Topics spanned a variety of issues this morning at the Legislative Update hosted at the Butler County Club.
Local state representatives and senators joined the Chamber of Commerce to discuss issues evolving in Pennsylvania.
Among the speakers included Senator Scott Hutchinson who said the unemployment compensation programs needs to start incentivizing work.
“We have make it such that those who are able to work should actively looking for work and trying to get reattached to the workforce,” Hutchinson said.
Those comments were echoed by the rest of the legislators, which included State Representatives Aaron Bernstine, Marci Mustello and Tim Bonner, along with State Senator Joe Pittman– all three are Republicans.
The issue of labor also turned to the minimum wage in a question and answer session. All lawmakers defended the current minimum wage, with Rep. Bernstine citing a figure that only 1.5 percent of the workforce was earning $7.25. Some in the audience however cited lower wages for some professionals in the healthcare industry that could be boosted by a minimum wage increase.
State Representative Marci Mustello also on hand and talked about the need to grow transportation in the area.
“Transportation work has been very important for southern Butler County for growth we’ve seen there, but we really can’t ignore the possible growth up north,” Mustello said.
Also as part of the transportation discussion, lawmakers said they oppose the tolls on nine bridges that have been proposed by PennDOT. Hutchinson said he would prefer to see transportation ideas focused on maintaining roads currently, opposed to actively seeking out major renovation projects.
Other issues lawmakers discussed was the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which Sen. Pittman says would be a job killer for his constituents. Rep. Bernstine said he hopes that voters cast a “yes” vote on the ballot questions surrounding the emergency powers of Governor Wolf. Rep. Tim Bonner gave credit to the healthcare industry for their care and innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic; he also wanted liability protections for the hospitals arguing that since this was a novel virus, treatment methods may have varied at the onset of the pandemic.
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