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Reviving rural Pa. should start with shoring up local governments, says state commission

Reviving rural Pa. should start with shoring up local governments, says state commission

Yahoo05-03-2025

This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for Talk of the Town, a weekly newsletter of local stories that dig deep, events, and more from north-central PA, at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown.
HARRISBURG — Removing barriers to getting public dollars into the hands of Pennsylvania's rural communities is a top priority of a new commission created to revive these areas.
The Rural Population Revitalization Commission, established by lawmakers last year to brainstorm solutions to curb population decline, released a report last month laying out some of its ideas. The study includes feedback from stakeholders across the state who want more options for housing, health care, jobs, and transportation to make their communities more attractive to new residents and businesses.
However, with limited staffing and a smaller taxpayer base to generate local revenue, many rural areas struggle to apply for and access state and federal grant money that could support development and revitalization projects. And even in places where officials secure these dollars, limited staffing can cause them to struggle to administer the influx of funding.
In response to that feedback, the commission plans to evaluate the state's criteria for awarding funding and to ensure smaller municipalities have the tools — such as technical support — to get this money. This might include assessing prohibitive grant requirements, such as communities having to match the amount of money they receive from grants.
'I think what we can do is look strategically and say, 'Where can we make investments that will benefit and revitalize those areas that have, quite frankly, been neglected?'' state Rep. Paul Takac (D., Centre), who serves on the commission, told Spotlight PA.
The 15-member commission held its first hearing on growing 'local capacity' last month in Blair County, and plans to have more meetings on the topic. Stakeholders have already proposed a tiered system for grant applications to ensure a more equitable distribution of state funds that also recognizes rural areas might not offer the same return on investment as urban ones.
Additionally, rural leaders have proposed regional partnerships to consolidate resources.
Frank Mazza, director of government relations for the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, suggested a merit-based or needs-based system to help level the playing field for rural areas.
'I think the mentality in many of our rural communities, not just in counties, is that we're just going to lose out to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh every time, and that is a barrier to pursuing different opportunities,' he said.
Kyle Kopko, who chairs the commission, said this summer the body will dig into models and programs in other states and mull suggestions to address capacity challenges.
'There's a strong consensus among the commission members that we don't want to reinvent the wheel,' he told Spotlight PA. 'We really want to be deliberative about this and show that a recommendation isn't harmed by evidence.'
The commission is required to release proposals for legislative and regulatory changes every two years. But Kopko, who also directs the General Assembly's Center for Rural Pennsylvania, hopes those recommendations — which could include legislation or procedural shifts within state agencies — are ready sooner rather than later. The commission aims to release more reports with stakeholder feedback and possible solutions on a rolling basis.
While the commission likely won't draft legislation directly, it will outline what a bill should include to address a specific issue, Kopko said. The hope is to have bipartisan support for anything requiring action from lawmakers and introduce identical proposals in both chambers.
State Rep. Dan Moul (R., Adams), who sits on the Center for Rural Pennsylvania's board, said he's confident the commission will come up with proposals that can make it through the legislature and become law.
But bill proposals and increased spending aren't the only suggestions he hopes to see. He also wants the commission to target efforts to remove red tape within state agencies like the Department of Environmental Protection.
'If you make it too difficult for that entrepreneur to build his building, to start his business, to maybe hire half a dozen people, he's never going to make it,' Moul told Spotlight PA. 'It's too expensive. It all has to work together.'
and help us reinvigorate local news in north-central Pennsylvania at spotlightpa.org/donate/statecollege. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability and public-service journalism that gets results.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Minimum wage would be $15 in big counties, $12 in smaller ones under novel bill passed by Pa. House
Minimum wage would be $15 in big counties, $12 in smaller ones under novel bill passed by Pa. House

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Minimum wage would be $15 in big counties, $12 in smaller ones under novel bill passed by Pa. House

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania would raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour in 20 of its counties, and to $12 in the rest under a bill the Democratic-controlled state House passed Wednesday. It's a new approach for the chamber that is designed to win critical Republican support, and it comes after years of unsuccessful attempts to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour across the entire state. Pennsylvania's minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since the federal minimum went up in 2009, and has stayed stagnant even as every neighboring state has set a higher floor. Under the House bill, Pennsylvania's biggest county, Philadelphia, would see its minimum wage immediately jump to $15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2026. In the next 16 most populous counties, including Allegheny, Erie, and Lancaster, the minimum wage would move to $12 an hour at the start of 2026, increase to $13 an hour the following year, then jump to $15 an hour in 2028. Three smaller counties, Centre, Monroe, and Pike, would also be included in this tier — all three have at least one Democratic representative, and a spokesperson for House Democrats said they had been included in the tier 'at the request of our members.' For the other 47 counties, the minimum wage would increase to $10 an hour in 2026, then grow by $1 each year until hitting $12 an hour in 2028. All counties would also receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment starting in 2029. That COLA would be based on consumer price data from Pennsylvania and neighboring states, as collected by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The minimum wage for tipped workers, such as those in restaurants, would also increase under the measure. These workers are currently paid $2.83 an hour, and the bill would require employers to pay them 60% of their county's minimum wage. The proposal passed the state House 102 to 101, along party lines. It now goes to the Labor and Industry Committee in the GOP-controlled state Senate for consideration. State Rep. Jason Dawkins (D., Philadelphia), the prime sponsor of the state House bill, told Spotlight PA he hopes Senate Republicans see the legislation as a sign of good-faith negotiation. Speaking on the state House floor Wednesday ahead of the bill's passage, he told his fellow members it would impose 'a living wage that transforms all communities throughout Pennsylvania.' Dawkins tried to pass a minimum wage hike last legislative session, too, but that proposal would have simply raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour across the state. The bill passed the state House, but Senate Republicans did not act on it. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has also called on the legislature to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour during each of his annual budget proposals since taking office. State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) has said he isn't opposed to a minimum wage increase in principle, but in 2023 as House lawmakers considered Dawkins' last bill, he said that $15 an hour is 'not a practical number.' It could, he said at the time, negatively impact nonprofit organizations that provide essential services, such as in-home medical care. In a new statement to Spotlight PA, Pittman said it is possible the legislature could find 'a middle ground for an increase to the minimum wage,' but that any change would need to be a 'commonsense adjustment' that is sensitive to the impact on small businesses and nonprofits. More of his attention, he said, is on 'maximum wage jobs.' He cited a Senate GOP proposal that would prevent Pennsylvania from participating in a carbon cap-and-trade program as an area of focus, and said his caucus also wants to keep making it easier for builders to get project permits. Dawkins said his new minimum wage tier approach is a response to feedback from people like Pittman. 'The hope,' he said, 'is to create a dialogue.' He said this approach is also designed to address counties' differing needs without repealing Pennsylvania's minimum wage preemption law. First put in place in 2006, the last time Pennsylvania raised its wage on the state level, the law requires that any change to the minimum wage be made by state lawmakers. This prevents larger, more expensive cities like Philadelphia from acting independently to raise their wages. Philadelphia's mayor and city council president sent state lawmakers a letter in April asking for authorization to set a higher minimum wage, saying that as the state's biggest municipality, it has 'unique circumstances' and is 'faced with both increasing housing costs and high poverty levels, issues that an increased minimum wage could alleviate.' City officials aren't the only ones who feel this way. The head of Brandywine Realty Trust, a major employer in Southeastern Pennsylvania, sent a letter last month asking for a higher statewide wage, saying it makes sense 'from a business perspective' because 'better-paid workers are more reliable, more productive, and more likely to stay with their employers.' As part of the trade-off of trying to appeal to state Senate Republicans, Dawkins' bill is a difficult pill to swallow for some of the more progressive members of his caucus. State Rep. Chris Rabb (D., Philadelphia) said he supports the measure but wishes it raised wages higher and didn't allow separate minimum wages to be set for tipped workers, and for workers who are incarcerated or have disabilities. He called it the 'lowest common denominator,' but added, 'at least it moves us in the right direction.' 'For those of us who believe in a living wage for all, it's a hard vote to take,' Rabb told Spotlight PA. Rabb plans to introduce legislation that would eliminate separate minimum wages for tipped or incarcerated workers and workers with disabilities, plus repeal the state's preemption of local wage laws. Still, he acknowledged that Senate Republicans are likely to oppose those provisions. He called Dawkins' bill a 'good-faith effort.' 'We know that the Republican controlled Senate is not likely to move on this bill, and if they do, they're going to ask for their pound of flesh,' Rabb said. Senate Republicans most recently voted to raise the minimum wage in 2019, under former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. That proposal would have set a statewide floor of $9.50 an hour. However the state House, which was then controlled by Republicans, declined to take it up. At least one state Senate Republican supports a $15 minimum wage. Sen. Dan Laughlin (R., Erie) introduced a bill last session that would have raised the floor to $15 an hour by 2026. He told Spotlight PA that he plans to re-introduce similar legislation before the end of June. State Sen. Christine Tartaglione (D., Philadelphia), a longtime advocate for raising the minimum wage, said she feels lawmakers are getting 'a little bit closer' to agreement on the issue. Still, key details remain unresolved, she said — particularly a consensus among Senate Republicans on the appropriate wage floor and how to handle cost-of-living increases. 'So far, that's been the block,' Tartaglione said of the COLA. The bill now heads to the Senate Labor and Industry Committee, where Chair Sen. Devlin Robinson (R., Allegheny) called the House measure a good place to 'get the conversation started,' and said he's open to a COLA. But he said he still plans to introduce his own proposal to raise the wage to a still-undetermined 'reasonable' floor. Marc Stier, the executive director of the progressive Pennsylvania Policy Center, said that he's 'hopeful but uncertain' that lawmakers will be able to get the bill over the finish line. Stier thinks that a key factor will be how hard Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro pushes for the change, saying that he has to know 'the governor's bottom line.' He's hoping that after funding public education, raising the minimum wage is Shapiro's second priority. '​​We've been talking this to death,' Stier told Spotlight PA. 'There's not much more to say.' If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Federal budget bill could strip 300K Pennsylvanians of Medicaid coverage, push rural hospitals to the brink
Federal budget bill could strip 300K Pennsylvanians of Medicaid coverage, push rural hospitals to the brink

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Federal budget bill could strip 300K Pennsylvanians of Medicaid coverage, push rural hospitals to the brink

This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for Talk of the Town, a weekly newsletter of local stories that dig deep, events, and more from north-central PA, at HARRISBURG — President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful' budget bill could have a disastrous effect on the health of rural Pennsylvanians and the operations of the hospitals and other medical centers that care for them. The federal budget proposal, which passed the U.S. House by a one-vote margin in May, calls for nearly $800 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade. It also includes a new 80-hour-per-month work or service requirement for Medicaid recipients between the ages of 19 and 64 who aren't caregivers or who have disabilities. Among other changes, the bill would require verification of coverage eligibility every six months rather than annually. While supporters of the budget bill argue that it will slow spending and safeguard government programs, critics say the cuts and new requirements will create more paperwork for states and make it harder to access essential care. Opponents also argue the changes would push struggling rural hospitals and other providers to the brink, and force them to scale back services or close entirely. More than 3 million people in Pennsylvania — 23% — are covered by Medicaid, according to data from the state Department of Human Services, which administers the program. The agency estimates that more than 300,000 would lose Medicaid coverage under the proposal. Val Arkoosh, secretary of the department, said the bill would not only hurt those losing coverage but 'all of us who would face the real-life consequences of crowded emergency departments, increases in the cost of health insurance, and the catastrophic effects on economies and health systems in rural areas.' 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And these facilities are already strapped for resources, he told Spotlight PA. A surge in demand could cause these health centers to shutter core services — such as medical, dental, or behavioral health — reduce hours, or close, Kiehl said. Pennsylvania's U.S. House delegation voted along party lines on the federal budget bill, with Republicans supporting and Democrats opposing the proposal. Medicaid spending totaled roughly $44 billion in fiscal year 2023. The federal government provided almost $28 billion of those dollars. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has said the state won't be able to make up those dollars to support the Medicaid program. In a statement, Shapiro said he hopes 'common sense and a concern for the people of Pennsylvania' will prevail in the U.S. Senate, where Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick disagree on aspects of the bill. McCormick did not respond to a request for comment for this story. He has expressed support for the budget bill, which he says will reduce and slow government spending. During a Fox News forum, McCormick said he isn't advocating for taking benefits from 'vulnerable people' but is trying to ensure 'people for whom the program was designed' benefit. Fetterman called the plan 'a bad bill,' telling Spotlight PA in a statement: 'Republicans want to put more money in the pockets of the ultra-rich at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians who will lose access to Medicaid if this disastrous bill is passed.' and help us reinvigorate local news in north-central Pennsylvania at Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability and public-service journalism that gets results. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Penn State trustees agree to legal training, improved transparency in settlement with Spotlight PA
Penn State trustees agree to legal training, improved transparency in settlement with Spotlight PA

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time3 days ago

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Penn State trustees agree to legal training, improved transparency in settlement with Spotlight PA

This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for Talk of the Town, a weekly newsletter of local stories that dig deep, events, and more from north-central PA, at Penn State University's Board of Trustees will complete a training on the state's open meetings law and disclose more information about its closed-door gatherings as part of a settlement with Spotlight PA. The agreement, signed last week, ends a case the newsroom, in partnership with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, brought against the board in December 2023 for alleged violations of the Sunshine Act, the state law mandating transparency from governing bodies. 'The settlement ensures that one of Pennsylvania's most influential institutions will conduct its business with the transparency that taxpayers, students, faculty, and staff deserve,' said Christopher Baxter, CEO and president of Spotlight PA. 'The university's most recent decision to close seven campuses — and the effect it will have on communities across the state — underscores the need for these important reforms.' Neither Penn State nor board leadership responded to a request for comment for this story. Spotlight PA has documented the board's decadelong use of private meetings and practices that may have run afoul of the state's transparency law, including that university leadership met privately with trustees to discuss Penn State's multimillion-dollar budget deficit and to consider naming the football field after former coach Joe Paterno. Internal board communications, previously obtained by the newsroom, revealed that board leadership directed trustees to ask questions during a private session rather than at a public meeting, a request a media law attorney described as a 'gigantic red flag.' Penn State has already altered some of its practices to increase transparency. In October, a committee of top university officials held its first public meeting since 2011. Under the new settlement agreement, every meeting of the executive committee must be publicized on the board's website, and the board must continue to publish the group's meeting agendas. Additionally, according to the settlement, the board will hold a Sunshine Act training for trustees and publicly report which members completed the session. The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records is scheduled to provide the training on Sept. 11, according to the agency's calendar. Incoming trustees will be offered the training starting in 2026. Liz Wagenseller, executive director of the Office of Open Records, said in a statement that the state's open meetings law 'plays a vital role in ensuring the public can see how tax dollars are spent and how government entities operate. The Office of Open Records values every invitation to assist agencies and others subject to the law in better understanding their obligations regarding public meetings. We look forward to working with the Penn State Board of Trustees to help uphold the transparency and accountability the Act is designed to promote.' For years, the Penn State board has met behind closed doors with university officials in 'conference,' a practice allowed under the law for 'any training program or seminar, or any session arranged by State or Federal agencies for local agencies, organized and conducted for the sole purpose of providing information to agency members on matters directly related to their official responsibilities.' The public had limited insight into these gatherings. Under the agreement, the board will disclose the person providing the training and the topic. Similarly, when the trustees hold an executive session, the board will publicly say the reason why and cite the legal exemption that allows for the private meeting. The terms of the settlement will last for five years. Read the full agreement here. 'This is such an important win for transparency in the Commonwealth,' said Paula Knudsen Burke, the Pennsylvania attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press who represented Spotlight PA in the case. 'The university and its board of trustees are ultimately accountable to the people of Pennsylvania, and their business is the public's business. This agreement, which explicitly includes Sunshine Act compliance training, sets a clear expectation that they can no longer hide behind closed doors and executive sessions.' The settlement ends more than 18 months of legal arguments in local court. In October 2023, Spotlight PA and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press sent the board a letter requesting the trustees 'immediately cease holding improper executive sessions and conferences, advertise and record meeting minutes for all public meetings, and halt the practice of deliberating in secret.' The university's vice president and general counsel, Tabitha Oman, responded that she was 'confident that the Board has taken its official actions and conducted its deliberations in compliance' with the law. During the board's November 2023 meetings in University Park, Spotlight PA witnessed what it believed were potential violations of the open meetings law, prompting the lawsuit in Centre County Court of Common Pleas. After the board's February and May 2024 meetings, the lawsuit was amended to include additional allegations. Throughout the legal process, Penn State argued its trustees followed the law. 'Penn State is a more transparent institution than it was a year and a half ago thanks to Spotlight PA and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press,' said Sarah Rafacz, managing editor of Spotlight PA's State College bureau. 'With this agreement in place, we will see more public disclosures about the business of the trustees than ever before. Our push for transparency will also continue through our tenacious accountability reporting on the university.' In September, Commonwealth Court will tentatively hear arguments in an ongoing case between Penn State and the state Department of Education against Spotlight PA to decide whether university documents the Office of Open Records previously deemed public should be turned over to the newsroom. and help us reinvigorate local news in north-central Pennsylvania at Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability and public-service journalism that gets results. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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