The Westmoreland County will lead, educate, engage, inform and advocate to advance a state policy agenda that serves as the voice for business. Our members want to operate in a business environment that allows them to grow and thrive. The Chamber’s “STATE” policy priorities reach beyond the legislative and regulatory agenda to encompass administrative policies that have implications on businesses, our community and economy. We urge Pennsylvania’s legislature and the Governor’s administration to pursue a public policy agenda that will reinforce confidence among employers, provide resources necessary to develop a talented workforce and enable economic vibrancy for Westmoreland County. Our member driven state policy agenda is outlined below:
1. HIGH QUALITY CHILD CARE – High quality child care programs offer safe, nurturing, and responsive environments that allow families to work knowing their children are with qualified and caring professionals. Prior to the pandemic, 70% of Pennsylvania children younger than age five had all adults in their household in the labor force; nearly one in three Pennsylvania families were likely to have non-traditional child care needs . As the number of jobs with non-traditional work hours increases, the need for quality child care during non-traditional hours (NTH) continues to grow. While needs, routines, and standards may look different during nontraditional hours, children still deserve the same safe, nurturing, and responsive environments of child care programs that operate during traditional work hours. This allows assurance for parents/caregivers as they work during evenings, overnight, and weekends.
Employer & Business Support - Resources and Supports Pennsylvania should explore how other financial incentives like grants and contracts have the potential to expand the supply and quality of NTH care. This may begin with an analysis of demand to support target efforts to build supply in regions with the most need. A 2018 National Women’s Law Center article suggested using grants and mentoring to encourage more providers to offer NTH and assisting those that already offer care. Establishing technical assistance, mentorship, professional networks, and shared services may provide the opportunity to support existing NTH providers and the recruitment of new programs.
Accessibility for Families - Only 9% of eligible children use CCW subsidy to pay for NTH child care. Families who qualified and received CCW said it was inadequate to afford high-quality NTH child care. The add-on using ARPA funds should help to begin to address this problem; however, we must acknowledge that the add-on is added to a market rate that is not the actual cost of care. The costs to remain open and provide quality care are huge barriers for providers, and addressing the base-rates and NTH care add-on is critical for ensuring families have access. The state should monitor how the add-on rate impacts provider offerings and family accessibility.
Resources and Supports - Pennsylvania should explore how other financial incentives like grants and contracts have the potential to expand the supply and quality of NTH care. This may begin with an analysis of demand to support target efforts to build supply in regions with the most need. A 2018 National Women’s Law Center article suggested using grants and mentoring to encourage more providers to offer NTH and assisting those that already offer care. Establishing technical assistance, mentorship, professional networks, and shared services may provide the opportunity to support existing NTH providers and the recruitment of new programs.
2. MODERN, SAFE, EFFICIENT AND RELIABLE INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS & TRANSPORTATION – The Chamber supports a need for a reliable, predicable and growing source of funding to sustain an efficient transportation system as well as enhanced and/or safe roads, bridges and highways throughout our region.
Approximately 75% of funding for Pennsylvania's aging transportation system comes from the gas tax — a funding concept that is more than 100 years old. With advances in fuel efficiency and the increased popularity of hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs), state transportation revenue is trending downward and is expected to continue to do so. And it is not just EVs. In the past few years, travel patterns and habits have changed dramatically relative to telecommuting, unemployment, online shopping and technology advances in general. As gas usage declines, gas tax revenue will decrease as well, further challenging our ability to maintain the critical components of our state's transportation infrastructure. Additionally, PennDOT is committed to phasing out the state gas tax. With the third-highest number of state-maintained bridges and fifth-largest state-maintained roadway network, the need to find innovative, reliable and equitable transportation funding solutions is crucial for Pennsylvania!
It is imperative that Westmoreland County possess and maintain adequately funded and reliable transportation and utility systems and other infrastructure. The Chamber advocates for greater efficiencies in their construction, maintenance and delivery, including streamlined permit and regulatory processes. To be competitive with neighboring states and within our own region, we must improve our infrastructure to better facilitate the free flow of goods and commerce along with the mobility of our citizens for business and recreational activities. This includes roads, bridges, ports, railways, airports, mass transit, water, sewage, internet access, electricity, natural gas, and more.
3. AFFORDABLE AND ACCESSIBLE HEALTH CARE - The Chamber believes Pennsylvanians must have affordable and accessible health care. Addressing the rising cost of health care is paramount to impacting affordability. Government should build on the strengths of market-based, employer-sponsored systems or purchasing pools to obtain stable premiums while enacting reforms aimed at lower costs, incentivizing improved quality outcomes, and access to a more value-driven system that relies on well informed and cost sensitive consumers. We also support increased transparency of cost and quality outcomes to assist the consumer. The Chamber is opposed to any proposal that will further increase the cost of health insurance impacting small businesses and individual premium payers. The Chamber supports community partnerships with local health care providers. These partnerships should identify community health issues and work together to address these health issues to create healthier communities while also helping to further reduce the cost of health care in this region.
4. EDUCATION & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT - The Westmoreland County Chamber believes a highly skilled, well-educated population is essential to our local economy’s success. Cooperation between the public and private sectors is needed to ensure accountability and accomplishment. The Chamber believes students of all ages need to pursue appropriate educational opportunities to meet the demands of local employers. We acknowledge that many jobs in today’s market do not require a traditional four-year degree or graduate level studies. While professional occupations are important, that track may not be appropriate for some students. Job seekers must be made more aware of the advantages of pursuing family sustaining jobs in what is often referred to as the ‘blue collar’ sector.
The Westmoreland County Chamber stands strong in the belief that all citizens must possess a general understanding of how our economy works. This understanding is paramount to the long-term stability and success of our society. Students should have at least a basic knowledge of the importance of free enterprise, basic economic theories, the impacts of profit and loss, rules of supply and demand, the importance of government and business cooperation, and an appreciation for the role of profitability in our culture.
5. ENERGY MARKETS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS - All businesses and residents need access to reliable and affordable energy. This requires a regulatory climate and necessary infrastructure to foster exploration, production, generation, transmission and distribution systems throughout the Commonwealth. The Chamber supports the passage of comprehensive energy legislation that seeks to increase domestic production and conservation, upgrades our energy delivery system, and encourages development of new energy technology. It is imperative to the health and well-being of our community that energy sector businesses be environmentally conscious and follow existing regulations. The Chamber seeks to encourage energy sector growth while at the same time striving to protect the natural environment. We passionately believe these two objectives need not be in direct conflict with one another.
6. CREATING AN EQUITABLE CIVIL JUSTICE SYSTEM - Pennsylvania’s legal climate is conducive to frivolous lawsuits and lacks protections that create a fair, balanced and common sense system. The Chamber supports legal reforms that help prevent lawsuit abuse while protecting the right of legitimate plaintiffs to seek justice. The Chamber supports lawsuit abuse reform proposals that provide for full and timely compensation of parties legitimately able to demonstrate damages; give employers predictability and certainty; change the judicial system to achieve greater efficiencies and unbiased justice; and contribute to greater productivity and economic prosperity.
7. BALANCED LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT LAWS AND REGULATIONS - State laws and regulations that dictate labor relations and employment policies in Pennsylvania are often outdated, insufficient or unbalanced and changes are necessary to address abuses and facilitate a fair work environment. The Chamber supports eliminating misuse and improving the financial condition of the unemployment compensation and workers’ compensation systems. We oppose excessive mandates and artificial wage inflators that unnecessarily increase the cost of doing business.
8. OUR REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT IS NEGATIVELY IMPACTING BUSINESSES - The Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce supports sensible business regulations. However, we believe that many regulatory agencies have overstepped their bounds by instituting regulations not passed by Congress at the Federal level or by the General Assembly at the State level. The often charged regulatory atmosphere has become overly burdensome on the business community.
9. IMPROVING THE BUSINESS TAX STRUCTURE - Pennsylvania’s corporate tax rates are on a path to improvement, but the overall tax climate remains prohibitive to growth. Comprehensive reform of Pennsylvania’s overall tax structure continues to be necessary to help stimulate economic development to retain and grow our population. Accelerating the reduction of the CNI from the recently approve bill in 2022, currently 8.99 percent to 7.99 percent immediately and then reduce it by a point each Jan 1 until it reaches 4.99 in 2026 will help promote more businesses to stay in PA, while encouraging more to move to the commonwealth now and in the future.
10. IMPROVING PERMITTING AND PROFESSIONAL LICENSING PROCESS - The Chamber supports the implementation of permitting reform by improving the processes by which construction and other development projects obtain approvals from government agencies. The process for applying for and obtaining permits takes too long, lacks transparency and costs businesses money and workers jobs. Permit delays mean that a project cannot receive financing, which can delay or cancel projects. This results in fewer good-paying jobs for the talented workers across our commonwealth who are ready to build a 21st century economy.