State Sen. Vincent J. Hughes (D-Philadelphia) said last week he plans to introduce two bills aimed at reducing the state’s poverty rates.
“Poverty is real and its impact cuts across the entire commonwealth,” Hughes said. “It does not discriminate based on race or gender or urban versus rural Pennsylvanians. While the faces and locations of poverty may be different, the impacts are the same. It’s long past time we place the issue of poverty at the forefront of our decision making and do a better job of creating policy that positively impacts our most vulnerable populations.”
Pennsylvania is ranked 23rd by the Center for American Progress for the number of people who fall below the poverty line. Approximately 12.5 percent of the state’s population lives in poverty, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
The poverty line is defined as earning $24,860 or less annually for a family of four. Deep poverty is families earning $12,430 or less annually; more than 700,000 Pennsylvanians live in deep poverty, according to TalkPoverty.org.
The first bill would establish a research-based initiative to examine generational poverty through the Department of Human Services while the second bill would require the Independent Fiscal Office complete a poverty impact analysis on the governor’s proposed budgets.