New Legislative Caucus Prioritizes Economic Competitiveness – Erie News Now [Video]

Pennsylvania has made tremendous progress on cutting down wait times for permits and licenses—but a group of lawmakers say this is the first step of many to make the commonwealth competitive for businesses.

The Pennsylvania Economic Competitiveness Caucus held its first press conference today. Over 20 lawmakers have joined up, from both sides of the aisle for the House and Senate.

A graphic at today’s presser pointed out that CNBC puts Pennsylvania at 41st in business friendliness (though overall the state is ranked at 17), Forbes says the state is 40th in growth prospects (and 27th overall), and U.S. News ranks the overall state economy at 41st in the nation. For the new caucus, those ranks are the status quo to change.

“If we want to turn those numbers around, we need bold, bipartisan action to make our state more competitive and create an economy that works for everyone,” Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill said today.

Phillips-Hill’s permit reform law that was …