8 Berks County Organizations to Get $260k State Investment to Target Underage, Dangerous Drinking, Schwank, Caltagirone Announce

June 11, 2015

READING, June 11, 2015 – Berks County communities working to help teenagers and young adults better understand the consequences of drinking and alcohol abuse today received nearly $260,000 in grants from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

Sen. Judy Schwank, Rep. Tom Caltagirone, and PLCB Chairman Tim Holden announced the grant recipients today during a press conference at Penn State-Berks. Representatives from area colleges and municipal governments joined them.

“Our purpose here today is not to take credit, get attention, or seek congratulations,” Sen. Schwank said. “Instead, we gather here today to share some great news: three of our local colleges and universities, two local governments, two police forces, and one school district have been awarded nearly $260,000 in grants from the PLCB to better help our children who might be tempted by underage drinking.”

“With the PLCB’s help, these Berks County communities and organizations will use these new investments to make lives better for minors, their families and the neighborhoods they call home,” Rep. Caltagirone said. “‘Drink Responsibly’ is a marketing slogan that is too often ignored by minors and these funds will be used to raise awareness of the dangers and consequences of underage drinking.”

The PLCB is awarding nearly $2.3 million in grants to organizations statewide. In Berks County, eight awards are headed to the following:

Kutztown University – $40,000

Kutztown School District – $40,000

Kutztown Borough – $32,622

Wyomissing Borough Police – $25,536

Alvernia University – $40,000

Penn State Berks Campus Police – $21,817

Albright College – $39,793

Spring Township Police Department – $19,108

Today’s announcement is nearly 60 percent greater than the PLCB’s investment two years ago when just Kutztown University ($40,000), Kutztown Borough ($36,615), Albright College ($27,254), Wyomissing Borough PD ($24,478), and PSU-Berks ($20,065) received grants.

Grant recipients will invest the PLCB dollars in efforts that involve training, law enforcement patrols, and other prevention programs.

Schwank said alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the U.S. and is responsible for more than 4,300 annual deaths among underage drinkers. Every year, she added, hospitals across the country are visited by thousands of underage persons for alcohol related incidents.

“The value of Pennsylvania’s liquor store system is evidenced by the investment made today in our Berks County communities,” Caltagirone said. “These grants represent significant backing and education for our children and the places we call home.”

“I want local residents and officials to know that though the statistics are daunting, real work is being done to educate students and young people about the dangers of illegal and dangerous alcohol use,” Schwank said. “These participants that have gathered here today are working to ensure that our community is a safe one where alcohol is consumed responsibly and legally.”

The other participants joining Caltagirone, Schwank and Holden included:

  • Dr. Keith Hillkirk and Chief Kevin Rudy from Penn State Berks
  • Dr. Lex O. McMillan III, Albright College
  • Dr. Joe Cicala, vice president of university life at Alvernia University
  • Dr. Carlos Vargas, Kutztown University
  • Dr. Ed Meyers and Mr. Barry Flicker, Kutztown School District
  • Chief Jeffrey Beihl, Wyomissing Police, and
  • Kutztown Mayor Sandra Green

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Schwank, Labor, Local Officials Urge Adoption of Tax on Natural Gas Drilling to Fund Economic Development, Education, Environmental Protection

March 28, 2014

READING, March 27, 2014 – To improve the education of children, better protect Pennsylvania’s environment and spark long-awaited economic development, Sen. Judy Schwank (D-Berks) today announced her support for new legislation that would impose a severance tax on natural gas drilling in the state’s Marcellus Shale region.

The 5 percent levy, which would raise $720 million in the coming fiscal year, would make critical investments in public education, job creation, and the environment.

Standing before a paint factory in Reading that has been vacant for the past seven years, Schwank said the tax on the very profitable Marcellus Shale companies would provide much-needed funding for critical areas that have suffered in previous state budgets, especially economic development and the environment.

“With the modest 5 percent severance tax we are advocating today, Pennsylvania would be able to restore countless vacant sites throughout the commonwealth,” Schwank said. “We would be able to invest $195 million in 2014-’15 to programs that spark local economies and grow jobs. That pool of resources would increase to $250 million the following year.

“Equally important: our proposal makes sure that natural gas drillers, which include some of the largest corporations in the world, are paying their fair share going forward,” she said.

The Marcellus Shale severance would also help to infuse more investment into the state’s Growing Greener program.

If approved, Sen. Schwank said the 5 percent tax would increase Growing Greener’s annual investment from $18 million this year to $75 million 2014-’15. The popular program would receive $120 million in year two of the levy; $150 million the following year.

Sen. Schwank said this proposal would generate far more revenue than the state currently receives from natural gas drilling. Pennsylvania is only projected to receive $217 million this year as a result of the current drilling impact fee. The proposed legislation would generate $937 million through a combination of the fee and severance tax.

Thirty-six states assess some kind of severance tax on natural gas drillers. Nearly all of them apply that duty on the extraction of oil and gas.

Pennsylvania is the only major state to not tax natural gas drillers, and that fact alone, the senator reminded, defeats opponents’ argument that the levy is a jobs-creation killer.

“Over the past three years, Pennsylvania has gone from 8th to 48th among in job creation,” Schwank said. “Secondly, where natural gas companies are paying an extraction levy – jobs ARE being created and the natural gas companies continue to profit … handsomely.”

Most importantly, Schwank, who was joined at the press conference by Reading City Councilwoman Donna Reed, Kutztown Mayor Sandy Green and IBEW Local 743 Business Manager Mel Fishburn, said public opinion polls show overwhelming support for a tax on the companies that drill for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale play.

The most recent Mercyhurst University poll found that Pennsylvanians favor the levy, 70-17.

Sen. Schwank’s press conference to announce her support for the severance tax was one of three in the commonwealth. Senate Democratic Appropriations Chairman Vince Hughes highlighted the benefits of the levy on education during a rally in Philadelphia. Sen. John Yudichak (D-Carbon/Luzerne) emphasized the positive impact the Marcellus Shale duty would have for Pennsylvanians during an event in Hanover Township, Luzerne County.

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