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Abortion Clinic Bills Stir Controversy

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The Pro-Life and Pro-Choice crowds are on opposite sides of new abortion clinic regulations that could soon make their way to Governor Tom Corbett’s desk.  The State House and Senate Pro-Life Caucuses are calling for action on SB 732, which would regulate abortion centers like the state’s ambulatory surgical centers.  “I would think any woman who has a medical procedure performed in one of these clinics would want to be assured that the facility meets state minimum standards,” says State Rep. Jerry Stern (R-Blair), chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus.

Similar legislation has already passed both Republican-controlled chambers in Harrisburg, and a spokesman for the House Majority Leader says they could take up SB 732 as early as next week.  Officials spent the summer working on amended language they believe can pass both chambers. 

But the prospective passage of this legislation drew hundreds of opponents to the state capitol on Tuesday.  “We are health care consumers, we vote and we have had enough,” exclaimed Brenda Green, executive director of CHOICE, a Philadelphia non-profit. 

One of the lawmakers joining in the rally was State Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny), who believes the legislation’s intent is to shut down PA’s abortion clinics through burdensome and costly regulations.  “They’re giving up on the Supreme Court, in overturning Roe v. Wade.  They’re going to overturn Roe v. Wade through these types of laws,” Frankel says. 

“Contrary to what the naysayers and opponents are saying, this is not about stopping abortion, this is about patient safety.  Common sense patient safety,” says State Rep. Matt Baker, who sponsored the House version of the abortion clinic legislation. 

The bills were written in response to the alleged ‘house of horrors’ uncovered at one Philadelphia clinic operated by disgraced Dr. Kermit Gosnell.  The clinic had gone uninspected for years, but a Grand Jury ultimately charged Gosnell with eight counts of murder. 

Rep. Frankel believes mandatory inspections can prevent the atrocities of the Gosnell clinic without restricting women’s access to abortions.

State Capitol Facing North Office Building

Redistricting Panel Seeks to Beat the Clock

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A five member state panel has 90-days to craft a preliminary redistricting plan for Pennsylvania’s 253-House and Senate districts.  If Wednesday’s meeting is any indication, they’re up for the challenge.  In mere minutes, the Legislative Reapportionment Commission allocated its $4.8-million dollar budget, OK’d a new website that allows the public to track its progress, set two public hearings for September and deemed the new US Census data “usable.”   

State Rep. Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny)

House Majority Leader Mike Turzai talks to the media following Wednesday's Legislative Reapportionment Commission meeting.

“I have every confidence that we will work through the process and get it done in a timely manner,” says Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny).  House Majority Leader Mike Turzai thinks they can even beat the 90-day deadline.  “You have to give the electorate an opportunity – before the petition process – to know exactly where the lines are,” Turzai said after Wednesday’s meeting.

The Legislative Reapportionment Commission is comprised of all four legislative floor leaders in Harrisburg and their court-appointed chairman.  They are tasked with using the new population data to redraw Pennsylvania’s legislative map in time for the 2012 elections. 

The two Democratic members voiced concerns over precinct-level data to be used in 129 of the 9,254 voting precincts in the state.  “Right now, we’re trying to maintain the integrity of the voting precincts that have existed for 40, 50-years,” says House Minority Leader Frank Dermody (D-Allegheny).  Turzai, however, doesn’t concede that there are problems and the panel agreed to make any necessary refinements as they go. 

Good government advocates will be watching to see that every district has an equal size population, that no existing geo-political area is unnecessarily divided and that districts are compact and contiguous.  Turzai says it’s too soon to talk specifics: “Some districts have to get larger, some districts have to get smaller and as a result there may be some shifts within the state.  Those are decisions that the commission’s going to have to address.” 

Once the preliminary map is ready, there will be a 30-day window for public comment.  Then, the commission will have another 30-days to adopt a final redistricting plan.

Texting While Driving

Corbett Would Sign Driver Cell Phone Ban

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Delaware, Maryland and New York all ban hand-held cell phones and texting behind the wheel.  Will Pennsylvania be next?  Governor Tom Corbett would sign such legislation.  Responding to a listener email on Radio PA’s “Ask the Governor” program, Corbett described how he spends a lot of time on the road these days.  Invariably, Corbett says, they’ll pull up beside an erratic driver to find them “texting away.” 

It’s not a new issue in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, but one of the big holdups has often been whether to make this sort of distracted driving a primary or secondary offense.  Governor Corbett says it doesn’t matter to him, and it doesn’t seem to matter to advocates at AAA either.  “A motorist out there really doesn’t know the difference between primary and secondary.  A law’s a law,” says AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman Jim Lardear. 

For instance, Pennsylvania’s seat-belt law is a secondary offense, but PennDOT reports the use rate was 86% last year.   

Two bills currently await additional action in the state House.  HB 8 originally addressed only texting while driving, but it was amended to add hand-held cell phones as a primary offense.  SB 314 originally made both actions a secondary offense, but it was amended to make texting while driving a primary offense.

Hearing to Kick-Start Legislative Downsizing Debate

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State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler)

State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe chairs the House State Government Committee.

There are seven bills before the House State Government Committee, each with a different approach to reducing the size of the General Assembly.  “There’ve been many stories written about this issue; there’ve been citizens across the state – at various times – talking about this issue,” says committee chairman Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler), who will convene a public hearing, Tuesday afternoon, in the House Majority Caucus Room.

Efforts to reduce the 253-member General Assembly have not gotten far in years past, but this year one of the bills is sponsored by Speaker of the House Sam Smith (R-Jefferson).  Smith’s bill (HB 153) would amend the state constitution to reduce House membership from 203 to 153, following the 2020 Census.  The Smith bill would only affect House districts, but others would trim the size of both chambers.  For instance, HB 183 would result in 121 House seats and 30 Senate seats. 

Pennsylvania’s cast of 253 lawmakers is the second only to New Hampshire’s 424.  However, when population is factored in, Pennsylvania has the 7th most constituents per Senator and the 18th most constituents per State Rep. 

Beverley Cigler, professor of public policy and administration at Penn State Harrisburg, says there’s no research showing that a smaller legislature is more efficient.  She points to California.  “It is an extremely large state.  It has a House of 80-members and a Senate of 40, so it is a very small legislature, and I think by anybody’s measure they’re a mess.”  Cigler is scheduled to testify before Metcalfe’s committee on Tuesday, and will suggest that other reforms are more promising for improving the legislature than downsizing. 

For chairman Metcalfe, finances are top of mind.  “I think it’s a prime opportunity to take a look at the plusses and minuses of reducing the size of the legislature, especially as it relates to the cost of our legislature, and ultimately the cost of our state government,” Metcalfe says.  Most state spending falls under the executive branch and Metcalfe says that’s where the fat needs to be cut.  “But the legislature needs to lead by example, and I think that’s what these proposals are trying to do.” 

 

Lawmakers May Give Voters More Say on School Tax Hikes

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Governor Tom Corbett calls a local property tax reform bill crucial for this budget season.  Specifically, he supports the removal of exceptions that allow school districts to raise property taxes above the Act 1 inflationary index, without voter approval.  “I believe that if [school districts] are going to go beyond the rate of inflation than they ought to have the right to vote on it,” Corbett said on Radio PA’s monthly “Ask the Governor” program. 

An apparent compromise has started to move in the State House, which would remove many exceptions and tighten several others.  Executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) Jay Himes tells us the most important exceptions would remain: pensions and special education.  “It’s good that they’re in.  Unfortunately – particularly with regard to the pension exception – they are in with a very limited form.”  Himes says state-mandated pension costs aren’t controlled by inflation.  Rather, pension costs are going up by hundreds of millions of dollars every year, for the next several years. 

 The House voted 103 – 98 to amend SB 330 with the property tax reform language on Wednesday night.  During floor debate, Republican Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) said schools could still raise property taxes up to the Act 1 index (1.4% next year).  “You need referendum when it is at or above that index,” Turzai said.  But PASBO’s Jay Himes says Pennsylvania’s history with school property tax referenda has been one-sided.  “It’s going to be a huge uphill struggle that will take additional resources and additional efforts for school districts.”

Supporters say the change would hold school districts more accountable.  On “Ask the Governor” Corbett said teachers’ contracts are one of the biggest components of increasing school budgets.  “And I have seen across Pennsylvania, in the last few months, contracts that are 3, 4, 5% increases per year.”

Operating Budget Awaits Governor Tom Corbett’s Signature

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A $27.15- billion dollar state spending plan has now passed both chambers of the legislature, with zero Democratic support.  Wednesday night’s House vote was 109 – 92.  Two Republicans joined all House Democrats in opposition to the bill. 

House Republican Appropriations chair Bill Adolph (R-Delaware) says it represents about a 4% reduction in general spending.  “This is only the third time in nearly 40-years that Pennsylvania will be spending less than the prior year budget,” Adolph said during House floor debates.  He contends the budget is built upon realistic and sustainable revenues.  “This budget will not create a deficit by spending beyond our means.” 

The Republican-backed spending plan would tap into some of the higher-than-anticipated state revenues, which have accumulated this year, but Adolph says they do not rely on that money to sustain the budget.  Most state officials expect the final surplus number to be in the range of $700-million dollars.  While many Democrats say more of that money should be spent to mitigate painful spending cuts, Republicans are quick to point to a long list of liabilities, including: growing pension obligations, state debt payments, a potential Mcare settlement, an unresolved transportation funding gap and more.

As Republicans tout the fiscal responsibility of the spending plan, Democrats – like Appropriations chair Joe Markosek (D-Allegheny) – say they relied on gimmicks to keep the spend number artificially low.  “This is a budget that is full of hide and seek and sleight of hand,” Markosek said.  “This is not open government.”   

Democrats complained even more loudly about more than a billion dollars in cuts to basic and higher education.  The 14-universities in the State System of Higher Education will see an 18% funding cut, and we may soon learn whether it will significantly affect tuition rates.  The ‘basic education funding’ line item, in the budget, stands at $5.35-billion dollars.  That’s down from $5.77-billion dollars last year.  But that number included federal stimulus money, and Republicans say this year’s state investment in basic education is the largest ever.

In all, Pennsylvania is losing about $2.7-billion dollars in stimulus money, which was used to balance last year’s budget.  Senate Republican leaders say the loss of federal stimulus dollars means that difficult but necessary budget cuts needed to be made.   

The legislative work isn’t over yet, as there are still auxiliary budget bills that need to be enacted.  But, if Governor Tom Corbett signs the budget today, it will break a streak of eight consecutive late budgets in Pennsylvania.

State Capitol

Senate Passes Budget Bill as Deadline Looms

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Sen. Dominic Pileggi

Sen. Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware)

The new fiscal year begins on Friday, but Pennsylvania may still have its first on-time budget in eight years.  The State Senate voted along party lines (30 to 20) to pass a GOP-backed $27.15-billion dollar spending plan Tuesday evening.   “This year marks a return to a state budget paid for with state revenues,” says Senate Republican Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware), referring to the $7-billion dollars in federal stimulus money Pennsylvania received over the past three years.  “It is difficult but necessary to reset state spending to reflect that new reality.” 

While the bottom-line is more than a billion dollars below the current General Fund budget, Senator Pileggi points out that the bill increases basic education funding by $268-million and higher education funding by $368-million, compared to the Governor’s March 8th budget proposal.

Senate Democrats still say the budget pain doesn’t have to be so severe. “We’re sitting on an extra, what will probably be by June 30th, an extra $700-million dollars in budget surplus,” says Democratic Appropriations Chair Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia). 

But that’s a “so-called” surplus, according to Governor Tom Corbett.  “Yes more revenue has come in, but we still have a deficit… We have spending that has to be done in the future, we don’t think that next year is going to be much rosier – if at all – than this year,” Corbett told reporters on Tuesday. 

While Corbett says spending matches revenues in the current budget bill, he knows that it’s not a done deal yet.  “Until there is a budget, until I have an opportunity to sign one, there is no budget,” he says.  The budget bill now awaits House action.

Capitol View from East Wing

House Members Introduce Their Own School Choice Measures

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With no action expected on Senate Bill 1 this summer, some state House members are introducing their own school voucher legislation.   Representative Curt Schroder (R-Chester) has introduced two measures as alternatives to the Senate bill.

HB 1679, the “Opportunity Scholarship and Educational Improvement Tax Credit Act”, will offer $5,000 opportunity scholarships to all students.  Representative Schroder calls it true school choice. It would include a public-to-public school option and would also expand the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, offering that credit to home school families.

HB 1678, called the “Failing Schools Student Rescue Act”, would offer a $5,000 voucher to all students who attend or live within the attendance boundary of a persistently low achieving school. Representative Schroder says where Senate Bill 1 established income limits for voucher eligibility in its failing schools option; all students would be eligible under his bill.

Representative Schroder says if a school is failing to educate students, all students are endangered regardless of family income and must be given the opportunity to get out of the “failure factories that some of our schools have become.”

Don Adams of the Independence Hall Tea Party Association has concerns about Senate Bill 1.  He says the concepts behind it are so complicated, that the bill is difficult to promote.   Sharon Cherubin of UNITEPA and the Grassroots Coalition for Real School Choice also favors Representative Schroder’s bills, saying the legislation would empower all parents.

Representative Schroder says they’d anticipate passing only one of those bills.  He says they were offered as  alternatives to Senate Bill 1.

Meanwhile, another house Republican, Jim Christiana (R-Beaver), has introduced a bill that would limit vouchers to low income families in under-performing districts while expanding the EITC for middle income families.

HB 1708 is called the “Students and Schools Rescue Act”.  The bill also has some bipartisan support. Representative Tony Payton Jr. (D-Phila) is a cosponsor. House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R- Allegheny) has also signed on to the bill, which would incorporate the language expanding the EITC program as passed earlier in HB 1330.

State Capitol Fountain

Lawmakers Cast Unanimous Votes for UC Reforms

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State Senator John Gordner (R-Columbia)

State Sen. John Gordner (R-Columbia)

State lawmakers passed the bill just in time to ensure that the federal extended benefits program continues.  “We are getting it done literally under the wire, but it’s an important fix to do for the 45,000 folks who would otherwise lose 13-weeks of unemployment compensation,” says State Senator John Gordner (R-Columbia).  Gordner chairs the Labor & Industry Committee, helped to broker a major compromise between chambers and joins us for this week’s Radio PA Roundtable program. 

The bill represents the biggest reforms to Pennsylvania’s unemployment compensation system in the last 20-years.  “We were the only state left without an enforceable work search provision,” Gordner tells us.  It also freezes the maximum weekly benefit at $573-dollars.  Gordner says that provision slows down the growth of benefits.  “So, those 20% that are at the top level are not going to be losing benefits, but we’ve basically put in a freeze for a year, and then a 1% cap on the growth of that system.”  The average weekly benefit is currently $310-dollars.   

Also, individuals who get severance pay beyond $17,853 (40% of the average salary) won’t be able to concurrently receive unemployment compensation benefits. 

The package will save the state’s unemployment compensation system $114-million dollars next year.  However, PA borrowed over $4-billion dollars from the federal government in order to meet its UC obligations during the recession.  Gordner calls it a “good start” in paying that money back.  “We still need to do a solvency measure.  The problem with this drill was that we were under a time element and we got to the last day in order to do it.” Gordner tells us he’ll work with State Rep. Ron Miller (R-York), who chairs the House Labor & Industry Committee, to come up with a long-term solvency package. 

The House approved the final version of SB 1030 on Thursday.  The Senate did likewise on Friday.  Both votes were unanimous.  Governor Tom Corbett is expected to quickly sign the bill into law.

State Capitol Facing North Office Building

Lawmakers Strike Unemployment Compensation Deal

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The compromise ensures that some 45,000 unemployed Pennsylvanians won’t lose their extended federal benefits next week.  It will also save the unemployment compensation system about $114-million dollars a year.  “It is the most extensive unemployment compensation reform package that we have seen – it’s the only unemployment compensation reform package we’ve seen – in ten years,” says House majority leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny).  “There are significant reforms that are being brought to the table.”   

Chairman of the House Labor & Industry Committee, Ron Miller (R-York), says they will freeze next year’s maximum weekly benefit at $573-dollars a week.  “There will be a zero percent increase for next year, and then a five year sliding scale that will be one percent the year after, one point one the year after, that is the cap, it can’t go above that,” Miller says. 

Other savings would come from a new requirement that unemployment compensation recipients actively search for work, and new rules concerning severance pay.  The savings in the deal that was struck Wednesday evening are greater than the $60-million projected savings in the original Senate bill, but much less than the original House bill.  The legislative process is on pace for Senate concurrence this Friday. 

The statewide unemployment rate currently stands at 7.4%, according to data just released Thursday by the Department of Labor & Industry.  It’s much lower than the national average, which remains above 9%, but Pennsylvania owes the federal government nearly $4-billion dollars it has borrowed to cover unemployment benefits during the recession.