Pennsylvania State Capitol. Photo credit: Zack Frank/Shutterstock.com

Broadband Expansion

On Sept. 20, Gov. Tom Wolf announced the successful completion of the first phase of his plan to expand broadband access throughout the state. The Pennsylvania Broadband Investment Incentive Program is helping deliver broadband access to 9,236 currently unserved rural Pennsylvanians, according to a statement from the Wolf administration.

The incentive program is aimed at ensuring that homes and businesses in parts of Erie, Crawford, Potter, Tioga, Mercer, Lycoming and Bradford counties have broadband access of at least 100 mbps by no later than June 2022.

“This was an opportunity to attract investment in many of Pennsylvania's rural areas and to encourage high-speed and high-quality service to unserved residents, businesses, and farmers,” Wolf said in an administration press release. “This is a great first step in getting every Pennsylvanian connected to reliable high-speed internet.”

Wolf announced the program in March along with the Office of Broadband Initiatives, which was charged with carrying out the program.

Public Safety

Gov. Tom Wolf urged immediate action by the General Assembly in response to the recommendations of the grand jury report on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. Wolf said that among other things, lawmakers should pass legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse and allow for survivors of child sexual abuse to file civil claims against their abusers and the institutions that enabled them.

Wolf said on Sept. 17 that he wanted an end to 18 months of stalling on a list of reforms aimed at empowering, protecting and supporting victims of crime, abuse and harassment. He said he wanted to sign a package of pro-victim bills this fall.

“I call on the General Assembly to put victims first and take action on these proposals this fall,” Wolf said. “The grand jury report is a gut-wrenching reminder that our laws are failing too many victims of crime. There are too many issues, including domestic violence, child sexual abuse, gun violence and sexual assault, where bills that would help victims and protect families are stalled in the legislature and this is unacceptable.”

All of the bills backed by Wolf have bipartisan sponsorship, according to a Wolf administration press release.

Among the other measures Wolf said he wants to see action on this fall were:

• Of a five-bill package aimed at curbing domestic violence, only one reached Wolf's desk. The most controversial in the General Assembly has been Senate Bill 501, designed to keep firearms out of the hands of domestic abusers. The Senate has passed the bill but since March it remains stuck in a House of Representatives committee.

• Wolf's “It's on Us” package aimed at creating new safeguards against sexual violence and harassment on college campuses and K-12 schools. Made up of six bills, all remain in the House or Senate Education Committees.

“I urge the legislature to move quickly to deliver for victims of crime, abuse and harassment in Pennsylvania,” said Wolf, a Democrat seeking election to a second term in November against former state Sen. Scott Wagner, R-York. Both houses of the General Assembly are controlled by Republicans.

Urban Poverty

Wagner, speaking to the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce on Sept. 18, unveiled a set of proposals to combat urban poverty, speaking in what the U.S. Census has ranked as the nation's poorest major city.

Wagner said he would establish a low-interest loan fund through community banks for people wanting to start a business and make mass transportation more accessible, The Associated Press reported.

Wagner also said he would look to retool public-assistance programs and overhaul sentencing, probation and parole systems that are unduly punitive, the AP said. In their urban policy statement, Wagner and his running mate, Jeff Bartos, said they would work with regional transit agencies to guarantee user access to updated technology and system efficiencies, and further encourage innovation in the transportation sector.

In his speech to the Chamber, the AP reported that Wagner floated the idea of partnering with tech companies like Uber and Lyft to spur innovation.

Echoing a line used by President Donald Trump in his 2016 campaign, the GOP nominee for governor asked Philadelphians rhetorically, “What do you have to lose by taking a chance on someone committed to engaging and improving your life?”

Dairy Industry

Wolf and Republican leaders in the Pennsylvania Senate each hailed the first grants made by the Pennsylvania Dairy Industry Investment Program, which was created by lawmakers and signed into law by Wolf in June as Act 42 of 2018.

The program issued its first $5 million in grants to help support dairy farms in the state, according to statements from the Wolf administration and the Senate GOP caucus.

Those grants support research into new technologies, products and best practices; marketing to new domestic and international markets and exploring new business opportunities to diversify their operation and revenue streams; transitioning to organic production methods; and incorporating or expanding value-added dairy production, such as cheese and yogurt products.

Wolf called the new program “a key tool that incentivizes the dairy industry to support the often costly and difficult process of modernizing or expanding their business model or operation.” Grants to individual applicants—which include dairy businesses and cooperatives, not-for-profit agricultural organizations, schools, and institutions of higher learning-—can be as much as $100,000 for new research-and-development and marketing initiatives, and up to $50,000 for added-value processing and adoption of organic farming practices.

“The dairy industry is one of the most important parts of Pennsylvania's agriculture economy, but market conditions have created enormous challenges for dairy operations in communities throughout the state,” said Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre. “This new program will provide a much-needed opportunity for members of the dairy industry to modernize, streamline and expand their operations while keeping pace with changes within the industry.” •