings in Harrisburg and elsewhere in the state. They also participate in countless community events back home and meet often with their constituents. But they’re amply compensated for their efforts with a salary of $85,339. In the end, they must find a way to hold more sessions to actually get something done.

The first step in dealing with a problem is to admit that there is one. Lawmakers, including our local contingent, should admit that the calendar is a problem and work to change it as soon as possible

- The Beaver County Times

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DEMOCRATS SHOULD GIVE GORSUCH FAIR HEARING OBAMA NOMINEE NEVER GOT, Feb. 3

About an hour after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death was announced in February 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would not hold a hearing, let alone a vote, on anyone President Barack Obama nominated as a replacement until after the presidential election.

Now that President Trump has nominated conservative appellate judge Neil Gorsuch to replace Scalia, McConnell, ever the hypocrite, wants the Senate to show him “fair consideration and respect.”

Some liberal groups want Democrats to mount a filibuster as payback to Republicans who blocked Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, last year. While such just rewards for the Republicans’ sleazy maneuver last year is understandable, that is not a path Democrats should follow.

Gorsuch deserves a Senate hearing and vote - just like Garland should have received. Yes, it is despicable that the Republicans hijacked this Supreme Court seat. It is even more outrageous that the Republicans were ultimately rewarded for such obstructionism.

McConnell’s bogus argument in not giving Garland a hearing was that the American people should have a voice in the process. Tell that to the more than 65.8 million Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton - nearly 3 million more than voted for Trump.

But despite Trump’s made-for-TV, prime-time announcement of his Supreme Court pick, complete with dueling finalists, this is not a popularity contest. Considering a Supreme Court nominee is one of the more serious obligations of the Senate. That’s why the hearings for Gorsuch should be thorough, rigorous, and fair.

Gorsuch, 49, a Harvard Law School graduate who was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in 2006, is said to be more conservative than Scalia. He has backed religious rights in some court cases, and has written a book that opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide. Senators will want to probe him on hot-button issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, gun control, campaign finance reform, and religious freedom.

But given Trump’s early run-in with the federal courts over his refugee ban, senators should also ask Gorsuch how the Equal Protection clause applies to noncitizens seeking to enter the United States, and how the courts should respond if a president refuses to comply with a court order.

Given Trump’s unresolved business conflicts, senators should seek Gorsuch’s views on how the Constitution’s emoluments clause applies to presidents.

Considering Trump’s constant attacks on the media and previous threats to loosen libel laws, it would be helpful to hear where Gorsuch stands on the First Amendment, which not only applies to journalists but guarantees everyone freedom of speech, the right to peacefully protest, and religious freedom.

Given the civil rights record of Trump’s attorney general nominee, Jeff Sessions, it would also be helpful to hear Gorsuch’s views on voting rights and voter suppression.

The politics of the Supreme Court have become more evident over the years. America needs Supreme Court justices who are independent, fair, avoid ideology, and will protect the Constitution.

- The Philadelphia Inquirer

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ERIE’S FUTURE LIES IN INNOVATION, Feb. 5

Rust Belt cities are finding new economic lifeblood by creating innovation hubs that pair industry with academic expertise to advance more technologically based businesses.

Buffalo has medical innovation and biotechnology, and Milwaukee’s initiatives focus on water issues.

Erie, if all goes according to plan, will emerge as hub of innovation for cybersecurity and data science.

The city’s hopes for the creation of a downtown innovation district began in October with a $4 million grant to Mercyhurst University from the Erie Community Foundation, the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority and the Susan Hirt Hagen Fund for Transformational Philanthropy. Mercyhurst is meant to take the lead in creating the district, while working with Erie Insurance, Velocity Network and the consulting firm of McManis & Monsalve Associates to complete joint projects.

On Friday, the first tangible initiative to advance this transformation began with the welcome announcement of a $1.25 million investment to develop and expand academic programs at Mercyhurst focused on the insurance industry and cybersecurity, as detailed by Erie Times-News reporter Gerry Weiss.

The university’s Walker College of Business will house programs on risk control, insurance underwriting and insurance claims, while programs in cybersecurity, data analytics and cyberintelligence in the insurance industry will be developed and expanded through the Ridge College of Intelligence Studies and Applied Science.

Erie Insurance board member and Mercyhurst graduate Betsy Hirt Vorsheck is making the investment, which seems rightly timed and focused.

The initiative hews to priorities in both the Erie Downtown Master Plan and Erie Refocused, the city’s comprehensive plan. It will create a pool of talent and expertise for Erie Insurance to draw on for interns, new hires and workforce training - a need that is likely only to grow given the company’s recent announcement of a $135 million facility expansion and plans to create 1,000 new jobs at the Erie headquarters.

And it could help to stem Erie’s damaging brain drain by creating fresh opportunities for the young and educated.

As Weiss reported, there is a workforce shortage of cybersecurity expertise, and jobs for risk managers have grown nearly 30 percent since 2004, according to Mercyhurst officials.

This partnership between Erie’s only Fortune 500 company and Mercyhurst could one day make Erie a national hub to meet these growing demands and allow the region to find its place in the global economy.

Taken together with other transformative initiatives in the offing - Scott Enterprises’ $150 million Harbor Place bayfront development, UPMC Hamot’s $111 million expansion, and the $1.6 million that Marquette Savings Bank, UPMC Health Plan, Gannon University and Erie Insurance have invested to help realize the Our West Bayfront plan - Erie’s future is coming into view. It looks anything but rusty.

- The (Erie) Times-News

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ISRAEL POLICY UNDER TRUMP STILL IN MURKY STAGE, Feb. 6

The United States’ relations with Israel are focused on three questions. The first is, what are Israel’s intentions with respect to the West Bank? The second: Will the approach of the Trump administration be different from that of President Barack Obama? The third is an eternal one - what will be the interplay between Israeli and American policy? It’s a question of global importance.

Evidence that has appeared on all three questions since Mr. Trump’s election is unclear. The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has authorized the building of some 5,000 new Jewish settler residences in the occupied West Bank since then. By making possible increased illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank, the Israeli government is showing it does not intend to clear the decks for a good-faith negotiation with the Palestinians of a two-state resolution of the long-standing issue of the division of the land of the West Bank.

Such an action instead suggests an unstated intention to eventually annex the West Bank to Israel, in spite of international and Palestinian opposition to it as well as the implications of it for Israel’s future as a democratic and Jewish state. There is also the prospect of unending and violent Middle East conflict, potentially to be avoided by the finding of a home for the Palestinians. This question remains pertinent in spite of estimates of the political future of Mr. Netanyahu, accused of corruption.

The second question is what is going on with respect to U.S. Israel policy. That, too, is unclear at this point. Mr. Trump’s choice for U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, is a previous financial contributor to Israeli West Bank settlement. On the other hand, Ambassador Nikki Haley, the new representative at the United Nations, on Thursday declared U.S. opposition to Israel’s new ambitious construction plans in the occupied West Bank.

The Trump administration’s Israel policy may become clearer when Mr. Netanyahu visits the U.S. in mid-month, but, as of now, it remains as murky as the question of when America will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as Mr. Trump has promised.

The third question is the likely interplay between U.S. policy toward Israel and Israel’s own actions, especially regarding negotiations with the Palestinians about a two-state accord. That turns, in part, on money. The U.S. now provides Israel around $3 billion per year in military aid. Israel sells about $5 billion per year in arms to other countries, including China. Israel doesn’t need the cash, but the symbolism of the military aid remains undiminished as an indicator of U.S. support.

All of these questions are up in the air with a major change of administration and, possibly, policy in Washington. They are not small questions in any way, bearing as they do on America’s posture not only in the Middle East but in the world.

- The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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STATE SYSTEM COLLEGES CRUCIAL TO PENNSYLVANIA, Feb. 2

Whether the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s day of reckoning has arrived is a question best left to study and debate.

And the state Legislature should make sure it is a part of any debate about the future of PASSHE, which includes universities in Kutztown, Millersville and West Chester.

In his State of the System speech last week in Harrisburg, Chancellor Frank Brogan said the system’s current operating model is unsustainable and that school mergers and closures must be on the table as the system engages in a strategic review of its future.

“Every bit of this system - as great as it’s been over the years - has to be examined,” he said. “From how we operate the office of the chancellor to how we’re organized as a system no preconceptions and no limits.”

The reason the Legislature needs to be part of any discussion about the system’s future is one of the two key issues Brogan and PASSHE board Chairwoman Cynthia Shapira raised during the breakfast meeting last week.

State spending on the system is at 1999 levels and $60 million less than before the 2008 recession, the two said. And compared with 63 percent of operating costs when the system started in 1983, the state now provides 27 percent, they said.

The state system presumably exists to provide affordable higher education for Pennsylvania residents. If it does so, it is a good investment in the future economic health of the state.

The PASSHE’s other challenge is declining enrollment. This fall saw a sixth consecutive annual loss in student numbers. Enrollment at its 14 schools is down by 12 percent - 21 percent at Kutztown - since it totaled nearly 120,000 students in 2010. Some campuses have seen drops of 30 percent or more.

While declining enrollment is happening across higher education - the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported last year that enrollment declined by 1.4 percent overall among undergraduate and fall-term students - it is, as Brogan acknowledged last week, a challenge that cannot be ignored.

If our state system does not offer students value, declines in enrollment will no doubt continue. And, likewise, if the state Legislature doesn’t help make it affordable, fewer will be able to afford what is an indisputable contributor to lifetime earnings. The Federal Reserve Board of San Francisco put the value of a college degree at $830,800 over what the average high school graduate would earn if both retired at age 67.

PASSHE has tried to provide offerings matching the needs of students and the workforce, Brogan said, pointing to 200 new minors, concentrations or certificates added and 70 minors dropped at system schools in recent years.

Brogan’s openness to any solution that makes sense is healthy but, given that these schools are in the state system, the Legislature should not leave the review to the PASSHE and the consulting firm it plans to name. Lawmakers should do their own homework, comparing Pennsylvania’s system with those of other states and reviewing whatever plan comes out of the strategic review Brogan promised.

The goal should be to preserve, to the extent possible, existing institutions for what they mean to the communities and regions they serve and make sure those schools are able to carry out their mission of educating future citizens and workers at an affordable price.

- The Reading Eagle

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