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PA state senator wants to ban state funded travel to Indiana

A Pennsylvania state senator wants to ban state funded travel to Indiana because of the state’s new controversial religious freedom law. Over the past wee...

A Pennsylvania state senator wants to ban state funded travel to Indiana because of the state’s new controversial religious freedom law. Over the past week state leaders across the nation, and even the white house, shared their thoughts on Indiana’s new law.

Philadelphia senator Anthony Williams wants the state to take a stance.

“We want to early on explain that  any hint of this is unacceptable for those of us who represent the commonwealth,” said Sen. Williams, who represents Philadelphia and Delaware counties.

Williams plans to introduce his bill in the senate later this week. He got his idea from New York governor, Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo banned non-essential state travel on Tuesday.

Some state republicans are calling this a political stunt. They say the legislature would waste time discussing the issue because state travel to Indiana is rare.

“I would love to see data on how many state employees over the past decade have traveled to Indiana,” said Rep. Seth Grove, who represents York County.

York County republican representative Seth Grove says when the recession hit in 2008 the administration limited out of state travel. He doesn’t think the travel would be approved anyways unless the reason for it is related to a major issue impacting the state. Grove thinks lawmakers should focus their attention on Pennsylvania’s problems.

“I don’t think it’s worth the people’s time right now to enter into those debate when we have a budget to get done, and pensions to get done, liquor privatization, property taxes. I can crack down the list on important things we should be tackling,” said Grove.

Members of the state LGBT caucus sent Governor Tom Wolf a letter today. They’re asking him to sign an anti-discrimination law in Pennsylvania.

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