Artículo de opinión
It’s Time to Stand Up for the Sex Abuse Victims
Artículo de opinión del senador Wayne Fontana
I was raised Catholic and spent all 12 years of schooling in Catholic schools. As an adult, I was married in the Catholic Church, raised my children in the faith and sent them to Catholic school. I still firmly believe in God, but my trust and respect for the Catholic institution has been shattered.
Now that the church hierarchy has finally admitted that hundreds of priests sexually abused so many children for so many years and that church leaders took part in an elaborate coverup scheme, the church’s continued resistance to changing the law to protect victims is clearly all about the money.
A Democrat and a Republican agree: Let seniors get quality care at home
Op-ed by Senators Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) and Michele Brooks (R-Crawford).
There are many choices and decisions that need to be made as we age. Medical choices are often the most important, and the most difficult, decisions that people will make for themselves and their loved ones.
One choice that people should never be forced to make is moving out of their home and into an institution because Medicaid will not cover the costs of in-home medical care.
We must act to stop crumbling schools in Philadelphia, across Pa.
Op-ed By Senator Vincent Hughes
Our schools are crumbling. Before the Inquirer reported on the deplorable conditions in Philadelphia schools, I heard that message from parents and students and even viewed it with my own eyes while visiting city schools. Seeing the conditions in which some of our students learn broke my heart but challenged me to act. And my proposal, the “Public School Building Renovation and Rehabilitation Program,” aims to help K-12 public schools fight this infrastructure crisis.
La exclusión social impide a las personas de color acceder a una vivienda
Op-ed By Senator Vincent Hughes
The practice of redlining, which segregated communities and prevented minorities from achieving home ownership as their version of the American Dream, appears to be alive and well in our city and many communities across the nation.
Veto the Drug Formulary, Governor Wolf
Op-ed By Senator Jay Costa, Jr. & Rep. Frank Dermody
Sitting on Governor Tom Wolf’s desk right now is Senate Bill 936 – legislation that would interfere with the relationship between an injured worker and their doctor, as a way to save money for the insurance industry.
La legislación de Tartaglione sacaría de la pobreza a decenas de miles de trabajadores que cobran propinas
Op-ed By Christine M. Tartaglione
En febrero, presenté una ley en el Senado de Pensilvania para dar a los trabajadores con salarios bajos del estado un aumento muy necesario y largamente esperado este año, el próximo y en los años venideros, basado en un calendario coherente, predecible y sostenible tanto para los trabajadores como para los empresarios.
Inaction is Not an Option
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.
Action to Address Worker Wages First Step on Long Road to Equity
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.
Supreme Court Decision Throwing Out the Congressional Maps Is a Good Start
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.
#MeToo is a Beginning – Here’s Why We Can’t Turn Back Now
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.
Los senadores instan a votar sí en el referéndum sobre el impuesto de bienes inmuebles
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.
Transit Worker Protection Now! General Assembly Dawdles, Workers Assaulted
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.”
Las tropas estatales izan las banderas de alerta de tsunami por jubilación
Artículo de opinión del Senador Jim Brewster
La Pennsylvania State Troopers Association (Asociación de Policías del Estado de Pensilvania) ha colocado banderas luminosas advirtiendo de un tsunami de jubilación de policías potencialmente devastador que se avecina en el horizonte. Si se desata la tormenta y llega el maremoto de las jubilaciones, se sobrecargarían gravemente los recursos policiales, se mermaría nuestra capacidad para hacer frente al terrorismo nacional y se comprometería peligrosamente la seguridad de nuestros ciudadanos.
Los medios de comunicación han informado de que 2.000 agentes de la Policía Estatal de Pensilvania (PSP) podrán jubilarse en los próximos tres años. Estas jubilaciones - si se producen en masa - engrosarán el déficit actual de policías (417 vacantes por debajo de la dotación autorizada de 4.719) y crearán problemas de personal a largo plazo que se harán sentir durante una década o más.
Se necesita una nueva y estricta ley de financiación de campañas para impedir la influencia del dinero exterior
Artículo de opinión del líder demócrata en el Senado, Jay Costa
En las papeletas de este año hay tres escaños críticos en el Tribunal Supremo del Estado, un escaño en el Tribunal Superior y otro en el Tribunal de la Commonwealth, así como cargos en las filas del condado y puestos municipales que influyen en la forma en que los ciudadanos son juzgados o representados. Estas elecciones son de interés estatal e importancia local.
A pesar del carácter parroquial de la mayoría de las elecciones municipales, es muy probable que la elección de los magistrados del Tribunal Supremo, los jueces de los tribunales superiores y de la Commonwealth y los concursos para los cargos de menor importancia atraigan este año millones de dólares de grupos de interés externos y contribuyentes adinerados de fuera del estado. Estos "inversores" creen que pueden influir en la política estatal con sus chequeras. Gran parte de esa financiación no se declarará o se declarará muy poco.