Better Choices for Pennsylvania A coalition for a responsible budget

Deep Cuts Are Not the Answer

The Great Recession has taken a toll on Pennsylvania and the nation, contributing to a historic decline in tax revenue and growing demand for public health care, food stamps and other services.

While the recession is officially over, the economy remains sluggish, and the unemployment rate high. Pennsylvania revenue collections for the first half of the 2010-11 fiscal year still trail collections at the midpoint of the 2008-09 fiscal year. The loss of state tax revenue puts Pennsylvania in the position of balancing fiscal realities and increased demand for services due to downturn.

The worst thing that a state can do in a recession is weaken the public services that a strong economy needs, like education, health care, transportation, and public safety.

Take a Balanced Approach and End Special Tax Breaks

Policymakers should close tax loopholes and end special interest tax breaks before making deep service cuts that will hurt Pennsylvania families and the economy.

Better Choices for Pennsylvania is a coalition of Pennsylvanians working for a balanced approach that includes new revenue to solve our state's budget crisis. Rather than relying solely on spending cuts, a balanced approach will allow Pennsylvania to help working families through hard times, preserve our long-term financial stability and put the state in a good position when the economy recovers.

American Psychological Association

Based in Washington, D.C., the American Psychological Association (APA) is a scientific and professional organization that represents psychology in the United States. With 150,000 members, APA is the largest association ofpsychologists worldwide.

http://www.apa.org/

Bazelon Center

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is a nonprofit organization devoted to improving the lives of people with mental illnesses through changes in policy and law.

For nearly four decades our legal and policy advocates have engaged in impact litigation, policy reform and public education to ensure the rights of people with mental illnesses in all areas of life, including housing, employment, education, public systems, health care, the judiciary and more.

The Bazelon Center envisions an America where people who have mental disabilities exercise their own life choices and have access to the resources that enable them to participate fully in their communities.

http://www.bazelon.org/

Benefits.gov

Benefits.gov (formerly GovBenefits.gov) was launched in an effort to provide citizens with easy, online access to government benefit and assistance programs. Eight years after its initial launch, GovBenefits.gov underwent a major redesign and became Benefits.gov. However, the program's mission remains the same: reduce the expense and difficulty of interacting with the government while increasing citizen access to government benefit information.

The site's core function is the eligibility prescreening questionnaire or "Benefit Finder." Answers to the questionnaire are used to evaluate a visitor's situation and compare it with the eligibility criteria for more than 1,000 Federally-funded benefit and assistance programs. Each program description provides citizens with the next steps to apply for any benefit program of interest.

Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

CMS' Mission

• To ensure effective, up-to-date health care coverage and to promote quality care for beneficiaries

CMS' Vision

• To achieve a transformed and modernized health care system.
• CMS will accomplish our mission by continuing to transform and modernize America's health care system.

CMS' Strategic Action Plan Objectives

• Skilled, Committed, and Highly-Motivated Workforce
• Accurate and Predictable Payments
• High-Value Health Care
• Confident, Informed Consumers
• Collaborative Partnerships

http://www.cms.gov/

Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute

The LII collection of state legal materials gathers, state by state, Internet-accessible sources of the constitutions, statutes, judicial opinions, and regulations for the fifty states, plus D.C., and the U.S. territories and affiliated jurisdictions.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/

Fair Housing Enforcement and Education Agencies in PA

Fair Housing Enforcement and Education Agencies in PA

Fair Housing Rights Center of Southeastern Pennsylvania

105 E. Glenside Avenue, Suite E,

Glenside, PA 19038

886-576-1968

www.fairhousingrights.org

Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Montgomery and Delaware Counties

Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia, Inc. 
225 South Chester Road, Suite 1

Swarthmore, PA 19081

866-540-3247

www.fhcsp.com

Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Montgomery and Delaware Counties

Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh
2840 Liberty Ave, Suite 205

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

412-391-2535

http://www.pittsburghfairhousing.org/
Western Pennsylvania

Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services, Inc.

10 West Cherry Ave.

Washington, PA, 15301

724-225-6170

www.splas.org

Washington, Greene, Fayette, Somerset

St. Martin Center, Inc.

1701 Parade St.

Erie, PA 16503

866-452-6113

www.stmartincenter.org

Erie area

* If your area in Pennsylvania is not covered by a fair housing organization, contact the closest agency to you. If that does not work, contact community legal services in your area. 

Federal Register

Published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/

Find Law

FindLaw, a Thomson Reuters business, is the world's leading provider of online legal information and Internet marketing solutions for law firms. FindLaw's roots go back to 1995, when two attorneys compiled a list of Internet resources for a group of law librarians in northern California. The response to the material was so positive they decided to post the information on the Internet.

http://company.findlaw.com/company_info.html

Mental Health America

http://www.nmha.org/