PA Capitol Digest Blog

January 4, 2011

PA Gaming Board Will Not Vote On Category 3 License In January

The Gaming Control Board announced today that a vote to award the final Category 3 Resort license will not be on the agenda for its Thursday, January 6th public meeting.
"A vote on the Category 3 license will not be on Thursday's meeting agenda," says PGCB spokesperson Doug Harbach. "At the same time, the Board members continue to evaluate the proposals, reviewing and weighing the substantial evidence received from the Category 3 applicants along with public testimony in an attempt to achieve the qualified majority vote that is required to license one of these projects."
The Board's next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 26th in the PUC Keystone Building, Hearing Room 1 at 10:00 am.

Tuesday NewsClips

PA Revenues Run Above Estimates
PA Revenue So Far For 2011 Higher Than Projected
Op-Ed: Campaign Rhetoric About To Meet Budget Reality, Sen. Hughes
Raft Of Challenges For New PA House Leader
House To Vote On Campaign Work Ban Rule
Poll: Republican Statehouse Inspires Voter Confidence
Largest Freshmen Class Enters State Assembly
PA Freshmen Legislators To Be Sworn In
Editorial: Hold Legislators' Feet To The Fire
Editorial: State Government Transition
Rendell Takes His Message To Colbert's Audience
Rendell Offers Liquor Sale Views
Rendell Pooh-Poohs Casino In Gettysburg
Rendell Now Says One Philly Casino May Be Enough
Pittsburgh Casino Proposing More Table Games, Ballroom
PA Unveils New Website To Help With Gambling Problems
State University Union Calls On Presidents To Return Raises
PA Supreme Court Streamlines Foreign Adoptions
Philly Launches Push To Collect Court Debts
Op-Ed: Law Schools Must Reform
Homebuilders Say Sprinkler Law Is A Burden
County, Harrisburg Authority Spar Over Debt Crisis
Click here for today's Environmental NewsClips

January 3, 2011

Foreign Adoption Rules Streamlined Under New Orphans' Court Rules

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has approved a new rule aimed at streamlining the foreign adoption process by establishing guidelines to be used when the child's adoption was not "full and final" in the foreign country.

"Adopting a child from a foreign jurisdiction can be daunting and complicated. By these rule changes prospective parents in Pennsylvania can complete the adoption process in a less burdensome manner assuring the legality of a new child and his or her new parents," Chief Justice of Pennsylvania Ronald D. Castille stated.

Newly enacted Orphans' Court Procedural Rule 15.9 provides a relatively easy and inexpensive procedure for finalizing an adoption when, for immigration purposes, the child's adoption in the foreign country was deemed not to be "full and final." This situation can arise, for example, when both parents were not present in the foreign country at the time of the adoption hearing.

The action complements a related rule (Rule 15.8) adopted previously by the Supreme Court in response to Act 96 of 2006, whose aim was to simplify, expedite and standardize on a statewide basis the registration of foreign adoption decrees. New Rule 15.9, along with the registration procedure in Rule 15.8, will allow the foreign-born child to obtain a Pennsylvania birth certificate.

New Rule 15.9 requires less information than what might otherwise be required in completing a domestic adoption because the courts may rely on information the parents have already provided to the Department of Public Welfare to ensure that Pennsylvania's pre-adoption requirements have been met, and information already obtained by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to ensure that the child is orphaned.

Adopting parents may proceed in any county in the Commonwealth by filing the form petition and several required documents with the Clerk of the Orphans' Court, except in Philadelphia County, where the form petition and documents are filed in the Family Court Division. Adopting parents and the foreign-born child must be present at the hearing.

The Supreme Court also has amended Rule 15.8 to permit name changes during the registration process for children who are younger than twelve years of age. Also, for a foreign adoption decree that cannot be registered, Rule 15.8 now refers the petitioning adoptive parents to newly enacted Rule 15.9.

Forms for Rule 15.9, including the uniform statewide petition, proposed decrees, intermediary's report, and translator's verification will be available for downloading on the Pennsylvania Judiciary's website.

PA Tax Revenues Run Slightly Ahead

Gov. Rendell announced today state revenues are running $191 million ahead of estimates at the mid-way point in the fiscal year. The state has collected $11.5 billion in taxes as of December 31.
"This is great news, considering last year at this time we were two-percent under estimate for the fiscal year," Gov. Rendell said at a news conference. "In fact, collections for December are 15.5 percent better than December 2009 and this is the first time since 2007 that Pennsylvania's collections exceeded estimate at the halfway point in the fiscal year.

"Every major tax category came in above estimate for the month of December," he added, summarizing the three biggest tax collection categories: Corporate taxes are above estimate by 8.1 percent; Sales tax is above estimate by 4.9 percent; and Personal income tax is above estimate by 12.2 percent.

Revenue collections for December were $2.3 billion, which was $176.9 million, or 8.4 percent, more than anticipated. For the fiscal year-to-date, General Fund collections total $11.5 billion, which is $191.2 million, or 1.7 percent, above estimate.

Sales tax receipts totaled $669.3 million for December, $31.6 million above estimate. Year-to-date sales tax collections total $4.2 billion, which is $102.8 million, or 2.5 percent, more than anticipated.

Personal income tax revenue in December was $869.9 million, $94.3 million above estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $4.4 billion, which is $16.6 million, or 0.4 percent, above estimate.

December corporation tax revenue of $476.9 million was $35.7 million above estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $1.2 billion, which is $91.4 million, or 7.9 percent, above estimate.

Other General Fund revenue for the month included $67.1 million in inheritance tax, $4.8 million above estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $380.8 million, which is $4.9 million above estimate.

Realty transfer tax revenue was $25.9 million for December, $100,000 above estimate, bringing the fiscal-year total to $149.3 million, which is $32.8 million less than anticipated.

Other General Fund tax revenue, including cigarette, malt beverage, liquor and table games taxes totaled $139.9 million for the month, $1.9 million below estimate and bringing the year-to-date total to $752.4 million, which is $1.2 million above estimate.

Non-tax revenue totaled $42.4 million for the month, $12.4 million above estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $319.4 million, which is $7 million above estimate.

In addition to the General Fund collections, the Motor License Fund received $290 million for the month, $119.8 million above estimate. Fiscal year-to-date collections for the fund total $1.3 billion, which is $163.3 million, or 14.4 percent, above estimate.

"Today's revenue update comes on the heels of last month's job figures, when our unemployment rate dropped by two-tenths of a percentage point bringing us to 8.6 percent unemployment in November - marking four consecutive months of lower unemployment," the Governor said. "We are now more than a full percentage point below the national unemployment rate of 9.8 percent. Pennsylvania has been at or below the national rate for 92 of the past 95 months."
NewsClip: PA Revenues Running Above Estimates