Letters: Bipartisan solutions deserve a vote; PA must stay in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Bipartisan solutions deserve a vote

So Corman, Benninghoff,

You put a House Bill in

You take the House Bill out

You put the Senate Bill in and shake it all about.

You play the Hokey Pokey

And you turn us inside out.

Is that what it’s all about?

We are the largest and among the most expensive legislatures in the country.

Yet, this Hokey Pokey gets little accomplished.

FairDistrictsPA learned the hard way. Six years, we tried to get our bills heard. They were bipartisan, with over 110 co-sponsors, support of over 350 municipalities, favored by 2/3 of Pennsylvanians.

Yet, they never saw the light of day.

We learned we were not alone. Other worthwhile bipartisan efforts were stymied, for example, broadband access, rural and urban school funding, health care, minimum wage increases, property tax reform, and most tragic to me, childhood lead exposure, leaving our children at risk (18 Pennsylvanian communities have higher lead levels than Flint, MI).

What is it all about?

Procedural Rules need to be fixed.

Right now, the committee chair decides what gets heard, and it is partisan.

So bills are shaken all about, amended beyond recognition, tabled, ignored. Less than 7% get passed.

While news to many of us, it explains why nothing gets done in Harrisburg.

We need to Fix Harrisburg!

Legislators need to fix the Procedural Rules, the first vote they will have in January.

Bipartisan solutions deserve a vote.

No more Hokey Pokey

Let’s turn it inside out.

PA must stay in RGGI

I celebrated when Pennsylvania began participating in the successful, bipartisan Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to reduce harmful carbon pollution generated by electric power plants. The program promises to generate billions of dollars for our state over the next several years because it requires power companies to pay for the pollution they cause.

Those RGGI funds could be spent on making our local economy cleaner and more efficient, a gift to my children and someday their children. For example, the funds could be used for energy efficiency programs so families and businesses could reduce their energy footprint and bills; renewable energy projects like wind and solar; workforce training for new jobs in the clean energy sector; or projects to help farmers by rewarding their use of renewables and helping them cut energy costs.

However, some of our legislators are backed by the fracking and petrochemical industry. They continue to try to block this successful program. It’s important to tell them what we, their constituents, want — that is to reduce our over-reliance on fossil fuels that drive up energy costs and destroy the natural beauty of our region. RGGI is already helping to reverse the damaging effects of climate change in the states where it is now operating. We need to make certain that Pennsylvania continues to participate.