Allegheny County – July 23, 2021 – Today, Pennsylvania State Senators from Allegheny County including Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, Senator Wayne Fontana and Senator Lindsey Williams announced the approval of a $23,970,000 loan for the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority (PWSA) from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST).
“This investment strengthens the overall infrastructure of our city. Well maintained systems eliminate overflows into waterways, mitigate against sinkholes, and allow for the proper funneling of sewage and stormwater away from where we live and work. It may not always be top of mind for residents, but the functionality of our sewer systems ensures the functionality of our cities,” said Senator Costa.
The loan will be used to replace and rehabilitate approximately 22 miles of wastewater collection lines in an existing system that serves 81,958 residential customers. The collection lines run through Homewood, Squirrel Hill, Maytide, Marshall-Shadeland, Spring Garden and Highland Park.
“This funding will continue the modernization of the City’s water and wastewater infrastructure. Improved infrastructure lowers the odds of service interruptions, water quality issues, and steep customer rate hikes,” said Senator Fontana.
“Residents in these neighborhoods have experienced significant problems caused by sinkholes, sewage backups, and waterline breaks,” said Senator Williams. “I’m glad to see PWSA and PENNVEST prioritizing investment in infrastructure where it is most needed and can make the most difference in the lives of our residents.”
PENNVEST serves communities and citizens of Pennsylvania by funding sewer, storm water and drinking water projects. These projects not only contribute to improving Pennsylvania’s environment and the health of its people, but also provide opportunities for economic growth and jobs for Pennsylvania’s workers. More information is available on the PENNVEST website: https://www.pennvest.pa.gov.
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Allegheny County – July 7, 2021 – Today, Pennsylvania State Senators from Allegheny County including Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, Sen. Wayne Fontana and Sen. Lindsey Williams announced $628,880 in state grants have been awarded to the area for traffic signal and equipment improvements. The funding comes from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s (PennDOT’s) “Green Light-Go” program to support the modernization of traffic equipment throughout the state.
“New, higher tech traffic signaling improves safety for travelers whether they’re in a car, bike or on foot. The grants coming to Allegheny County in this round of Green Light Go will help the City of Pittsburgh and Edgewood make critical upgrades, and I was happy to support their application and award,” said Senator Costa
Three grants will support projects in the county:
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- $230,144 for traffic signal modernization upgrades at Race Street and Pennwood Avenue in Edgewood
- $132,000 for an East End Signal Retiming project in Pittsburgh
- $266,736 for a Fiber Network Expansion project in Pittsburgh that will improve communications and connections back to traffic management
“I applaud PennDOT’s investment in the City of Pittsburgh’s critical infrastructure. Traffic signal modernization means safer roads and reduced congestion,” Senator Fontana said.
“I’m happy to see critical infrastructure projects being funded across Pittsburgh that will allow improved traffic management. Better traffic flow will lead to less wear and tear on our roads and to safer travel conditions for all road users, including drivers, bike riders, and pedestrians,” said Senator Lindsey Williams.
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Harrisburg – June 2, 2021 – At the request of Senators Wayne Fontana (D- Allegheny), Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa (D- Allegheny), Jim Brewster (D- Allegheny/Westmoreland), and Lindsey Williams (D- Allegheny), the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee held a virtual public hearing on how Pennsylvania can best improve care in nursing homes.
“The COVID-19 pandemic was a wakeup call for us all that certain aspects of our society are not equipped to quickly and efficiently respond to crisis, and that many sectors of our society that were already struggling suffered the greatest losses due to the pandemic,” Senator Costa said. “Our nursing homes care for some of the most vulnerable members of our society, and it is imperative that these care facilities are not only equipped to respond to crisis like pandemics, but that even in the best of times they are properly staffed and overseen.”
In her testimony today, Teresa Osborne, Manager of Advocacy & Outreach at AARP PA, said that with nearly 13,300 deaths of Pennsylvanians residing in long-long term care facilities, and with Pennsylvanians 50 and over accounting for 98% of all COVID-19 related deaths, the need for action on this issue is clear.
“Nursing homes during the pandemic struggled to maintain the health and safety of their residents, the health and safe staffing levels of their employees, and family and loved were almost completely shut out of the lives of residents in congregate care settings. We must ensure that nursing homes in the future are prepared for another health crisis, and that these facilities are operating efficiently and to the highest standards at all times,” Senator Fontana said.
Senator Lindsey Williams continued, “Our nursing home residents, their families, and their loved ones have been some of the hardest hit by COVID-19, but these problems don’t begin and end with the current pandemic. We need to do more to protect the health, safety, and emotional well-being of our seniors, and hearing directly from the people who are doing this work every day is a key part of creating legislative policy that will provide the supports needed to accomplish those goals.”
Keshia Williams, a CNA Nursing Home Worker and member of SEIU Healthcare, said today in her testimony that the residents she cares for in nursing homes almost daily become like family, and sometimes residents have no other family to support them – just her and her fellow CNAs and nurses. She said that makes it even harder to deal with the fact that the state only requires 2.7 hours of care for residents in a 24-hour period.
“For decades, we sounded the alarm on chronic and dangerous understaffing and unacceptable conditions for workers and residents. We made do with dwindling resources and demanded lifesaving reform, while the industry increasingly focused on the bottom line, and rampant, unchecked nursing home sales to irresponsible owners drove down standards,” Keshia Williams said.
Dennis Biondo, Allegheny County Executive Director of Kane Community Living Centers, said in his testimony that oversight of nursing home and community care centers is done through surveys by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. He said that this is, “not going to improve nursing home care,” because instead of creating meaningful change they are just a way to check off boxes.
“Pennsylvania Department of Health is charged with the licensure and regulation of nursing homes. The Department’s Office of Quality Assurance oversees this important regulatory oversight of monitoring compliance through surveys, commonly known to the public as facility inspections, to ensure that facilities are providing adequate resident care in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. This applies to federal law and regulation since, in addition to the department’s role as the state survey entity, it is also contracted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to serve as the federal survey entity for nursing homes,” Keara Klinepeter, PA Department of Health Executive Deputy Secretary, explained.
Klinepeter said that while survey regulation was required at the federal level in Pennsylvania, and in every state across the U.S., the PA Dept of Health saw during the COVID-19 pandemic the benefits of partnerships between hospitals and medical systems to PA nursing homes through the Regional Response Program funded by CARES Act money. Klinepeter said that efforts are already in place to continue this program through federal grant funding. This will allow nursing homes in Pennsylvania to continue training staff on appropriate public health practices related to pandemic response and beyond.
In response to inquiries about nursing home complaints and surveys that result from those, Klinepeter said that the Dept of Health saw an increase of 23% in surveys in 2020. These surveys also included surveys to inspect facilities use of infection control measures.
Georgia Goodman, Leading Age PA Director of Government Affairs, reiterated the importance of maintaining employee morale and providing adequate and well-paid staff to care for residents.
“Nursing facilities can’t simply raise their prices. Two out of three residents in nursing homes are paid for by the Medical Assistance Program- the government payor that is underfunding care by an average of $80 per resident per day for our members. We are urging support for the direct allocation of $396 million to nursing facilities using the same methodology the general assembly enacted in Act 24 of 2020 to help providers with a number of financial challenges brought on by the pandemic, but none more acute than staffing,” Goodman said.
Goodman also said that her organization was grateful to collaborate on Senate Bill 1268, which offered nurse aides hired temporarily during the pandemic a path to permanent registration on the Nurse Aide registry, and they are supportive of a number of current initiatives like Senate Bill 115 to allow Pennsylvania to participate in licensure reciprocity so that nurses from other states can assist with our state’s healthcare workforce shortages.
“It is despicable that the care of our senior population in Pennsylvania seems to be an afterthought to those in charge of the oversight and guidelines for care in nursing homes and community care facilities. Nursing home complaints, oversight regulations, and the need for safe staffing levels to provide adequate care were an issue before this pandemic. Now that we have seen over 10,000 nursing home residents die of COVID-19, it is clear that Pennsylvania needs immediate and forceful action to protect our seniors and those who live in community care settings,” Sen. Kate Muth (D- Berks/Chester/Montgomery), chair of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, said.
Below are all who participated in today’s hearing:
- Dennis Biondo, Allegheny County, Executive Director Kane Community Living Centers
- Keara Klinepeter, PA Department of Health, Executive Deputy Secretary
- Dean Owrey, Chief Financial Officer, Vincentian Collaborative System
- Georgia Goodman, Leading Age PA, Director of Government Affairs
- Keshia Williams, CNA, Nursing Home Worker, SEIU Healthcare
- Debbie Winn-Horvitz, President & CEO, Jewish Association on Aging
- Jennifer Costello, Chester County Department of Aging, Long-term Care Ombudsman
- Teresa Osborne, Manager of Advocacy & Outreach, AARP PA
Senators who also attended this hearing include Sen. Sharif Street (D- Philadelphia) and Sen. Maria Collett (D- Bucks/Montgomery).
The full recording of this roundtable, as well as the written testimony from participants, can be found at senatormuth.com/policy. A full recording of this hearing can also be found on the PA Senate Democratic Facebook page.
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HARRISBURG, April 21, 2021 – More than 2,000 water customers across the Pittsburgh region will receive new, lead-free water lines through a series of grants announced today by state Sens. Jay Costa, Wayne Fontana and Lindsey Williams.
More than $18 million will go to three regional water systems that plan to replace aging lines to customer houses as well as neighborhood supply lines.
Costa, the Democratic Leader in the Senate, said the financing package was arranged through the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PennVEST), and will also include a $39 million low-interest loan to improve system reliability and efficiency by preventing costly water main breaks.
“This funding provides a crucial boost to local efforts to modernize aging and potentially unhealthy water infrastructure,” Costa said. “It is the result of strong cooperation among all levels of government and I’m proud of the work that will result in better health and lower bills for customers.”
A massive water project by the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) will replace lead service lines for 592 customers while providing an upgrade to 25,000 additional feet of water line and replacement of 59 fire hydrants.
“Taking an aggressive approach to replacing aging water lines will help Pittsburgh avoid future water quality disasters and eye-opening rate hikes,” Fontana said. “This financing will help thousands of low-income customers to feel confident about the continued quality of their drinking water.”
PWSA’s system includes more than 70,000 residential customers in the region. It will receive a forgivable loan of $2,976,450 to replace lead-tainted service lines. The lead abatement funding comes in cooperation with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The remainder of the project will be funding through a $35,573,550 loan that will be repaid at 1 percent interest over 20 years.
West View Water Authority will receive $6.6 million for its lead abatement efforts, according to Williams.
“The dangers of lead in our water supply have been long known and families deserve to know their household water supply is safe and clean,” Williams said. “This project will provide that assurance for hundreds of families while preventing disruptions and creating jobs.”
The West View project will replace 500 lead services and associated infrastructure. It will include more than 20,000 feet of new, copper pipe, 500 curb boxes and valves, 500 pressure reducers, 500 internal shut off valves, and 500 backflow preventers.
Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority will receive $9.3 million to boost its ongoing efforts to eliminate lead-based service lines. The grant is expected to fund the replacement of 1,000 service lines. Construction will consist of 40,000 feet of new 1-inch copper service lines, 1,000 curb boxes, and associated surface restoration.
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Harrisburg, Pa. − June 24, 2019 − Members of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus today jointly sent a letter to Governor Tom Wolf requesting a disaster declaration for gun violence in the Commonwealth.
“We believe it is necessary to raise the public’s awareness of the massive loss of human life and the suffering inflicted on affected family, friends and neighbors where this tragedy is unfolding daily,” they wrote. “Just as you have signed six disaster declarations to provide every tool at the Commonwealth’s disposal to combat the opioid epidemic, the death toll and impact from illegal guns should merit immediate and coordinated attention.”
Specifically, a disaster declaration could do the following:
- Establish a task force led by the Department of Health to create and implement a public health framework for addressing gun violence
- Establish a command center in the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency to coordinate state and local law enforcement response
- Enhance the Joint-Local State Firearm Taskforce through additional personnel and funding to take illegal guns off the street
- Expand information gathering and sharing between all levels of law enforcement and community groups
- Increase law enforcement presence, both local and state, in targeted areas where gun violence is most prevalent
- Expedite and expand grants and other funding sources for community groups and nonprofit associations with a proven record of violence reduction and prevention
- Provide additional state resources for behavioral and mental health
- Bringing to bear the significant wealth of knowledge and experience in the Departments of Health and Human Services to provide de-escalation and de-confliction training throughout the community
- Require the Pennsylvania Department of Education provide training and professional development on trauma-informed education
View full letter →
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