{"id":14717,"date":"2015-01-23T09:37:57","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T14:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=14717"},"modified":"2015-01-23T09:37:57","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T14:37:57","slug":"ross-to-chair-house-liquor-control-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=14717","title":{"rendered":"Ross to chair house Liquor Control committee"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"ChrisRoss\"<\/a>

State Rep. Chris Ross<\/p><\/div>\n

HARRISBURG \u2014 Rep. Chris Ross (R-158), who was recently elected to his 10th term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, has been named chairman of the House Liquor Control Committee for the 2015-16 legislative session. The House made history last session when it passed liquor privatization legislation, but the Senate failed to act on the measure.\u00a0\u00a0Ross expects privatization to come up again this session.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am enthusiastic about my new assignment and the work to determine how beverage alcohol will be marketed and sold in the Commonwealth,\u201d said Ross.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cFor the first time in its history, the House passed a liquor privatization bill last session.\u00a0\u00a0I am hopeful we can bring the Senate on board and put wine and liquor sales in the hands of private retailers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ross said the Pennsylvania Liquor Code is outdated, confusing and difficult to follow.\u00a0\u00a0As chairman, he said he is intent on rewriting the code to update and clarify language, eliminate discrepancies and make it easier to use.<\/p>\n

In addition to his chairmanship, Ross was reappointed to the House Urban Affairs Committee, on which he has served four terms, including one term as chairman.\u00a0\u00a0An ardent supporter of land banks and measures to improve the delinquent real estate tax sale process, Ross co-sponsored legislation to establish land banks, which help clear titles to abandoned, under-used and vacant properties to enable them to be returned to productive use.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlight is a public health and safety concern, and it reduces property values and local tax revenue that is used to provide police, fire and other vital municipal services,\u201d said Ross.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAs a member of the Urban Affairs Committee, I have worked on the preservation of open space and the prevention of sprawl through the redevelopment of older, industrial buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ross also led efforts to overhaul and strengthen Act 47 \u2212 Pennsylvania\u2019s Financially Distressed Municipalities Act.\u00a0\u00a0In doing so,\u00a0Act 199<\/strong>\u00a0of 2014,\u00a0<\/strong>sponsored by Ross, provides\u00a0procedures and options\u00a0to help distressed communities get on the road to financial recovery and stability. It establishes an early intervention program to help municipalities avoid Act 47 status, and gives them priority for economic development matching funds to help improve their financial condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is gratifying to know these measures are working and giving distressed municipalities the tools to regain their financial footing,\u201d said Ross, who has also taken a lead role in helping to find a solution to the state\u2019s public pension crisis, which is expected to be addressed this session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HARRISBURG \u2014 Rep. Chris Ross (R-158), who was recently elected to his 10th term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, has been named chairman of the House Liquor Control Committee for the 2015-16 legislative session. The House made history last session when it passed liquor privatization legislation, but the Senate failed to act on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5508,5784,2370],"class_list":["post-14717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-house-of-representatives","tag-liquor-control","tag-state-rep-chris-ross"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}