Lawmakers Return To Wolf’s ‘Conversation Starters’

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf busied himself in the quiet Capitol over the summer with plans: paying for new voting machines, writing new charter school regulations, creating gun violence prevention programs and more. Wolf calls those moves “conversation openers” to inject momentum into an agenda the Democrat insists can get done this fall in the Republican-controlled Legislature. His administration also suggests Wolf will consider unilaterally pursuing limits on greenhouse-gas pollution from power plants if he can’t persuade lawmakers into an agreement to advance his agenda to fight climate change. For now, GOP leaders and rank-and-file Republicans suggest that attitudes didn’t change over the summer toward top Wolf priorities left hanging in June. Those include a minimum wage increase and a tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling.