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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State Rep.
Nick Kotik |
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February 2008
LEGISLATIVE ROUNDUP
I hope my update finds you and your family well this winter. We have been pushing through the second half of our legislative session with long hours and many challenges. But as challenging as this session has been, it has been rewarding to look back at our accomplishments, and look ahead to our future goals.
Any discussion of the future must involve education. This fiscal year’s school-code law demonstrates a historic investment in education. It increases the state’s support for pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade education by $568 million. Because a child’s early years are crucial to lifelong learning, we made solid, targeted investments in pre-kindergarten programs and accountability block grants that give schools the flexibility to build on early education initiatives that help our children succeed. We also bolstered programs including Classrooms for the Future, dual enrollment, Science: It’s Elementary and other initiatives.
Another law enacted in 2007 improves the conditions of Pennsylvania’s roads, bridges and transit systems without raising taxes. It delivers an average of $946 million per year, with $411 million for mass transit systems, $500 million for roads and bridges, and $35 million per year to counties and municipalities for non state-owned roads and bridges. Some of that money will help improve transportation in Allegheny County and the 45th Legislative District.
A larger project we’re working on is Prescription for Pennsylvania, Gov. Rendell’s health-care reform plan that aims to improve the quality of and access to health care. Part of the plan was enacted last year, including reducing health-care acquired infections and expanding the scope of practice for health-care professionals so that all Pennsylvanians have access to affordable, quality health care.
We took major steps in 2007 to help some health-care professionals by increasing the scope of their work. Dental hygienists can now perform preventative, therapeutic and other procedures, which they are educated to provide, without the direct supervision of a dentist. Also, up to four physician's assistants now can be working under one physician's supervision, to make health care more accessible in underserved areas of the state. Nurse practitioners also may order home health and hospice care, make more referrals and perform disability assessments for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
Other accomplishments and future focuses lie in energy independence. We signed into law Act 77 of 2007 that provides funding to clean up hazardous waste sites in Pennsylvania. Without this action, the state’s Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund would have run out on Jan. 1, jeopardizing the cleanup of more than 100 hazardous sites across the state.
We also enacted legislation to increase the Commonwealth’s use of clean energy by requiring electricity suppliers to speed up their transition to alternative energy sources such as solar, hydro and wind power. This law also rewards customers who produce some of their own electric power and return it to the grid. Electric companies will be required to square their accounts with these customers on an annual basis, establish alternative-energy credit trading incentives and rules for expanding local power sources, and boost oversight to ensure compliance with clean- and alternative-energy requirements.
As always, please feel free to contact me by calling my Coraopolis office at 412-264-4260 or by sending me an e-mail through my Web site: www.pahouse.com/kotik.
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CONTACT:
Stephany Dugan |