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Supporters Push Nurse-to-Patient Ratio Bills

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Pennsylvania hospitals would be required to meet minimum nurse-to-patient ratios under bills introduced in the state House and Senate.  The ratios would vary depending on the care setting, but supporters say they could both improve patient safety and save money in the long run. 

Inadequate staffing is the ultimate concern for Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) president Patty Eakin.  “Patients can suffer,” she tells Radio PA, “and suffering is not just dying but you might have medication errors made, you might have medications missed, treatments missed.”    

Eakin points to a 2010 study out of the University of Pennsylvania that indicates California’s mandatory minimum nurse-to-patient ratios are helping to save lives. 

But California is the only state to go down this road to date, and Pennsylvania hospitals have long opposed similar bills that have been introduced in the General Assembly. 

The Hospital & Health System Association of Pennsylvania says a one-size-fits-all policy ignores the many variables involved in determining safe staffing levels.  HAP also contends there’s no consensus on what nurse staffing levels should be or how to set them. 

This year SB 637 has been introduced by Sen. Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery) and HB 923 has been introduced by Rep. Phyllis Mundy (D-Luzerne).  While similar bills have gone nowhere in Harrisburg, Eakin says giving up the fight is not an option. 

(photo credit: CDC / Judy Schmidt)

Small Group of Reps Renews Push to End COLAs

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A small group of state lawmakers is renewing the push to eliminate public officials’ annual cost-of-living adjustments, commonly referred to as COLAs.  Every year lawmakers and a variety of other public officials receive a pay raise that’s tied to the consumer price index, but first-term state Rep. Patty Kim (D-Dauphin) says it’s time for the General Assembly to lead by example.

“There’s about a $1,700 dollar increase every year for a salary that is above average for the family median and it’s unnecessary,” says Kim, “and I think it would just be a great message – along with savings – to cut it out, build the trust back and save money.” 

Rank-and-file lawmakers will earn $83,800 this year. 

Kim and 2nd term state Rep. Gerald Mullery (D-Luzerne) are leading the charge this session.  So far, seven of 203 House members have signed onto their bill.  Only three members signed onto an identical bill last session, which died in the House State Government Committee. 

Some lawmaker and Corbett administration officials already donate their COLAs to charity or return them to the commonwealth, but eliminating the annual pay raises would ensure the money stays in the public treasury and prevent it from counting toward officials’ pensions.

Online Voter Registration Bill Clears Committee

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Pennsylvanians would be able to register to vote online under a bill that has earned unanimous support in the Senate State Government Committee.  The modernization effort would increase access to voter registration, which ACLU of PA legislative director Andy Hoover says would lead to increased access to voting.  “That’s what voting rights are all about,” Hoover says.  “It’s making things easier for people rather than putting up barriers.”

In addition to allowing more convenient and timely access to the voter registration process, supporters say online registration would significantly reduce taxpayer costs.  “When Arizona went to this system, it was costing them about 83-cents to process a voter registration, now it costs them about three cents,” explains Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause PA. 

Arizona was the first state to allow for online voter registrations, but at least 13-states offer it today and Pennsylvania is one of many states considering it for the future. 

Kauffman and Hoover each say that online registrations would also lead to reduced data entry errors when paper voter registration forms are processed.

Traditional voter registration would still be available, but SB 37 would add the option of online registrations.  Up next for the bill is the Senate floor.

Is it Time for a Name Change at the DPW?

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A broad-based coalition is forming in the push to change the name of Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare.  A letter of support delivered to the General Assembly last week was signed by five former governors: George Leader, Dick Thornburgh, Tom Ridge, Mark Schweiker and Ed Rendell.  It begins by stating, “Words matter. Names matter. Stigma lasts.”

State Senator Bob Mensch (R-Montgomery) is joining forces with Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) to introduce legislation that would change the name of the DPW to Department of Human Services.  “Everyone assumes when you see the Department of Public Welfare that that is all they do.  In honesty they do a lot more than just welfare,” Mensch explains.  “It’s a department that doesn’t deserve a name that creates bias.” 

None of the 67-counties uses the term “welfare” for its human services agency, and Mensch believes Pennsylvania is the only state government that still refers to a Department of Public Welfare. 

“It really has a huge presence in our state and I think it would be appropriate to have a meaningful discussion around what that department does – calling it by its rightful name, which I believe should be Department of Human Services.” 

The Mensch/Costa bill already has 20-cosponsors in the Senate and it hasn’t even been introduced yet.  An identical bill being introduced in the House has 82-cosponsors.  To save taxpayer money, Mensch suggests a graduate changeover whereby all existing supplies are exhausted before new ones are ordered with the new name.     

The Campaign for What Works has also sponsored an online petition to help garner public support for the name change.

Should Family Businesses Pay the “Death Tax”?

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Family farms are now exempt from the Pennsylvania inheritance tax under a new state law enacted last year.  Now there appears to be bipartisan support for doing the same thing for family businesses.  “When we tax these assets in a small business… at the death of one of the principle owners, oftentimes what happens… is critical business assets have to be liquidated in order to pay the tax bill,” explains state Rep. Stephen Bloom (R-Cumberland), the prime sponsor of a bill to eliminate the so-called death tax on mom & pop shops. 

Bloom’s bill has already advanced out of the House Finance Committee with a vote of 20 – 4, and has since been re-referred to the Appropriations Committee. 

While the bill would nix close to $10-million dollars in state revenue, Bloom believes the economic activity it would create can more than make up for the cost.  “We want to reward our folks who’ve been frugal and generated assets and are growing jobs in this state we don’t want to punish them.”    

Opponents have several complaints in addition to the lack of offsetting revenue.  The Pennsylvania Budget & Policy Center believes the bill would create a new set of inequities and loopholes, thereby shifting more of the state’s tax burden onto middle-class families. 

The House has recessed for three weeks of budget hearings.  Session is scheduled to resume on March 11th.

Lottery Debate Dominates Several Budget Hearings

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As Governor Tom Corbett mulls his next steps, Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser spent the bulk of his House budget hearing defending the recently-rejected Lottery contract.  Meuser remarked that the premise for much of the opposition is wrong.  “There’s no plan to sell the Lottery.  We cannot by federal or state law.  There is no plan to relinquish control of the Lottery.  We maintain full control of the Lottery,” he emphasized.

At issue is the private management agreement the Corbett administration negotiated with Camelot Global Services, in which the private company has guaranteed record profits over the next 20-years.  The administration has been working on this for nearly a year, because the demand for senior services is growing at a pace that’s too rapid for the Lottery Fund to sustain. 

On Valentine’s Day Attorney General Kathleen Kane called that contract illegal and unconstitutional, and she rehashed that decision in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.  Kane’s main points were: 1) the contract infringed on the legislature’s authority, and 2) KENO is not an authorized game under the Lottery Act. 

“I am not an economist and I don’t pretend to be, I am a lawyer, and we went through the statutory construction of the Gaming Act, the Lottery Act, as well as the General Assembly’s authority,” Kane said as she told the panel this was not a policy decision. 

Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser

Revenue Secretary Dan Meuser

But Secretary Meuser disagreed with both of Kane’s major points at his House hearing one day earlier.  “The law clearly states – laws granted by the legislature – granting the Department of Revenue the ability to hire vendors for the effective and efficient growth of the Lottery, and to promulgate new games. 

Meuser also contends that KENO – which was rolled out in nearby Ohio a few years ago – falls within the scope of the Lottery’s terminal-based game regulation, not the “slot machine” definition of the Gaming Act.  He says KENO would us the same algorithm as some exiting Lottery games. 

In lieu of a protracted legal debate, some Democratic lawmakers are calling on Governor Corbett to work with the General Assembly to maximize Lottery revenues in-house.  Also, one Republican lawmaker plans legislation to authorize KENO while barring online, interactive Lottery games.

Grassroots Movement Behind Bills to Expand FMLA

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The federal Family Medical Leave Act was enacted 20-years ago this month.  While the anniversary is considered a milestone, and millions have used the FMLA, many believe it’s time for an update. 

The law allows employees to take unpaid leave to care for a child, parent or spouse.  But Anne Marie Pearson of Chester County was thrust in the role of caregiver for her sister, who had nobody else to help her battle late-stage gynecologic cancer.  “Our father is deceased and our mother is elderly with medical conditions of her own,” Pearson explains of the situation in 2008.  “Joanne was not married and she did not have any children, so there really wasn’t anyone to help take care of Joanne, and get her back-and-forth to those chemotherapy appointments, radiation appointments and so many doctor visits.” 

Pearson was immediately turned down through the Family Medical Leave Act because it does not cover siblings, and her attempts to obtain a special exemption went nowhere.  Ultimately she had to quit her job of 16-years; a decision Pearson says she’d make 100-times over. 

Joanne has since passed away, but Anne Marie Pearson has taken up a grassroots movement to expand the FMLA in Pennsylvania for others in similar situations.  “I figured no one law out there can dictate who’s considered family anymore.  There’s death, divorce, separation, single people – they all play a role in everybody’s family unit.” 

While the FMLA is a federal law, the best chance for action is the state-level, and Pearson’s local legislators have taken up the cause.  State Rep. Dan Truitt (R-Chester) and State Senator Andy Dinniman (D-Chester) have introduced companion bills in Harrisburg, which would – under special circumstances – provide up to six weeks of unpaid leave for an employee to care for a sibling, grandparent or grandchild. 

Such individuals would only be eligible if the person being cared for has no living spouse, child (over 17-years-old) or parent (under 65-years-old).  The bills would mirror the federal law, which means that small businesses would be exempt. 

Truitt’s bill has been assigned to the Aging & Older Adult Services Committee.  Dinniman’s co-sponsorship memo is currently being circulated.

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.

city, downtown, buildings

State House Votes for “Green Buildings”

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New state construction projects would have to meet high-performance energy standards under legislation that’s just passed the House with a 163 – 32-vote.  Supporters call it a win for both the environment and the taxpayer.

PennFuture policy director Steve Stroman says “green buildings” typically use 20 – 40% less energy.  “A green building may cost 2% more up-front, but over the life of the building cost the taxpayer 20 – 30% less money, so they’re great investments.”   

The bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Kate Harper (R-Montgomery), says the payback for a “green building” typically appears after four to seven years.  But if the state is building long-term, she says it needs to be thinking long-term.  

“We never build a building that we don’t intend to have around for 30, 50 or even 150-years,” Rep. Harper tells Radio PA.  “So to bake these energy efficiency standards into the building in the beginning makes sense economically.” 

HB 34 would require the Department of General Services to develop energy-efficient standards, which will be used when building or renovating a state-owned or leased facility.  Both the House and Senate passed similar bills last session, but the differences were never reconciled.  HB 34 now awaits consideration by the state Senate.