The advancement of technology has created valuable new opportunities for businesses, job growth, and economic stimulus for our Commonwealth. It is imperative that Pennsylvania’s legislative and regulatory climate, at the state and local levels, encourages access to enhanced technology for all Pennsylvania residents and employers and allows the technology sector to grow and thrive while balancing community priorities. Policymakers should encourage the expansion and location of technology-oriented companies by improving the Commonwealth’s business climate and promoting community partners, including educational and cultural institutions, which also help attract employers and talent, and the diverse technology workforce already present in the Commonwealth.
In addition, Pennsylvania’s life sciences, biotechnology, and agrisciences industries have driven significant economic growth in the Commonwealth and employ hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians in manufacturing, research and development and other capacities. Public policy should encourage the continued strength and expansion of these sectors.
The Pennsylvania Chamber further supports:
• Efforts to coordinate the development and implementation of technology infrastructure for all Pennsylvanians, including fostering a positive tax and regulatory climate that encourages private investment in key business technology needs, like data centers and secure broadband in all regions of the Commonwealth, while ensuring scarce public resources are not used to overbuild or compete with private sector investment;
• State agencies encouraging the commercialization of research and technology transfers among higher education organizations, local, state, and federal government agencies, military, and private industry;
• Innovations, such as distributed cloud computing, adaptive security, internet of things, big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous and electric mobility, and robotics, as well as legislative and public procurement policies that encourage companies and government to invest in and use the newest technologies that drive lower costs, greater efficiency, enhanced security, improve competitiveness and attract technology-oriented companies to the Commonwealth;
• Policymakers and business leaders working together to develop a balanced and flexible regulatory framework for AI that allows companies the freedom to utilize AI in a positive and ethical manner and foster innovation while safeguarding privacy, combatting misuse, and respecting intellectual property rights;
• Public policy, and tax policy in particular that fosters an environment conducive to technology-focused venture capitalism and technology startups, such as raising or eliminating the cap on carrying forward net operating losses;
• Balanced and reasonable cyber-security and privacy measures applied to the private and public sectors that protect consumers and industry without imposing on Pennsylvania’s businesses any onerous mandates or costs;
• Regular review and, when appropriate and possible, elimination of impediments, such as excessive taxes and regulations, to the technology industries that may hinder their ability to compete in today’s global marketplace;
• Promoting statewide policies that streamline and reduce costs and timeframes for the permitting and siting of technology infrastructure, such as small cells and fiber-optic cable for the transition to the latest generation of broadband and wireless technology, which will enhance the connectivity increasingly necessary for business operations and the modern workforce.
• Effective economic and workforce development programs that recognize and support technology as a critical aspect of business development in a global economy;
• The promotion of e-permitting to streamline and simplify the regulatory compliance process for citizens and businesses; and
• A robust, efficient Health Information Exchange infrastructure that allows Pennsylvania’s high-quality health care system to share information in a transparent, secure manner in order to enhance the delivery and outcome of health care services.
The PA Chamber urges policymakers to carefully consider and avoid actions that would create unnecessary bureaucracy or regulations to govern and administer technology infrastructure development.
It is generally preferable for laws and regulations governing technology to be established at the federal level to provide national uniformity and avoid requiring employers and consumers to comply with a burdensome and often inconsistent patchwork of state or local policies. State
policymakers should further refrain from adopting a public policy that is more burdensome or stringent than federal policy or other states, which could hurt Pennsylvania’s competitiveness. Moreover, it should generally be the policy of the government to defer to the private sector on the creation and operation of technology infrastructures.
Revised by the Policy Committee in February 2024. Approved by the Board of Directors on May 10, 2024.