Ten Random PA Policy Points

Often times when debating or discussing politics and policy, facts are tossed aside in favor of more emotional arguments.

Even worse, when one side of a legitimate but spirited debate falters, it has somehow become acceptable to either refuse to accept the facts as accurate or point out some comparable flaw in an effort to make two wrongs make a right.

By way of experimentation, here are 10 totally unrelated facts about issues we deal with in Pennsylvania government. Let’s see what happens:

1. Proponents of privatization have speculated the sale of 850 liquor store licenses would garner $2 billion or more. To generate that much, each would have to be sold for $2.4 million. No other state has experienced that windfall. An audit in Virginia found that 1,000 licenses would need to be sold to raise $200 million, an average of $200,000 per license. In West Virginia, 89 of 165 stores licenses sold for less than $200,000 in 2010 with an additional 42 sold for less than $100,000. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania’s Wine and Spirits stores generate more than $500 million for the state annually.

2. In Pennsylvania, 60 percent of charter schools and 17 percent of cyber charter schools made Average Yearly Performance (AYP) compared to a recently released national study that found 52 percent of charter and 27 percent of cyber charter schools made AYP in 2010.

3. Less than 0.2 percent of all layoffs in the United States are caused by government regulations, according to 2010 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

4. The PA Fresh Food Financing Initiative has supported 88 new or improved fresh-food retail outlets since 2004. It has created or retained more than 5,000 jobs and increased access to healthy food for more than 400,000 residents across the state.

5. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average commute one-way to work in Pennsylvania is 24.5 minutes with 76.7 percent driving alone, 5.1 percent taking public transportation, and 3.6 percent working at home.

6. Pennsylvania currently has 65 underground storage sites for natural gas in 23 counties, which represents some of the largest underground storage capacity in the United States.

7. With its recent toll increase, the Pennsylvnia Turnpike’s 9.24 cents-per mile cost for car drivers who pay cash is now second in the nation to only New Jersey at 11.4 cents. It costs about $1 per transaction to collect a cash toll and less than 25 cents per transaction to collect tolls via E-ZPass. About two-thirds of Pennsylvania Turnpike travelers use E-ZPass.

8. It has been estimated that about 320,000 voters in Pennsylvania do not have acceptable forms of photo identification.

9. In 2010, 50 percent of all workers made less than the median wage of $26,364, placing the typical wage at its lowest level since 1999 after adjusting for inflation. Meanwhile, the number of millionaires increased by 20 percent.

10. Since August, the Corbett Administration has cut off more than 150,000 people, including 43,000 children, from medical assistance. InNovember, 90,000 cases, or 4 percent, were dropped. In New Jersey, enrollment increased by 391 during the same month.