By State Senator Wayne Fontana
Americans are fed up with this nation’s gun violence epidemic. It is intolerable.
Horrific accounts of deranged mass murderers using military-grade assault weapons to indiscriminately spray bullets into crowds of innocent people has become part of the regular news cycle. Lives are lost, families are destroyed and communities paralyzed.
By State Senator Vincent Hughes
Frustrated by years of resistance from legislative Republicans to raise worker wages, Gov. Tom Wolf announced plans to lift the state’s salary threshold below which Pennsylvania salaried workers automatically receive overtime pay. The governor’s action is hard on the heels of efforts by my colleagues and I to address worker pay and make our wage and salary system equitable.
Op-ed by State Senator Lisa Boscola
Since my first experience with map drawing back in 2001, it was apparent that partisanship plays too large a role in our redistricting effort. The recent decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court discarding the congressional maps merely serves to reaffirm this position.
The General Assembly has long had the tools to fix the issue once and for all by taking the politics out of map drawing. It is why I am a proud prime sponsor of SB 22. This legislation provides for the creation of an independent commission to draw our lines every 10 years. This has never been a partisan issue for me, but a practical one.
Op-ed by State Senator Judy Schwank
My first job in college was working in a university demonstration garden. I had dreamed of being a horticulturist since I was 10 years old, and this was the first time I would get to work in my chosen field.
I was beyond excited when my manager, who was also my professor, called me into his office. I had so many ideas for the garden and was thrilled for an opportunity to share them.
Artículo de opinión de los senadores estatales Lisa Boscola y Pat Browne
Los ciudadanos de Pensilvania tendrán la oportunidad de emitir su voto a una importante pregunta electoral que podría conducir a una reforma del impuesto sobre bienes inmuebles. Instamos a los ciudadanos a votar sí.
Debido a su lenguaje y estructura jurídicos, las preguntas electorales suelen estar redactadas de forma confusa y difícil de entender, y ésta no es diferente. Sin embargo, la cuestión subyacente es bastante sencilla. Al votar sí, los votantes aprobarán una enmienda constitucional para ampliar la exclusión de la propiedad de la mitad de la mediana del valor de tasación de todas las propiedades de la propiedad en un distrito fiscal hasta el 100 por ciento del valor de tasación de cada propiedad de la propiedad.
Op-ed by Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione
For transit workers, the news hasn’t changed much and it certainly hasn’t gotten better. It’s the same story, year after year: “SEPTA
bus driver taken to hospital after men throw liquid on her,” “Man charged with assault in punching, beating of SEPTA bus driver,” “Bus driver shooting sparks calls for safety.”