Bipartisan group of legislators support creation of PA SITES program

Jun. 22—WILKES-BARRE — Gov. Josh Shapiro this week said PA SITES is helping turn piles of dirt into hundreds of jobs and position the Commonwealth as an economic leader where companies can thrive.

In a bipartisan effort, Sen. Nick Miller, Sen. Chris Gebhard, Rep. Kyle Donahue, and Rep. Aaron D. Kaufer introduced legislation earlier this week to create the Pennsylvania Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites (PA SITES) program and authorize up to $500 million in new funding to invest in site development, preparation and readiness for businesses to locate or expand in Pennsylvania.

The legislation — House Bill 2425 and Senate Bill 16 — matches the plan put forward by Gov. Shapiro and Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Secretary Rick Siger to help sites across the Commonwealth become "shovel ready" in order to attract more businesses and good-paying jobs.

"We have heard loud and clear that Pennsylvania needs to develop more sites to sell our Commonwealth to companies that want to grow here," Shapiro said. "We received over 100 applications requesting more than $236 million in funding as part of the initial PA SITES pilot program — demonstrating the need for more state investment in this year's budget. These sites are key to growing our economy, rebuilding our communities, and helping Pennsylvania compete — and I'm glad a bipartisan group of legislators, led by Senator Miller, Senator Gebhard, Rep. Donahue, and Rep. Kaufer, have introduced bills to devote $500 million to this initiative to develop more sites, create more jobs, and deliver more opportunity for the good people of Pennsylvania."

Last month, Governor Shapiro and Secretary Siger announced $10.6 million in new funding for the pilot PA SITES program, which was created by the Governor in his 2023-24 budget and began taking applications in September 2023.

"Getting an initiative like PA SITES done is critically important to the economic development of the Commonwealth and to ensure long-term growth and investment," said Rep. Kaufer," R-Kingston. "This is a way for us in Pennsylvania to step up our game and compete across the country."

Secretary Siger applauded the legislators for recognizing that PA SITES is the kind of transformational, bold investment that all of Pennsylvania's regions need to compete.

"It's critical that we secure this $500 million infusion for the program to create more shovel-ready sites and give existing firms and new businesses more potential locations to choose from when considering the Commonwealth," Siger said. "Investing in PA SITES also sends a clear signal to the national and international business community that Pennsylvania is open for business."

Compared to neighboring states like Ohio, New York, and Virginia who allocate more annual funding to site development incentives, Pennsylvania lacks readily available sites to support companies' major business expansions. To help the Commonwealth be more competitive, Governor Shapiro included the $500 million in PA SITES funding in his 2024-25 budget proposal.

Department of Aging Secretary spotlights efforts to protect Pennsylvanians from abuse

Pennsylvania Department of Aging (PDA) Secretary Jason Kavulich recently joined state and local leaders at Telespond Senior Services in Scranton to address elder abuse and spotlight what's being done locally and statewide to protect older adults.

Secretary Kavulich discussed the recently released Aging Our Way, PA — a comprehensive 10-year vision for improving connections within communities to increase access to a variety of services for older adults to stay safe and thrive as they age.

Among PDA's funding requests in Gov. Josh Shapiro's 2024-25 proposed budget is $11.7 million to begin implementing Aging Our Way, PA.

"For years, we have seen a rise in financial exploitation cases of older adults and the continued high rate of self-neglect cases," Kavulich said. "This year one investment improves the aging services infrastructure to focus on connection and prevention. We are also requesting $10 million to help strengthen the Area Agency on Aging workforce. More feet on the ground, more services, reduced waiting lists means more connections to older adults and more interventions to prevent isolation, improve health and well-being and reduce the need for calls to our elder abuse helpline. We are seeing strong legislative support for these initiatives, and we are busy working with all our partners, including the Area Agencies on Aging, to get these asks over the finish line."

Kavulich noted the hard work the 52 Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) across the Commonwealth do to deliver a multitude of services touching the lives of thousands of older adults each day.

He said Protective Services is one of the Department's most critical services, and it is some of the toughest work the AAAs oversee.

Over the past five years, the Department has seen a 67% increase in reports of suspected abuse — and a 21% increase over the previous year. With the rise in financial exploitation, cases have become more complex.

Following the event, Secretary Kavulich and attendees toured the construction site of Telespond's Older Adult Advocacy Center — a first-of-its-kind center in the Commonwealth specifically designed to serve older adults who are victims of abuse or neglect in Lackawanna and surrounding counties. It is expected to open this fall.

The advocacy center will offer a person-centered approach to abuse investigations, care and treatment plans, and education for older adults while providing emergency respite and short-term transitional living space. The center will include four bedroom units along with a medical station, bathing accessibility, a lounge, kitchen area and laundry facilities for abuse victims and will be connected to adult day and personal care services, senior companionship, legal services, transportation and more.

If you suspect an older adult is the victim of abuse, neglect, or exploitation, please call the Pennsylvania Department of Aging's Protective Services Helpline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 800-490-8505.

Sen. Casey demands Target, Walmart, Amazon disclose information about pricing decisions

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, this week sent letters to Target, Walmart and Amazon, linking the retailers' pricing practice to "greedflation" and demanding they disclose information about how they have made pricing decisions over the last two years.

After years of fast-growing profits for these companies, all three have recently publicly announced price decreases, with Walmart beginning to decrease prices at the end of 2023 and Target and Amazon following suit earlier this year.

In his letters, Casey points out that the overall cost of goods began to drop well before these price decreases occurred, and asked for more information about how these wildly profitable companies make pricing decisions.

"Given the slowdown in the price of goods since at least late summer of 2023, Americans should have been seeing decreases in prices for many products for over a year, not just now," Casey wrote. "This reaffirms that the price increases that consumers have been confronted with have not been inflationary increases, but instead, greedflation-related increases. It is now readily apparent that corporations have had the ability to lower consumers' costs and still turn a profit. Americans deserve to pay fair prices, and corporations must be held accountable for taking advantage of working families."

In the letters to the nation's largest, second largest, and sixth largest retailers, Casey linked Target, Walmart, and Amazon's pricing decisions and record profits over the last three years to "greedflation."

He also asked the companies to explain their pricing decisions, including how inflation impacts their decision making, the duration of the recently announced price changes, the corporations' use of "shrinkflation," and how they work with brands sold in store to monitor price changes and package changes.

Since November 2023, Chairman Casey has been investigating corporate price gouging and other actions by big corporations that have squeezed the budgets of American families and contributed to the increase in inflation.

In November, Chairman Casey released the first report in his greedflation series, "Greedflation: How Corporations Are Making Record Profits on the Backs of American Families," detailing how big corporations are using inflation as cover to raise prices and rake in record profits at the expense of middle-class American families and laying out Senator Casey's vision to hold greedy corporations accountable. Corporate executives claim they've "earned the right" to raise prices and that their products "are worth paying a little bit more for."

In January 2024, Casey released his fourth report of his greedflation series — "Additional Charges May Apply: How Big Corporations Use Hidden Fees to Nickel, Dime, and Deceive American Families" — detailing how big corporations are tacking on excessive fees at the tail end of everyday purchases, from internet plans to ATM withdrawals.

Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.