Vote Tuesday April 24th 2012. Polls are open from 7am to 8pm. Visit VotesPA to find your polling place and see other voter information. Also don’t forget to bring your ID with you to the polls.

Here are some voters guides from around the state

• Pennsylvania Family Institute Voters Guide
• PA League of Women Voters Voters Guide
• PA Catholic Senate Voters Guide
• PA GOP Voter Guide
• Lancaster Republicans Voters Guide

Video on why you should vote from the Commonwealth Foundation

YouTube Link

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Following through on his word to balance the budget without raising taxes has been a challenging task for Governor Corbett. His administration has made tough decisions on government spending and there are more difficult decisions ahead. Balancing the public ledger has been accompanied with budget cuts which provoked discontent amongst many Pennsylvanians. While such necessary cuts has left many Keystone residents dissatisfied, the Commonwealth will produce a second sustainable budget. Unfortunately, there is a looming threat that lies ahead in the arena of skyrocketing state pension contributions. Lawmakers recently met with the Public Employees Retirement Commission. The commission’s grave testimonies made it abundantly clear that there must be attention focused on pensions in order to minimize the eminent day of reckoning.

Between state and public school employees, there is an unfunded liability of more than $40 billion which is more than 150% larger than the entire General Fund. The current budget appropriates more than $1 billion towards pension obligations. This is an increase of more than $300 million from last year. The state contributions are expected to rise 600% in merely six years to a total of $4.2 billion. The immense increase in pensions in the budget is certain to undermine the budgeting process for years to come. Lawmakers will be forced to substantially increases taxes or continue to make spending cuts. The retirement commission estimates that it will take more than 30 years to fund all the liabilities.

Unfortunately, this forthcoming pension crisis was self-imposed. Just a decade ago, the Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) was actually running in a surplus. During this time, the General Assembly passed 50% benefit increases for themselves, 25% increases for other state employees and a 25% increase for those already retired. In addition to boosting benefits, lawmakers voted to postpone making proper payments to the retirement plans in 2003 hoping that the fund would experience a rapid growth over the course of the next decade. However, the Great Recession caused a 30% collapse in the market value of the retirement funds. Coupled with the many years of underfunding, Pennsylvania is now faced with a fiscal nightmare as courts have ruled that it is not permissible to retroactively adjust benefits.

The introduction of a defined-contribution plan instead of the current defined-benefit plan is a vital component to recovery. Richard Dreyfuss, business and actuary scholar, emphasizes that defined-contribution plans boast several benefits in comparison to the current disastrous plan. In contrast to the unfunded liabilities accrued by pensions, defined-contributions’ annual government payments are the final cost. Benefits remain stable as a percentage of the employee’s payroll rather than rapidly increasing state costs to cover increasing liabilities and decreased investment returns. Not only do defined-contribution plans provide stable budgeting, but they also prevent manipulation by politicians who want to increase benefits while deferring the costs to the future. The defined-contribution plan is a pay-as-you-go system in which benefit increases require sufficient funding. This plan provides an important safeguard to taxpayers as costs are straightforward and not unfairly bestowed upon future taxpayers.

Pennsylvania’s pension obligations are growing at unsustainable levels and require immediate action from the General Assembly. The nature of pension plan politics has been to increase benefits while deferring costs into the future. The future has now caught up with the present. The Commonwealth must institute a retirement plan that is both fiscally responsible and fair to taxpayers.

Jonathan Humma blogs at Keystone Liberty: Limited government and free markets for a prosperous Pennsylvania.

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In recent years, Harrisburg politicians decided that Pennsylvania would play venture capitalist in the solar energy market. In an attempt to attract green jobs, the Commonwealth extended more than $180 million in loans and grants to develop solar panel production. Subsidies were so successful in creating an artificial market that solar energy credits completely collapsed in value leaving a surplus of solar panels. A Republican representative has decided to sponsor legislation to salvage the solar industry through more subsidies. This legislation defies the principles of limited government and free markets. Additionally, the legislation is projected to increase costs for both energy consumers and taxpayers.

Clearly the government caused the boom and bust of the solar market. The push by the Republican lawmaker for increased government intervention in this arena is ill-advised. The considered legislation is anticipated to cost Pennsylvania energy consumers more than $3 billion over the next decade and will prove costly to the taxpayer as well. Interestingly, ideological roles seemed to be reversed as the Democratic committee chair stands in opposition to the plan for increased solar subsidies. Despite Gov. Corbett’s objections, the Republican’s legislation has garnered enough co-sponsors in the House to pass. The legislation requires utility companies to triple their use of solar power by 2013. Over the course of the next decade, Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act of 2004 requires that 18 percent of all energy sources from renewables.

The stringent mandates from the 2004 legislation and the current solar rescue package will be detrimental to the state’s already stagnate economy. The government sponsorship of solar and renewable energies diminishes the purchasing power of Pennsylvanians. Residential and commercial energy users will be coerced into paying more for their energy. The government is directly picking winners and losers in the economy as they buttress one sector at the expense of competing energy producers. Harrisburg’s mandates must be repealed as they are in opposition to free market competition which fosters innovation.

Providing more subsidies to fix an already distressed solar market is not the solution. There is another method to attract the green industry to Pennsylvania without imposing costly energy mandates on Keystone residents. By implementing policies to improve Pennsylvania’s business climate, policymakers can entice investment for not only green jobs, but all industries. Tax reform accompanied with a right-to-work law would be a catalyst to increase Pennsylvania’s economic competitiveness.

The government must stop playing venture capitalist with taxpayer money. Pennsylvanians should be given the opportunity to utilize the most affordable energy source. The Commonwealth is very fortunate to have an immense amount of coal and natural gas. These natural resources need to be part of the state’s energy portfolio for the future. Tremendous innovations have already occurred in recent years regarding renewables. Improving Pennsylvania’s business climate utilizing a free market is the best way to develop green energy technology and stimulate the Keystone economy.

Jonathan Humma blogs at Keystone Liberty: Limited government and free markets for a prosperous Pennsylvania.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and 42 of his colleagues filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court Monday on behalf of the bipartisan, multi-state challenge to the Democrats’ health spending law.

Senator Toomey

“The Democrats’ 2,700 page health spending bill represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional expansion of the federal government into the daily lives of every American,” Sen. McConnell said. “Americans have rejected the law’s mandate that they must buy government-approved health insurance, and we hope the Supreme Court will do the same.”

The following are excerpts from the amicus brief:
“Put simply, Congress acted without constitutional authority in enacting the Individual Mandate of the PPACA. In so doing, it has damaged Congress’ institutional legitimacy and has triggered severe conflicts between state and federal governments that the Constitution was carefully designed to avert.”

“Because the Individual Mandate regulates a simple decision or choice not to purchase a particular product, it exceeds the proper scope of the Commerce Clause.”

“If Congress may punish a decision to refrain from engaging in a private activity (namely, the purchase of health insurance) because the consequences of not engaging in it, in the aggregate, could substantially affect interstate commerce, then the Congress can require the purchase of virtually anything. For example, this same rationale would allow Congress to punish individuals for not purchasing a host of health-related products, such as vitamin supplements, the use of which could lower aggregate health costs. Indeed, it is hard to imagine any private decision not to purchase a particular good or service that does not have some economic impact when aggregated among millions of people. Under that rationale, the government could mandate any commercial activity.”

The brief was signed by:

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Sen. Daniel Coats (R-IN), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV), Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. James Risch (R-ID), Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS).

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Steve Welch, appeared on KYW Newsmakers Sunday morning to discuss how he will restore fiscal responsibility to Washington and promote pro-growth policies to improve the economy and create jobs.

YouTube Link

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