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Hotel Information

This year, Legislative Day will be held at the Hyatt Regency Washington.  To reserve your room, call (888) 421-1442 by February 15, 2013 and mention "NPMA" to receive the group rate of $259 per night.  After February 15, rooms and the group rate are subject to availability.  

Questions?  Contact NPMA at (703) 352-NPMA (6762).

Have a division or pest management meeting announcement to share or questions about a meeting posted/mentioned?  Send info to info@ppmaonline.net  

Mark your calendar for the next PPMA Annual Conference on November 4 & 5, 2013 at the Best Western Premier Eden Resort in Lancaster, PA.

If you're not a policy dork like us, you might as well just stop reading now, because as we approach the eve of the governor's annual budget address, our heart goes pitty-pat over the opportunity to trudge into the weeds and figure out what might or might not come out of Governor Corbett's mouth next Tuesday and what that portends for the ol' commonwealth.

There have been juicy little hints all week. Apparently, Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa was not sworn to secrecy when he was briefed on Corbett's transportation funding proposal, because he spilled the beans to the Post-Gazette's Jon Schmitz, who reported the plan would generate $1.9 billion annually in additional revenue, about enough to cover half of the funding gap.

Then there's the happy news that basic education could get a boost this year, and that higher education would remain level, but there's a caveat: unless the General Assembly fails to enact pension reform. In that case, all kinds of bad things could happen.

Frankly, the prospects for pension reform ain't necessarily looking that good. Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati said that Corbett's pension solutions, which include reducing future pension benefits for current employees, will face a tough road in the legislature.

Daily News columnist John Baer took it a step further, suggesting that the aforementioned "tough road" may be impassable.

And if the pension news were not cheery enough already, the Patriot-News bludgeoned us with the observation that while state workers and teachers get most of the attention, the situation with municipal pensions are just about as bad and represents a drain on local governments.

But we digress. Back to the juicy budget hints, Corbett went back near his ol' stompin' grounds this week to announce that his budget proposal would include funding to hire 290 brand spankin' new state police cadets and 90 civilian police dispatchers. In the current fiscal year, 136 troopers have either retired or announced plans to do so, and the ranks are getting a bit thin.

One thing the smokies won't be doing in the near term is administering breath tests to DUI suspects, thanks to a Dauphin County judge's ruling that... well, we don't really understand the exact reason, other than the testing procedure may not currently be legally kosher. But hey! Even though it may be Happy Hour, we still expect you to imbibe responsibly. Besides, in the absence of breath tests, DUI suspects will be taken to a cop shop or medical facility for a blood test, which is a much more accurate indicator of one's sobriety or lack thereof.

The other big news of the week was Corbett's renewal of the effort to privatize wine and liquor sales. The administration guesstimates that the initiative will generate a billion dollars, which will be earmarked for public school block grants over four years. Still up in the air is how it will fit into the budget and policy dynamics that inevitably get plopped into the ol' legislative Bass-O-Matic this time of year.

Sen. Jake Corman's bill that would require Penn State's $60 million Jerry Sandusky fine to be spent in Pennsylvania squeaked by in the Senate . We suspect it will encounter a similar fate in the House. In related news, PA Congressmen Glenn Thompson and Charlie Dent asked the NCAA to reconsider the 40-scholarship reduction imposed on the Penn State football program.

A Quinnipiac University poll concluded that a majority of Pennsylvanians favor stricter gun-control laws. Gun aficionados immediately disputed the results, noting that everyone they know just loves guns, and besides, the poll included only 1,200 respondents, and there are more than 12 million Pennsylvanians. Somehow, Quinnipiac must have spoken with the only 1,200 Pennsylvanians who want tighter gun control laws.

This week's installment of We Can't Make This Up features the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre and the NCAA's Mark Emmert. LaPierre's appearance at a congressional hearing more closely resembled a drive-by shooting, and Emmert is under fire for the very type of behavior he sanctions college sports programs for. As they lead their respective organizations down the path to marginalization, we pose this question: is LaPierre the Mark Emmert of politics, or is Emmert the Wayne LaPierre of sports? We'll get busy polling all 12 million Pennsylvanians and get back to you with the results.

Remember Tom Wolf? Well, we do. The York County businessman and former PA revenue secretary told the Tribune-Review that he's planning to seek the Democratic nomination for governor next year. We also enjoyed his novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities. (Oh, wait; that was Wolfe with an "e").  Whatever.  Keep on reading until next week's blast.