{"id":16414,"date":"2016-06-22T18:30:52","date_gmt":"2016-06-22T18:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/independentweekender.com\/?p=16414"},"modified":"2016-06-22T18:30:52","modified_gmt":"2016-06-22T18:30:52","slug":"chamber-hosts-state-legislators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/06\/22\/chamber-hosts-state-legislators\/","title":{"rendered":"Chamber hosts state legislators"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY STACI WILSON<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>

From left: Bill deRosiers of Cabot, Rep. Sandra Major, Sen. Lisa Baker, Rep. Tina Pickett, Sen. Gene Yaw, Tammy Bonnice of Williams and the Montrose Chamber; and Joe Hunt of JHA Companies.<\/p><\/div>\n

State legislators that represent parts of Susquehanna County met with area business owners, local government officials, organization leaders and members of the public at a luncheon Friday hosted by the Montrose Area Chamber of Commerce at the Cabot offices in Dimock.<\/p>\n

Senators Lisa Baker and Gene Yaw, as well as Representatives Sandra Major and Tina Pickett spoke about the committees they serve on, as well as legislative initiatives happening in Harrisburg.<\/p>\n

Baker, chair of the Senate Labor & Industry Committee, said member would be looking at the affect of a recent federal level executive order that addresses raises the minimum pay for salaried workers.<\/p>\n

She also noted that PA One-Call legislation was due to be re-authorized but oversight will likely be moving from Labor & Industry to the Pennsylvania Utility Commission (PUC).<\/p>\n

Yaw, a member of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, said the state will have to comply with new EPA regulations that would likely target farmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bay is not any cleaner,\u201d he said, noting billions of dollars had been spent to upgrade sewage treatment facilities that comprised only a small piece of bay pollution.<\/p>\n

Yaw also spoke about the natural gas industry, specifically mentioning the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline. \u201cWe need pipelines to get the gas out of the area.\u201d Yaw said people opposed to natural gas drilling were now targeting pipelines.<\/p>\n

The senator also heads up the Center for Rural Pennsylvania which has focused its efforts over the past two years on the heroin and opioid epidemic in the state.<\/p>\n

Information gathered through hearings around the state and experts will be worked into some form of legislation, he said. \u201cIt\u2019s problem that can not be fixed overnight,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take years to dig our way out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Major, who is retiring at the end of this term, serves as the House Republican Caucus Chair.<\/p>\n

She noted worked to extend funding for rural telephone companies until 2020. Major said many senior citizens depend on access to land lines.<\/p>\n

She also mentioned progress on liquor modernization that is expected to generate $150 million into the state coffers.<\/p>\n

Major said the legislators are working toward a budget deal and that she was hopeful that this year there would be an on-time June 30 state budget.<\/p>\n

Pickett said energy is a big subject \u2013 from coal to gas and electric. \u201cThe primary thing that runs everything is jobs, and energy is such a big piece of that,\u201d she said. She is a member of the Consumer Affairs committee.<\/p>\n

Pickett also chairs the Insurance committee in the PA House. That committee \u2013 comprised of consumers, insurance companies, trial lawyers and legislators \u2013 is also focused on the opioid crisis.<\/p>\n

The legislators also took questions from attendees.<\/p>\n

Scott Quigg, of Pump N Pantry, asked that while working on a state budget the legislators remember that they represent an area that borders another state. Some proposed taxes, including a \u201csin tax\u201d on cigarettes or additional gas taxes could put businesses in the area at a competitive disadvantage with other states.<\/p>\n

Retired educator Gary Parker spoke about pension reform and the unfunded liabilities in the state worker and educator pensions.<\/p>\n

He said he was concerned about changing the pensions, effective July 2018 (SB 1071) from a defined benefit to a hybrid plan would take 32 years to fully fund the pension accounts. \u201cIs there something else\u201d he asked. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to go away and has a tremendous strapping effect on local school districts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pickett said, \u201cThere are no simple solutions.\u201d She said the legislators were working to take incremental steps toward nibbling away at the unfunded liability.<\/p>\n

Yaw said the House had significantly modified the Senate bill and that it was likely that the Senate would not go along with the House changes. But he said, \u201cWe have to stop the bleeding. Every day they hire someone we incur liability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yaw also addressed the state\u2019s gas tax, saying that $800 million from the gas tax is used to fund the Pennsylvania State Police.<\/p>\n

County Commissioner Alan Hall noted the critical importance of Act 13 to the county and local municipalities, and asked the legislators to work to keep that funding in place.<\/p>\n

The Legislative Luncheon was hosted by the Montrose Area Chamber of Commerce, and sponsored by Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. and Williams Companies, and JHA Companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY STACI WILSON State legislators that represent parts of Susquehanna County met with area business owners, local government officials, organization leaders and members of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nChamber hosts state legislators - PS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/06\/22\/chamber-hosts-state-legislators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chamber hosts state legislators - PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY STACI WILSON State legislators that represent parts of Susquehanna County met with area business owners, local government officials, organization leaders and members of the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/06\/22\/chamber-hosts-state-legislators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-22T18:30:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/leg-lunch-1024x768.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tpennysaver\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tpennysaver\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/06\/22\/chamber-hosts-state-legislators\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/06\/22\/chamber-hosts-state-legislators\/\",\"name\":\"Chamber hosts state legislators - PS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/06\/22\/chamber-hosts-state-legislators\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/06\/22\/chamber-hosts-state-legislators\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/psowegomedia.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/leg-lunch.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-22T18:30:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/75c26bc8e32869a516360463d23964c5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/06\/22\/chamber-hosts-state-legislators\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/06\/22\/chamber-hosts-state-legislators\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2016\/06\/22\/chamber-hosts-state-legislators\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/psowegomedia.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/leg-lunch.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/psowegomedia.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/leg-lunch.jpg\",\"width\":4160,\"height\":3120,\"caption\":\"From left: Bill deRosiers of Cabot, Rep. 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