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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.

Let's begin with a nugget of good news: we here at Happy Hour HQ are thrilled to report that our long national nightmare is over - Maker's Mark has decided NOT to reduce the alcohol content of its bourbon. Instead of another foolish foray into fixing something that ain't broke, the product will remain as is. By backing down in the face of a new Whiskey Rebellion, the brand's caretakers scuttled plans for a new trendy cocktail, Maker's and New Coke, the buzz nobody would want.

And now for the news that induces us to imbibe. First up is The Sequester, or the federal government's equivalent of death by a thousand cuts. For those whose eyes glaze over every time the subject comes up, here's a concise explanation of how our lives will slowly become a living hell without action by that herd of cats known as the United States Congress.

If your hair isn't already hurting, this was the first of three weeks of budget hearings in Harrisburg. Budget Secretary Charles Zogby said that the $2.8 billion in increased pension costs coming over the next four years would require a 24 percent increase in the personal income tax, and there just aren't many places left to cut the General Fund budget.

Then there's all the folderol about Medicaid expansion. Although it would reduce the number of uninsured Pennsylvanians by 800,000, and the feds would pick up all of the cost for now, the federal help would be cut back to 90 percent come 2020. Governor Corbett hasn't ruled out Pennsylvania's participation, but he says he first wants to discuss the rules.

On the transportation funding front, President Obama has proposed federal spending of $50 billion on road and transit projects in the short term. At the state level, Governor Corbett says he'll pony up an additional $1.8 billion per year. Congressman Bill Shuster, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi and Democrats in both houses have launched a Dickensian chorus of "Please, sir, I want some more."

Back to Governor Corbett, his appearance before the Patriot-News editorial board spurred a number of stories, not the least of which was an assessment of his increased level of confidence and apparent determination to plow ahead for a second term.

In that Patriot session, he hinted that he may not be finished with his quest to privatize the Pennsylvania Lottery, having secured yet another extension from the lone bidder, UK-based Camelot Global Services PA.

Corbett's pal, House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, said he intends to introduce legislation next month that would privatize the state's liquor sales. The governor says he remains gung-ho over that idea as well.

On the negative side of the ledger, the notorious buzz-killers known as the NCAA had the audacity to sue the good governor and others to stop the state from utilizing all of the $60 million fine extorted from Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, scant hours after Corbett had signed the legislation into law.

All in all, though, the governor had a pretty good week, including word from Democratic power broker David Cohen that he's likely to throw his coveted support behind the Republican guv in his reelection bid.

Not such a good week for sisters Janine Orie and Joan Orie Melvin, the suspended state Supreme Court justice, who were convicted on six counts each of campaign corruption. The charges involved using state-funded employees to work on Melvin's judicial campaigns in 2003 and 2009.

Have a good week!