Catherwood LibraryILR School

A new proposal by a Pennsylvania state representative would raise gas taxes by 6.5 cents, put a tax of 8% on the profits of Pennsylvania gas companies, increase fees for motorists and includes a provision that would require 72 hours notice before unions would be allowed to strike. The bill would provide about $1.3 billion a year for transportation projects. including roads, bridges and mass-transit projects. While some state officials expressed doubt that the bill could be passed for this year, unions were more concerned by the strike provision, which came right before the election of officers to the Transit Workers Union. Workers struck last year after the end of the World Series, in what some members and much of the public deemed an "unnecessary strike". A spokeswoman for the sponsor of the bill said that the bill had nothing to do with the election, but was about solving the budget problem.