The Pennsylvania General Assembly Completes a Productive Session

           The Republican-majority Pennsylvania General Assembly has completed a productive legislative session.  The session is most notable for the passage of two balanced budgets – on time and without raising taxes.  The budgets closed a $4.5 billion budget shortfall leftover from Democratic Governor Ed Rendell’s Administration.

            Among the scores of bills the Commonwealth’s legislature passed that were signed into law by Governor Tom Corbett, a Republican, were the following significant measures, all of which I have posted about over the last two years:  renewal of the phase-out of the capital stock and franchise tax; elimination of the inheritance tax on family farms; imposition of a principled natural gas impact fee, as opposed to a tax; welfare reform; small business regulatory reform, tort reform (more fairness in seeking damages from lesser defendants whose liability was minor); educational choice (educational scholarships for businesses to award to parents); expansion of the Castle Doctrine; greater regulation of abortion clinics – equal to regular medical procedure clinics; banning bath salts and texting while driving; corrections reform and voter identification, requiring all voters to produce a photographic identification in order for their ballots to be counted.