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Cutting Through the Red Tape
To help enhance Pennsylvania’s economy by helping job creators, the House this week passed a multi-bill package to cut government red tape and reduce burdensome regulations while still maintaining the integrity of health and safety regulations.
Among the bills are those that would review statutes and regulations for possible revision or repeal; enhance the review process for regulations that impose a major cost burden on the state; grant the General Assembly the authority to repeal any regulation in effect without the governor’s consent; reform the permit process; and require each state agency to designate a regulatory compliance officer.
Pennsylvania currently has more than 153,000 regulatory restrictions that stretch across every industry operating within the Commonwealth. These restrictions create hurdles that businesses of all shapes and sizes must jump over in order to create jobs in Pennsylvania.
The World Bank and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University estimate that over-regulation has a negative effect on economic growth, ranging between 0.8 percent and 2.3 percent.
The bills would not require the repeal of any regulations vital to the health and safety of the Commonwealth’s citizens.
The package now moves to the state Senate for consideration.
Getting Monthly Medications at Once
As a way to help senior citizens and others who take monthly maintenance medications, the House this week passed legislation that would allow customers to synchronize the refilling of their prescription drug medications.
House Bill 1800 would make filling prescriptions more convenient, as it would eliminate multiple visits to the pharmacy by allowing all prescriptions to be filled on the same day each month. Different refill dates throughout the month can make it difficult, especially for those who use public transportation, to pick up their medicine.
Studies have shown that when medications are not synchronized, a reduction in taking medications as prescribed occurs.
Currently, consumers can request this synchronization, but this bill simply puts the practice into state law and prohibits an insurance company from denying coverage for a partial fill of a script in order to facilitate medication synchronization. Thirty-five other states have enacted or introduced similar legislation.
The bill now goes to the Senate for its consideration.
Bills on the Move: Career, Technical Education Package Passes House
To help job creators fill in-demand jobs now and in the future, the House overwhelmingly approved a nine-bill bipartisan package to improve career and technical education opportunities and enhance science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum.
The package includes measures to promote public-private partnerships; remove barriers for qualified career and technical educators; expand awareness of training opportunities and future earning potential; increase flexibility for innovative secondary career and technical programs; enhance and promote articulation agreements; develop and maintain a comprehensive online career resource center; coordinate state-level career exploration and workforce development opportunities; improve local and occupational advisory committees; and add K-12 teachers to the membership of the Workforce Development Board.
The bills – which are designed highlight the benefits of this educational option for students looking to enter the workforce -- now move to the state Senate for consideration.
More information is available here.
Prevent Lyme: Check for Ticks
With May designated as Lyme Disease Awareness Month in Pennsylvania, individuals who spend time outdoors should check themselves for ticks and be aware of the symptoms of Lyme disease and other tick-related ailments.
The first line of defense against Lyme is to take precautions in the outdoors by using insect repellent with DEET, wearing long-sleeve shirts and long pants, checking for – and promptly and properly removing – any ticks, and showering shortly after exposure.
If bitten, an individual should monitor the area for the next month. Symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, joint pain, a bull’s eye rash may appear, and other symptoms that can be mistaken for viral infections, such as influenza or infectious mononucleosis.
Pennsylvania has led the nation in confirmed cases of Lyme disease for three straight years and for the first time deer ticks have been found in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. The 2014 Lyme disease report released last year by the Department of Health showed 7,400 cases of Lyme disease reported in the Commonwealth.
In an effort to address this issue, Department of Health recently launched “Don’t Let a Tick Make You Sick,” a campaign aimed at raising Lyme-disease awareness.
For tips about how to protect yourself from Lyme disease, click here.
Scenes from the Capitol
On Tuesday, I joined my colleagues in supporting Rep. Jack Rader’s House Resolution 780, which recognizes the Vet 22 campaign and its presence in the Commonwealth. Vet 22 uses a symbolic bright neon yellow color to raise awareness about veteran suicide. It derives its name from the startling statistic that an average of 22 United States veterans take their own lives each day. Pictured with me (from left) are Rep. Maureen Madden, Rep. Rosemary Brown, Rep. Zach Mako, Michael Wargo, Sally Wargo, Mark Baylis and Rader. The Wargo’s son, Michael, died by suicide. Baylis is the founder of VALOR Clinic Foundation.
It was my pleasure to welcome fourth-grade students from Mahoning Elementary School to the Capitol last Friday. Thank you for visiting!
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