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. Medical Assistance (through the state Department of Public Welfare) finances the care of 65 percent of all elderly residents being cared for in nursing homes; covers 31 percent of all children while funding nearly 50 percent of all births; and actually provides health care coverage to a larger share of the population in rural areas than in urban areas. Overall, Medical Assistance insures 17 percent of all Pennsylvanians, which translates to one out of every six residents.

2. Tourism is Pennsylvania’s second-largest industry with a $33 billion annual impact to the commonwealth’s economy. The industry provides 433,000 jobs and generates $3.4 billion in travel- and tourism-related state and local tax revenues. More than 175 million people travel to and within Pennsylvania each year.

3. According to the PA Prison Society, an estimated 85,000 people are incarcerated in state and county correctional facilities. At some point, 90 percent of these inmates will be released back into the community. Pennsylvania also has the fourth-largest death row population in the United States.

4. A recent College Board report found that the typical college graduate pays, on average, 80 percent more in federal, state, and local taxes annually than the typical high school graduate.

5. The alcohol-impaired driving fatality rate in the state is 9 percent below the national average. For people younger than 21, it is 25 percent below the national average. Lower consumption rates are associated with a 9.3 percent lower alcohol-impaired driving death rate in states that keep control of alcohol sales.

6. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board recently reported that $4.5 billion in taxes have been collected from just slot machine play since the opening of the state’s first slot machine casino in November 2006.

7. According to a new Keystone Research Center/Demos report, nearly three out of four of college graduates in the state entered the labor force with student debt in 2009 and their average debt of $27,066 was seventh highest in the nation.

8. The Governor’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission projects that the future gap to fund transportation infrastructure in the state will more than double to $7.2 billion by 2020 if no action is taken to meet Pennsylvania’s transportation need. PA currently has $3.5 billion in unmet transportation needs.

9. The Corporation for Enterprise Development recently ranked Pennsylvania 10th in the nation overall in terms of "liquid asset poverty," which means 34.6 percent of residents do not have the liquid assets to live at the poverty line for three months without income from a job. Hawaii ranked first with 22.8 percent and Nevada ranked lowest with 45.2 percent.

10. A Lock Haven University analysis found that more than 285,000 acres of land are considered “abandoned mine lands,” and more than 3,000 river miles are contaminated by acid mine drainage due to unregulated coal mining in Pennsylvania until the 1970s. It is projected to cost $16 billion to clean up these environmental damages.