Saturday, December 22, 2018

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Friday, December 21, 2018

Wolf Announces Staff Changes At Administration, PEMA, Policy & Planning

On December 21, Gov. Wolf announced several changes to his cabinet and immediate staff--
-- Secretary of Administration Sharon Minnich will be taking a job as a Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance at the State System of Higher Education. Replacing her wll be Michael Newsome, a Liquor Control Board member;
-- Rick Flinn, Director of the PA Emergency Management Agency, will be leaving.  Randy Padfield, who served as the agency’s Deputy Director for Response will become acting Director.
-- Sarah Galbally, Secretary of Policy and Planning, is leaving and will be replaced by Meg Snead, who served as a deputy in the Office.
Wolf previously announced Budget Secretary Randy Albright is leaving for a position at the State Employees’ Retirement System.  He will be replaced by Jen Swails who serves as the Fiscal Management director overseeing the budgets of Aging, Health, Human Services and Alcohol Programs.
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Pennsylvania's November Unemployment Rate Up Slightly To 4.2 Percent

On December 21, the Department of Labor and Industry reported Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was up one-tenth of a percentage point from October to 4.2 percent. This was the first over-the-month increase in the unemployment rate since July 2016.
The Pennsylvania unemployment rate declined by six-tenths of a percentage point from November 2017.
The estimated number of Pennsylvania residents working or looking for work, known as the civilian labor force, was up 21,000 over the month. The number of employed Pennsylvanians rose by 17,000 to a record high of 6,172,000.
The number of unemployed residents was up 3,000 from October, but down 40,000 from last November.
The estimated number of jobs in Pennsylvania, referred to as total nonfarm jobs, was down 5,400 in November to 6,055,500. Highlights from this month’s jobs report include:
-- Among the 11 industry supersectors, five showed gains over the month
-- Construction had the largest monthly gain, reaching its highest level since May 2008
-- The largest percentage gain was in mining & logging (+1.0 percent), which added jobs for the fifth straight month
Over the past 12 months, jobs increased 1.3 percent in the commonwealth with gains in 10 of the 11 supersectors. Professional & business services had the largest volume 12-month gain. Nationally, jobs were up 1.7 percent during this timeframe.
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Thursday, December 20, 2018

Gov. Wolf Endorses Bipartisan Commission Proposals To Save Pension Funds Nearly $10 Billion By Cutting Wall Street Management Fees

On December 20, Gov. Tom Wolf endorsed the recommendations of the bipartisan Public Pension Management and Asset Investment Review Commission to reduce nearly $10 billion in Wall Street pension fund management fees and improve transparency.
The Commission was chaired by Rep. Mike Tobash (R-Schuylkill) and State Treasurer Joe Torsella served as vice-chair.
“These bipartisan recommendations give us a roadmap to continue the tremendous progress we’ve made on pensions,” said Gov. Wolf. “These are common sense reforms that will rein in excessive fees, increase transparency and keep billions of dollars in Pennsylvania rather than going into the pockets of Wall Street bankers.”
The pension reform law signed by Gov. Wolf last year called for the creation of the Public Pension Management and Asset Investment Review Commission. The commission conducted the first independent review of the Pennsylvania Public Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) and the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS).
The report recommends an estimated $9.9 billion in actuarial savings over 30 years calculated at the 7.25 percent assumed rate of return for both retirement systems. Those recommendations include:
-- Maintaining full payment of the annual actuarially determined contribution amount;
-- Establishing a Central Investment Office;
-- Enacting legislation mandating annual stress testing;
-- Increasing transparency of investment cost, performance and benchmarks;
-- Enacting legislation mandating increased public reporting of all investment expenses;
-- Moving to fully index all public market investments in both public equities and fixed income;
-- Adopting measures to reduce risk.
The report and recommendations follow the commission’s seven-month review of the state’s pension systems for state employees and public school employees. The commission conducted three public hearings and heard testimony from investment and academic experts, state pension fund managers, and SERS and PSERS.
Rep. Tobash served as the commission’s chairman and Treasurer Torsella was vice-chair. Other commission members include James Bloom, Bernie Gallagher, and Michael Torbert.
“I thank Treasurer Torsella and Rep. Tobash for their leadership and all members of the entire commission for their diligent and dedicated work. The efforts of this commission will help Pennsylvania to save billions of dollars in the coming decades,” said Gov. Wolf. “I look forward to working with the pension systems and the legislature to put these recommendations into action.”
Click Here for a copy of the report.
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Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Gov. Wolf, AG Shapiro Announce Online Tool To Report Suspicious Prescription Drug Activity

On December 19, Attorney General Josh Shapiro joined Gov. Tom Wolf to announce the launch of a new online tool to report suspicious prescription drug activity.
The suspicious activity report form is fully integrated into the Commonwealth’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Tool (PDMP) and can also be accessed by anyone.
“The illegal diversion of prescription pain pills from doctors’ offices and pharmacies is contributing to the opioid epidemic across the Commonwealth, but diversion activity is hard to identify and even harder to investigate” said Attorney General Shapiro. “This new reporting tool, which is available online to everyone, allows people to anonymously give our office detailed information about suspected diversion so we are better able to arrest and prosecute the criminals who are poisoning our communities for their own profit.”
Attorney General Shapiro was joined by Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine to make the announcement.  
The Department of Health will begin notifying PDMP users, like doctors and pharmacists, about the tool with encouragement to use it if they believe they have information on possible diversion activity.  
Medical professionals are the most likely to identify suspicious prescription drug activity, but any Pennsylvanian can access and use the reporting tool.
“I’m proud that more than 90,000 PDMP users are conducting more than 1.6 million searches each month to ensure controlled substances such as opioids are being responsibility prescribed and dispensed,” Gov. Wolf said. “Now PDMP users will have another way to help reduce the misuse of prescription drugs. It’s a new tool in our toolkit for fighting the opioid epidemic.”
During Attorney General Shapiro’s first year in office, the Office of Attorney General (OAG) increased diversion arrests 72 percent over the previous year.  In November 2018, Shapiro announced charges against four people who illegally diverted more than 17,000 pills through 264 fake prescriptions in Butler, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.
OAG is also focused on prevention efforts to combat the opioid crisis including: working with local law enforcement agencies on a treatment outreach initiative so police can help get addicts into treatment rather than arrest them; running a prescription drug take-back program which has destroyed 47 tons of pills in 2018 alone; community engagement efforts to educate the public about the dangers of opioids and addiction; and leading an ongoing 41-state investigation into the tactics and operations of opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Click Here for the new online reporting tool.
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