Achievements

  • Awards

    Malady & Wooten is proudly to be recognized as a prominent leading government relations firm in Pennsylvania. Below are just a few recent awards and acknowledgments of our ongoing accomplishments in our field.


    2024 PA Power 100 – City & State Pennsylvania

    Malady & Wooten partners, Dennis Giorno and PJ Lavelle, were selected for the PA City & State Power 100 2024 List.

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    City & State 2024 Healthcare Trailblazers

    For over two decades, lobbyist Stacy Gromlich has been an influential voice in the commonwealth’s health policy conversation. She honed her knowledge as a research analyst for the state House Health and Human Services Committee; as an associate at Malady & Wooten, she has promoted recent initiatives around nutrition for chronic disease, as well as access to new gene therapies for Medicaid recipients. Gromlich also serves on the board of Nouri’s Place, a nonprofit supporting families of neurodiverse individuals.

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    2024 Who’s Who – City & State Magazine

    Malady & Wooten founder John Malady was recognized on City & State Pennsylvania’s list of Who’s Who in Government Relations, noting John’s recognition as one of the Commonwealth’s pre-eiment lobbyists.

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    The 2022 Impact 50

    Meet the Pennsylvanians who are making the world a better place.

    There is no better time than the end of the year to offer a valedictory to the Pennsylvanians who have dedicated their careers and lives to making the commonwealth a better, safer place to live through adherence to the principles of environmentalism, sustainability and governance – in other words, to those who make a positive impact on our world.

    Introducing the Impact 50, a select group of people who exemplify what it means to be socially responsible citizens and who City & State is proud to recognize. The leaders profiled in the following pages hail from across the spectrum – business, government, nonprofits and advocacy – and exemplify the optimism and idealism that are so desperately needed to help the state and its citizens persevere through challenges like the pandemic, community crises and political factionalism.

    Thank you to all who submitted nominations for this year’s Impact 50, which has been researched by City & State and written by freelance writer Hilary Danailova.

    Founder, Malady & Wooten

    John Malady - Founder, Malady & Wooten

     

    Government relations expert John Malady is a founding partner of Malady & Wooten, a 23-year-old Harrisburg lobbying firm with a presence extending to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Over the course of his career, Malady has represented clients in health care, economic development, environmental outfits, social services and the cultural sphere. Malady, who has worked to secure funding for the Weinberg Northeast Regional Foodbank and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, serves as vice chair of Communities in Schools of Pennsylvania.


    The Top 50 Pennsylvania Lobbyists 2022

    The leading government relations firms in the state, ranked by revenue.

    PA State Capitol

    BY CITY & STATE

    SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

     

    Malady & Wooten

    Stacy Gromlich, Member

    Stacy Gromlich / Amy Nastick Photography

    Key industries: Health care, energy, transportation, education, telecommunications

    Notable clients: Merakey, Pennsylvania Life Providers Alliance, Highmark, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), Ayr Wellness

    Company news: Over the past year, the team at Malady Wooten has continued to grow. Their dedicated lobbyists represent a large and diverse group of clients before the state government.

    Biggest achievement: The firm has focused on serving clients by collaborating with them throughout the process, working to understand the issues of critical importance to each client to achieve the best outcome. This is particularly true when serving clients in the complex world of health and human services, which constantly sees new technologies and interactions between various health care services. The team has extensive experience navigating these intricate systems through their representation of service providers, entities creating new and innovative treatments, medical marijuana companies and those trusted with caring for the commonwealth’s most vulnerable residents.

    Read More  

  • Recent Successes

    As Pennsylvania lobbyists and experienced government consultants, we work tirelessly to achieve results for our clients. Here are some of Malady & Wooten’s recent successes, including key pieces of legislation, regulatory changes, and funding events.


    Provider Rate Increase

    Secured a significant long sought after rate increase for a specific group of providers of long-term care services in the Commonwealth.

    Medicaid Coverage for Gene Therapy

    Drafted and secured passage of amendatory budget language requiring a State Plan Amendment to cover gene therapies and cost to deliver the therapies to patients.

    Criminal Justice Reforms

    Created and led a coalition of business, law enforcement and both left and right leaning organization’s to pass numerous, meaningful criminal justice reforms, including the nation’s first clean slate law. Our Criminal Justice Reform Accomplishments

    Human Services Funding

    Secured multiple grants for a human services provider to expand an innovative program that teaches individuals with intellectual disabilities to live on their own.

    Local Government Investment Options

    Secured the passage of legislation that gave additional investment options for units of local government.

    Economic Development

    Partnered with the Commonwealth to put together a significant economic incentive package to facilitate the construction of a new regional corporate headquarters and the creation of more than one thousand jobs in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

    Mass Transit Advocacy

    Led the transit industry’s efforts to obtain significant new sources of dedicated funding in the Act 89 package in November 2013.

    Stopped the privatization of the Medical Assistance Transportation Program (MATP).

    Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP)

    Secured tens of millions in redevelopment capital assistance funds for a variety of clients.

    Procurement

    Assisted clients in securing several major new information technology contracts with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

    Expand Scope of Practice

    Secured passage of legislation to allow pharmacists to perform testing and certain immunizations down to the age of five.

    Education Funding and Policy

    We have successfully advocated for numerous funding and policy changes for our education clients. Many of those sucesses can be found here.

  • Case Studies

    The following case studies illustrate why our government affairs professionals are in demand. Our Pennsylvania lobbyists have a strong track record of successfully representing the interests of our business, association and nonprofit clients before government decision makers.


    Chapter 20 Research in Medical Marijuana

    Challenge:
    With the passage of medical marijuana laws throughout many states in the country, Pennsylvania struggled in 2016 with legislative support for the legislation. There was great hesitancy within the general assembly to support the new concept and many differing opinions on how such a program should be set up. With marijuana being illegal federally, many states who adopted laws to permit the legal use within their borders had a hard path to carve out what a program in their state would look like and how it would operate. Parents of children who needed the medication were great advocates, and in Pennsylvania this was no exception. There was legislative interest in allowing access for families who were advocating for treatments for their children and family members. Not all legislators were supportive despite the passion for the issue and years of strong advocacy. There needed to be something more to calm those who opposed and to move the issue forward for a vote.

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    Medicaid Rate Increase for Long Term Care Providers

    Challenge:
    Arguably the number one Medicaid provider complaint is that reimbursement rates do not keep up with escalating costs to provide the service. With our Medicaid program budget increasing annually and taking over as the number one cost driving in the Commonwealth, there is not often interest in adding to the cost of care by the legislature or the administration. We were retained by a provider group to advocate for and secure a rate increase for the providers in the group.

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    Expansion of the first “clean slate” law in the United States

    Challenge:
    Along with our client, the Justice Action Network, we organized a bipartisan coalition of unusual collaborators and passed the first “clean slate” law in the United States. This novel law allows for the automatic sealing of low level, non-violent summary and misdemeanor offenses after ten years, while still retaining access to those records for law enforcement. While successful in sealing more than sixty million offenses and helping more than one million individuals, it did not help those with past drug addictions who have a more than ten year old, non-violent, low level felony drug conviction. One major hurdle was rising crime rates across the country and the perception that clean slate and other criminal justice reforms aren’t about second chances and employment opportunities but being soft on crime.

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    Medical Assistance Transportation Program (MATP): Combatting Privatization

    Challenge:
    Act 40 of 2018 (Act 40) required the Department of Human Services (DHS) to solicit private services providers to administer the Medical Assistance Transportation Program (MATP) through a statewide or regional full-risk brokerage system. The privatization of MATP would have dismantled Pennsylvania’s coordinated public transportation system for services provided by Pennsylvania’s public transit systems and place the financial viability of those systems at risk. We were retained by eight of Pennsylvania’s foremost public transportation systems to prevent the implementation of a private full-risk brokerage model for MATP services and advance acceptable alternatives.

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    Gene Therapy Medicaid Payment Approval

    Challenge:
    As is common in the realm of healthcare innovations, payment methodology often does not keep up with advancing technologies. We were retained by a gene therapy company to work with the administration and legislature to ensure that the state payment methodologies for Pennsylvania Medicaid would permit the needed payments for advancing gene therapy cures for various illnesses. The state Medicaid program did not have a payment methodology or code to allow for these ever-developing cures to be covered when they were approved and came on the market.

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    Resort Casinos Hit the Jackpot

    Challenge:
    We were retained by Pennsylvania’s smaller resort casinos (Category 3) as the General Assembly began to revisit and expand Pennsylvania’s Gaming Act. Originally envisioned as an additional amenity to their existing resorts, the Category 3 casinos were limited to only 500 slot machines and 50 table games.

    Additionally, only guests of the resort were permitted to access the gaming facility. If a member of the general public wanted to enter the casino, they first had to spend $10 to “patronize the resort” before they could gain access. With the timing right to amend the Gaming Act, the resort casinos sought to remove the requirement that guests of the casino patronize the resort, add additional slot and table game capacity and be allowed to participate in the other gaming expansion options the General Assembly authorized.

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    Veto Override

    Challenge:
    At the end of the Rendell Administration the General Assembly passed HB 101, an omnibus school code bill that included a laundry list of separate bills that had passed at least one chamber of the General Assembly. The amendment to HB 101 included priority legislation for all four caucuses.

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    Enhancing Student Safety: Automated School Bus Stop-Arm Enforcement

    Challenge:
    Pennsylvania state law requires motorists to stop at least 10 feet away from a school bus that has its red lights flashing, stop-arm extended, and is onloading or offloading children. The main obstacle in enforcing the law and keeping children safe on the way to and from school was that violations are not always reported or are under reported. Under the previous law, a bus driver was tasked with keeping children safe and enforcing traffic laws by capturing evidence for a potential stop-arm violation. This outdated system for enforcing Pennsylvania’s school bus stop-arm statute was in dire need of an update. We were retained by the world’s most deployed stop-arm camera safety company to amend the current statute to allow for the use of stop-arm cameras to enforce the Commonwealth’s school bus stop-arm law, all at no costs to school districts for the operation of the cameras.

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  • Giving Back

    Malady & Wooten’s special commitment to the Bridge Education Foundation over the years has resulted in substantial support for a worthy organization and educational opportunity to countless children. Our firm’s support for Bridge goes beyond monetary contributions, Partner Dennis Giorno has long served as Vice Chairman of the Board, allowing us to share our insight and know-how to promote its advancement.



    Team members from Malady Wooten donating a check for $145,700 to Bridge Educational Foundation
    two young boys standing next to a sign that thanks Malady & Wooten government & legislative affairs for their corporate sponsorship

    Malady & Wooten is proud to attend the annual Merakey Foundation Leading the Way Gala and support our client, Merakey, in serving the needs of our most vulnerable residents in the Commonwealth. Merakey provides developmental, behavioral health and education services in 12 states, including Pennsylvania. We are proud to support the difference they make in the lives they touch every day.