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PA High Court Deems Final Redistricting Plan Constitutional

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has unanimously ruled to dismiss the appeals filed by critics of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission’s 2012 Revised Final Plan.  In his opinion Chief Justice Ronald Castille suggested the question of municipal splits was “close,” but writes that the appellants did not prove the plan is contrary to law.

The state’s high court had previously rejected a 2011 version of the redistricting plan.

Four justices joined with Castille on the latest opinion, and Justice Saylor Thomas Saylor wrote his own concurring opinion.  Recently convicted, resigned & sentenced Justice Joan Orie Melvin did not participate. 

“I was happy that the decision was unanimous,” Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware) told a group of reporters gathered in his capitol offices.  “There was not a single dissenting opinion and it’s a very diverse court.”

Senate Democrats were among the appellants and Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) released a statement calling today’s decision disappointing.  “However, Senate Democrats recognize that the court has now ruled and that it is time to move on in crafting policies that serve all citizens of Pennsylvania,” Costa’s statement concludes.    

The new legislative boundaries will be in effect for next year’s legislative elections.

PA Senate Passes Three Good Government Bills

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A trio of good government bills went before the state Senate, Wednesday, and all three were approved unanimously.  The highest-profile measure would allow for online voter registration, making Pennsylvania the 17th state to offer the option.  “For the health of democracy, elections should be run as smoothly as possible,” ACLU of Pennsylvania legislative director Andy Hoover said in a statement.  “Online registration can make the process more precise.  That leads to less delay and fewer problems on Election Day.” 

The other two bills are designed to promote government transparency by requiring lobbying disclosure information and campaign finance data to be filed electronically.  Senate Republican leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware), the prime sponsor of the campaign finance bill, says the move is designed to increase timeliness, accuracy and transparency.    

State Senator Rob Teplitz (R-Dauphin), who co-chairs the bipartisan, bicameral Reform Caucus, spoke out in favor of all three bills.  “That’s what all of our constituents I believe want to see us doing – is creating openness, transparency, more accountability in government, more access to be able to vote,” Teplitz said on the Senate floor. 

All three measures require House approval before they can be sent to the governor’s desk.

Senate Votes to End Philadelphia Traffic Court

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With unanimous votes late Wednesday morning the Pennsylvania Senate signaled its intention to put the brakes on Philadelphia Traffic Court.  The chamber has advanced a pair of bills.  One would gradually transition the responsibilities of the Philadelphia Traffic Court to Philadelphia Municipal Court; the other would erase the traffic court from the state constitution completely. 

“One of the key distinctions between the municipal court judges and the traffic court judges, of course, is that the municipal court judges must be licensed attorneys in the commonwealth,” explains Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware), the prime sponsor of both measures.  “The traffic court judges need not be.” 

In recent weeks the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has released a scathing report on Philly’s traffic court, citing a culture of dysfunction and favoritism.  That document was soon followed by the indictment of a dozen people – including nine judges – who were caught up in an alleged traffic court “ticket fixing” scheme. 

Pileggi says Philadelphia has the only traffic court in the state, and it’s not worth saving.  The city’s Senate delegation supports Pileggi’s bills, but Senator Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia) believes this should be the first step of a sustained effort to clean up the judicial branch of state government. 

“If people think that Philadelphia Traffic Court is the only place that somebody may walk in… and a magistrate may give some kind of favoritism, based upon your affiliation, then there are actually green men on Mars,” Williams says. “We’re the first guys willing to pony up and say we’re willing to fix ours.”    

Up next for the bills is the state House.

Pension Reform Could Drive Budget Debate

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Perhaps the most controversial piece of Governor Tom Corbett’s $28.4-billion dollar state budget is the call for public pension reform.  The administration has penciled in $175-million dollars worth of savings next year, pending legislative action on the issue.  They say reforms would also free up nearly $140-million for the state’s 500 school districts. 

Charles Zogby briefed reporters on the budget just prior to the Governor's speech on Tuesday.

Charles Zogby briefed reporters on the budget just prior to the Governor’s speech on Tuesday.

“The reality is that our pension costs are taking most of our available revenue growth,” says Budget Secretary Charles Zogby.  The state’s pension obligations are expected to triple – to $4.3-billion – within the next four years.  Without reform, Zogby says deep cuts would be unavoidable.     

But legislative Democrats call it a false choice.  “We’ll work with him on [pensions], but everything he proposed today is not right, and we won’t support,” says House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody (D-Allegheny). 

The Corbett plan calls for new hires to be enrolled in a 401(k)-style defined-contribution plan and for adjustments to be made to the yet-to-be earned benefits of current state employees.  No changes would be made to retirees’ benefits or the benefits existing workers have already earned. 

The plan’s already raising legal concerns.  “He’s talking about changing future compensation for current employees, which has already been decided in the courts that is something that’s illegal, back in 1983-84,”  says AFSCME Council 13 executive director David Fillman.    

The state’s two biggest public sector unions – AFSCME and the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) – are vowing a legal fight, and that has lawmakers on both sides of the aisle concerned about balancing a budget on savings that would ultimately be in the hands of the courts. 

“The question is really, I think, what does a set of reforms look like that can secure 26-votes in the Senate and 102-votes in the House,” says Senate Republican Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware).  Pileggi has been serving in the Senate for more than a decade now, and knows that pension reform can be a profoundly difficult issue.

Revised Plan Would Change PA’s Electoral Process

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A top Republican lawmaker in Harrisburg has revamped his plan to change the way Pennsylvania awards its electoral votes in presidential elections.  Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware/Chester) believes it should be done “proportionately,” instead of the current winner-take-all model. 

A co-sponsorship memo, circulating in the Senate, states that the new system would more accurately reflect the will of the state’s voters.

One of the key changes from last year’s bill is simply the timing.  “One of the criticisms that we received (last session) was that it was too close to the presidential election,” says Pileggi spokesman Erik Arneson, “so in an attempt to eliminate that concern – by introducing it now – clearly we couldn’t be farther away from the next presidential election than we are right now.” 

Also, last year’s bill would have divvied up the state’s 20-electoral votes based on Congressional district, while the new plan would award them based on the percentage of popular vote the candidates receive. 

Had this bill been in effect during the latest presidential election, President Obama would have received 12 of the state’s 20 electoral votes, and Arneson points out that it certainly would not have changed the course of history. 

Maine and Nebraska are the only two states that don’t currently employ a winner-take-all electoral model.

Senate Leader Discusses Accomplishments, Goals

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With the 2011-2012 legislative session set to expire at the end of the month, Radio PA’s Matt Paul took a look back at the past two years with state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Chester/Delaware) in a wide-ranging interview.  Calling it an extremely productive session, Pileggi says jobs were the top legislative issue and the most important jobs bills are the ones that will have long-lasting effects. 

“The continued phase out of the capital stock and franchise tax, in both the 11/12 & 12/13 [fiscal] years, we continued that phase out,” Pileggi says.  “Just in this past year we eliminated the death tax on family farms.  We’ve also updated the film tax credit program and actually added a new tax credit for historic buildings.”

Pileggi also cites Pennsylvania’s Fair Share Act and expanded Keystone Opportunity Zone program as important jobs bills from this past session. 

Looking ahead to the 2013-2014 legislative session, Pileggi the biggest jobs issue is transportation funding.  It would obviously provide short term jobs in the form of construction projects.  “Longer-term I think every serious observer agrees that an effective transportation infrastructure – both for cars & trucks and mass transit – is necessary for a competitive environment for job creators,” Pileggi explains. 

He also tells us the Senate will be ready to move forward with a package of bills to address the state’s pension crisis within the first six months of 2013. 

Earlier this month, newly-elected and returning Republican senators tapped Pileggi for his fourth term as Senate GOP Leader.

No Easy Solution for PA’s Pension Woes

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Pension reform appears to be too big of an issue for the limited fall session, but it will be a priority for 2013.  “The pension crisis that we have is the tapeworm to the budget, and it will continue to get worse and worse if we don’t do something about it,” Governor Tom Corbett said on Radio PA’s Ask the Governor program.

State pension obligations increased by a half-billion dollars in the current budget.  “I think it’s another five or six hundred million dollars additional, next year, that we’re going to have to come up with,” Corbett says.  The number is projected to top $4-billion dollars in 2016, and Corbett says it’s all money that cannot go to other areas of the budget.

With the state pension funds on an unsustainable path, the Corbett administration will continue to be in contact with state lawmakers through the fall and into the New Year.  State Senate Republican Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware) calls pension reform one of the top two critical issues to be addressed early on in 2013.  “We will continue to try and work through the fall so that we can finish our work in the first quarter of next year,” he says.

Policymakers are tasked not only with stopping the increase in pension costs, but with paying down $40-billion dollars in existing unfunded liabilities.  There’s no silver bullet, but the Public Employee Retirement Commission is holding a series of hearings this fall to try to come up with a set of recommendations.  The panel met last week, and already has additional hearings set for September 19th, October 3rd and October 16th.

New Legislative Maps Still in Limbo

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The Legislative Reapportionment Commission has met for the first time since the state Supreme Court threw out its 2011 redistricting plan.  No votes were taken and the proceedings lasted only minutes before Chairman Stephen McEwen recessed the meeting until next Tuesday.  “It has come close, we’re not there yet,” McEwen said of the legislative leaders’ efforts to arrive at a compromise that can pass constitutional muster with the high court. 

Dominic Pileggi

Sen. Pileggi talks with the media following Wednesday's commission meeting.

Senate Republican Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware) suggests that the April 24th primary election will be held using the 2001 legislative maps. “There is no way that we can have a new map in place in time for the April 24th primary to occur with the new map.”  Pileggi doesn’t foresee legislative action to move the primary date, but did not speculate as to whether additional court action will be taken on the issue. 

Republicans have filed legal action that contends use of the 2001 maps would violate the constitutional principles of “one person, one vote,” but Pileggi notes the state Supreme Court has directed them to use existing maps in the existing primary cycle. 

Neither Pileggi nor his Democratic counterpart would discuss details of the ongoing negotiations.  “All I can tell you is that we’re working together to try to figure out what we can do to incorporate a plan that adheres to the Supreme Court decision and to the constitution,” Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) told a gaggle of reporters after the meeting. 

Costa believes the courts have been very clear that the April 24th primaries need go on with the 2001 lines.  “We believe that’s going to be the case.”