The next Dedicated Alcohol Tax/Fund Coalition meeting is scheduled
for February 17, from 1:00 p.m.- 3:00 p.m. in Room 60 East Wing at the Capitol.
The January 6 meeting notes are attached for your information. The highlights of the meeting included a report from The Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington, DC, regarding other state activities. In addition, we were fortunate to have Mark Ryan, Senator Pat Vance’s staff, attend the meeting and provide excellent feedback. Before coming to work for Senator Vance Mr. Ryan was the executive director for the Finance Committee in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for over ten years. As you will see from the meeting notes, he is extremely knowledgeable and brings a wealth of experience to the table.
We continue to get support for the concept of dedicated alcohol taxes to be devoted to treatment and prevention. We are hopeful that the winter weather will allow us to have a productive meeting on February 17. As you will see from the notes, things are heating up and we need to get very specific. Your input is crucial. There are numerous questions that need to be answered before our next meeting. If you see something in the meeting notes that you can help to address please contact Lynn Cooper as soon as possible.
The PCPA Drug and Alcohol Committee met on January 18 and PCPA members feel strongly that we must include a request for additional funding to address the huge gap in services that exists. One county administrator/member of PCPA reported that he expects to be out of funding for residential services in January. There was a strong belief that we must include a request for funding for the waiting lists that exist all over the commonwealth. There was also excitement and support for the idea of building in some kind of growth to address the unmet need as the coalition has previously discussed.
Thank you for your continued support of this important initiative. There is so much work to do but I feel more confident everyday that we are on to something very big and very important for the citizens of Pennsylvania.
