Sen.+Jim+Ferlo+-+Republican+majority+in+Harrisburg+failed+Pennsylvanians+this+year.

= The following is the Text of Dec. 20 press release from Sen. Jim Ferlo = =Published by Capitalwire= =12/20/11= = = = = = = =Pittsburgh – After the Pennsylvania Senate closed its 2011 legislative session, State Senator Jim Ferlo (D-Pittsburgh) reflected on some key failures of the Corbett Administration and the Republican majority in the legislature.= = = =“This legislative session, my Senate Democratic colleagues and I have been forced to serve as observers to the Republican side show,” Ferlo said. “This legislature and the governor have simply failed on many of the key issues affecting Pennsylvania.”= = = =Ferlo added that he is most disappointed that another year has passed without action on a Marcellus Shale plan that is “fair, reasonable and protects Pennsylvania’s environment.”= = = =“On the issue of Marcellus Shale, we have constantly stalled on real, responsible Marcellus Shale legislation,” Ferlo said. “Instead of providing stronger protections for Pennsylvania’s environment and citizens and allowing local governments the ability to control zoning of drilling sites, the Republican Shale plan gives the industry a pass with an insufficient impact fee, lax environmental protections and ties the hands of local governments.”= = = =Ferlo also pointed to the lack of action on critical education and transportation issues as a major failure by the Governor and the Republican majority.= = = =“First, Corbett cut critical education funding in his budget, then came the faulty vouchers bill that faltered in the House, so here students sit with less resources in the class room and only bad policy options on the table for the near future,” Ferlo said. “While I’m relieved the voucher proposal has not succeeded in passing, this administration doesn’t have a clear path for the future that will improve the prospects of our children.”= = = =Ferlo added that Pennsylvania’s transportation woes have been largely and noticeably ignored by the Corbett Administration, while the transit needs remain dire. He added that there are 5,906 bridges in Pennsylvania that remain structurally deficient and require immediate attention.= = = =“All over Pennsylvania, 22.8 million vehicles cross bridges and roads that are literally falling apart and our mass transit systems, which get over 1 million riders per day where they need to be, are badly in need of operating revenue,” Ferlo said. “Governor Corbett’s silence on transportation funding, as well as distancing himself from the recommendations of his transportation advisory commission is telling. He is leaving the citizens of Pennsylvania in danger with every passing day we do not act while he wrestles with the conflict between his dogmatic stance on not raising revenue and the need to invest in our basic infrastructure.”= = = =Ferlo also expressed his outrage at some of the actions that did pass the legislature this year, including a bill targeting reputable abortion care and family planning providers which imposes prohibitively costly regulations, the elimination of Medicaid assistance to 150,000 individuals – including 43,000 children, and a redistricting plan rife with gerrymandering tactics.= = = =“In a time where real action was needed on Marcellus Shale, transportation, and education reform, my Republican colleagues chose to attack women’s reproductive rights under the guise of health care and safety while at the same time cutting off tens of thousands from the very life saving health care coverage they claimed to so deeply care about,” Ferlo said. “A contradiction that I do not believe will be lost on the voters.”= = = =“I am also outraged that the Corbett Administration has chosen to remove tens of thousands of individuals, many of them children, from Medicaid rolls under the guise of rooting out welfare abuse, waste and fraud.= = = =“The bogus redistricting process and convoluted new congressional maps show that the Republican majority has completely discarded Pennsylvania voters,” Ferlo said. “When added together with the obvious voter turnout suppression tactics inherent in the voter ID bills, a blatant pattern of partisanship is revealed. There are political moves that truly damage the democratic process.”= = = =Senator Ferlo said he hopes that the session break allows the Republican majority time to reflect on their failures this session. He added that he plans to continue to fight for the needs of his constituents and citizens all over the commonwealth.= = =

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