What do efforts to end texting while driving have in common with a new level of state oversight over the operations of abortion providers in Pennsylvania?

Both are more likely to hit Gov. Tom Corbett’s desk than many of the overarching policy issues that will dominate negotiating time, lobbying budgets and public debate at the state Capitol this fall.

capitolweb.jpgDAN GLEITER, The Patriot-News, 2011

As both chambers of the General Assembly return to Harrisburg, there is no end of big issues on the agenda: education reform, privatizing liquor stores, Marcellus Shale impact fees, even how the state votes in presidential elections. Here’s a primer on what to watch for as the fall debates heat up. As usual, there are no slam dunks.

Marcellus Shale

Many think it is likely that after three years of trying the state will finally set policy on how to tax and regulate the burgeoning shale gas industry.

Corbett is days away from announcing his own proposal for an impact fee that would closely tie any revenue raised to impacts from the drilling, be it mitigating damage to state roads or forests or improving municipalities’ ability to keep their public water supplies safe.

There are some shared goals: Democrats and many Republicans believe the time is ripe for the industry to give back.

But there are still big divides over exactly how much money to extract — bills range from Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati’s impact fee, which would generate $172 million annually by year six, to a House Democratic tax plan generating $483 million in its second year — and what to use it for.

Even some Republican House members, for example, have ambitious plans to use shale tax money for broad purposes, including the return of block grants to

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