HARRISBURG, PA − June 6, 2018 − For the past several months, the Senate has been working with constituents and advocacy organizations to improve the fairness of Pennsylvania’s redistricting process. That work took the shape of Senate Bill 22, sponsored by a majority of the Senate.
Three weeks ago, Senate Bill 22 was amended, and many organizations and individuals have reached out with concerns about the latest version of the bill.
We are working with the chairs of the State Government Committee, Senators Williams and Folmer, to address some of those concerns through additional amendments on the following issues:
- Diversity: The Commission should reflect the geographic, racial, ethnic and gender diversity of the Commonwealth
- Eligibility for the Commission: Prohibiting registered lobbyists, and the staff and families of elected officials from serving on the commission
- Party registration: Commissioners should be continuously registered with the same party or unaffiliated, without changing that affiliation for at least three years; and the three non-Democratic or Republican members of the commission should not all be registered with the same ‘third party’
- Compensation: Commission members should be compensated prior to the passage of their preliminary redistricting plans
- Map timeline: Remove the 30-day period to file an appeal of the Commission drawn plan to the Supreme Court; add December 31st of the year ending in 1 as the deadline for the General Assembly to approve a plan
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Pittsburgh, Pa. − May 22, 2018 − The Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted unanimously in support of Senate Bill 1001, Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, Jr.‘s legislation that will allow the Department of Health to declare public health emergencies. The declaration would last 90 days but give the Secretary of the Department of Health the capability to extend it.
“Currently, the Governor has declared a disaster emergency to provide state government and public health providers with additional tools to fight the opioid epidemic,” said Senator Costa. “However, a public health emergency declaration would be better suited for this crisis, and my legislation would create and outline such a distinction.”
SB 1001 will also provide a hands-on approach to help end the opioid crisis. It will also give authorization to the Department of Health the ability to waive current regulations and create new temporary ones. It will publish notices in the Pennsylvania Bulletin for tracking and treating a disease, illness, or event. This legislation will also allow public workers to provide treatment to help control the emergency. Lastly, the bill will provide a form of liability for people responsible for committing the future act.
The legislation defines public health emergency as an event that poses an imminent threat and meets two criteria:
Is caused by:
- bioterrorist event, a biological, chemical or nuclear agent, a chemical attack, or a nuclear attack
- The appearance of a novel or previously controlled or eradicated infectious disease
- A natural disaster, accidental chemical release, or nuclear incident
- A disease outbreak
Poses a high probability of:
- Deaths
- Serious or long-term disabilities
- Widespread exposure to an infectious or toxic agent that poses significant risk or substantial present or future harm to many people.
Governor Tom Wolf is also championing this fight and announced the renewal of the 90- day Disaster Declaration in the opioid crisis earlier this spring.
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Pittsburgh, PA − May 8, 2018 − Governor Tom Wolf today announced the certification of eight medical facilities as academic, clinical research programs for medical marijuana. Among those certified is the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, Jr. applauded the decision to certify UPMC and looks forward to the work the facility produces.
“UPMC is already a top notch medical resource in our community, and this additional certification is going to enhance its research capabilities,” said Senator Costa. “When we considered medical marijuana legislation at the state level, we were highly interested in the outcomes of children and people with epilepsy when treated with this medication. I’m anxious to see the research and conclusions UPMC is able to reach.”
More than 37,000 patients have registered to participate in the medical marijuana program, with over 16,000 who have received their identification cards and received medical marijuana at a dispensary. 1,000 physicians have registered for the program with more than 600 certified as practitioners.
Since Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program was created, the Administration has:
- Completed temporary regulations for growers/processors, dispensaries, physicians, patients, laboratories, and academic clinical research centers and clinical registrants, all of which have been published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin;
- Issued Phase I permits to grower/processors and dispensaries;
- Developed the Medical Marijuana Physician Workgroup; Convened the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board;
- Approved six training providers for physician continuing-education;
- Approved four laboratories to test medication before it is delivered to patients;
- Launched registries for patients and caregivers, as well as physicians;
- Approved 23 dispensaries and 12 grower/processers to begin operations;
- Issued permit applications for Phase II of the program for grower/processors and dispensaries.
The Medical Marijuana Program offers medical marijuana to patients who are residents of Pennsylvania and under a practitioner’s care for the treatment of a serious medical condition as defined by the Medical Marijuana Law.
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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.
As our system currently operates, when a worker is hurt on the job they see a physician and that medical professional determines the best course of treatment and prescription medication that their patient requires. SB 936 would instead require a formulary that overrides doctors, and allows prescriptions only as mandated by an insurer. If a worker would prefer the treatment that their trusted physician has prescribed, they have few and risky options: they can pay wholly out of pocket for their medicine, they can enter an cumbersome appeals process that is controlled by the same insurance companies imposing the restrictions on their prescription choices, or they can take whatever the formulary allows and pray that it works, doesn’t react with other medications that they are taking (that the formulary doesn’t account for), or doesn’t have side effects.
The kind of system this bill would create is incredibly restrictive, and would limit doctors to just 20 therapeutic classes of drugs. For context, the average insurance provider offers more than 100 classes.
Savings from a plan like this, if any exist, would come from undercutting workers who have been hurt on the job by limiting the prescriptions that they can receive and lowering workers compensation rates for their employers. If someone has been hurt on the job, they should be entitled to the health care that their doctor prescribes, not the bargain basement plan designed by insurers in this formulary.
That’s especially true for police and prison guards who put their lives on the line every day to protect us. As the president of the Pa. State Troopers Association said, “a Trooper’s duty often results in physical injury … due deference to the physician’s personal knowledge of the injured Trooper should be preserved, not compromised by faulty legislation such as SB 936.”
And the president of the Pa. State Corrections Officers Association (prison guards) said in February, the bill “is simply an attempt to change our Workers Compensation program and place more burdens on workers who are injured in the line of duty.”
Simply put, it is an assault on workers, on par with the rest of the anti-worker agenda that the extremists in the Republican party are pushing. Just as they have denied an increase in the minimum wage, blocked funding for the unemployment system, attempted to abolish collective bargaining, this bill is another grab at workers’ rights.
Corporations and insurance companies cooked up this benefits reduction plan based on a similar system in Texas, a state notorious for its poor treatment of workers. In the Lone Star State, employers are not even required to provide workplace injury coverage at all. That’s not how we have treated or should be treating our workers here in Pennsylvania.
At its core, this plan is a hateful attack on injured workers, just to save a little money on compensation rates; and many Republicans saw through it. The bill failed its first vote in the House, but the anti-worker extremists used parliamentary maneuvers to get it a reconsideration two months later, where it passed with the bare minimum number of votes it needed. No Democrat supported this bill, and no Republican who respects workers did either.
A measure this important to the health of our workforce should not have been so political and so forced. The bill barely made it to the Governor’s desk, and we urge him to end its consideration and veto it immediately.
Pittsburgh, PA − April 20, 2018 − Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, Jr. today announced nearly $150,000 in state grants will go to senior community centers in his district.
“Senior centers play a critical role in our communities,” said Senator Costa. “Especially given Pennsylvania’s aging population, it is vitally important that the state invest in the resources and services that our older constituents need.”
Senior centers have a wide variety of offerings that may include: nutritious meal programs; educational opportunities; transportation services; financial and insurance counseling; exercise programs; and social and recreational activities.
The centers receiving funding in Senator Costa’s district are:
- Vintage, Inc. – $82,000
- Riverview Community Action Corporation – $60,000
There are over 500 senior community centers across the 67 counties of the commonwealth, and these grants are designed to help centers provide services that attract a new generation of participants.
For more information on senior community centers, visit www.aging.pa.gov
