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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Bob Caton |
State Rep. Keith McCall
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Democratic lawmakers unveil legislation to protect taxpayers and workers
HARRISBURG, June 18 – House Majority Whip Keith McCall, D-Carbon, was joined by lawmakers from around the state today to announce the introduction of a package of bills designed to protect taxpayers and workers when any effort is made to privatize services performed by state agencies.
“Taxpayers deserve to know that they are getting the best services possible, be they provided by state employees or private companies,” McCall said. “Our proposals don’t prevent efforts to privatize services currently being performed by state agencies, but they do guarantee that – in the case of privatization -- workers will be protected and that the level of service will not drop or workers will be unjustly fired just to protect a private company’s bottom line.
“We need to make sure that the public is totally informed about any and all private companies looking to provide services, and we need to stand up for the workers who risk their jobs to ‘blow the whistle’ on illegal or unethical activity. These measures are a positive step toward achieving those goals.”
McCall and the lawmakers were also joined by officials from state employee unions and state agencies to introduce the following bills that would impact any and all state-agency services valued at or above $100,000 per year:
- House Bill 1500, the Public Services Wage Disclosure Act, introduced by Rep. Lisa Bennington, D-Allegheny, would demand a written standard of quality for any prospective private agency that wants to take over state-supplied services. This measure would require full disclosure of a potential private firm’s record concerning employee turnover rates, training standards, and legal complaints involving employee safety, health or labor relations. This measure would also require any employee terminated due to privatization to be offered a similar job by the private firm taking over the state service.
- House Bill 1501, the Public Services Disclosure Act, introduced by Rep. Mike O’Brien, D-Luzerne/Monroe, would require preparation of a comparison of the cost of privatization versus to the cost of the state agency providing the service. The state agency would have to prove that privatization would cost taxpayers at least 10 percent less than the estimated cost for the agency to provide the same service.
- House Bill 1502, the Public Services Contractor Cost Act, introduced by Rep. Ed Pashinski, D-Luzerne, would require similar disclosures and also prohibit a private company from using any state funds in the privatization contract to support or oppose unionization.
- House Bill 1503, the Public Services Accountability Act, introduced by Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fayette, would require disclosure and certification of all pending privatization contracts and improve the public’s right to know to include documents of the privatized entity pertaining to work performed under the contract. It also would protect “whistleblower” workers who speak out on behalf of those served or the agency.
- House Bill 1504, the Public Services Record Act, introduced by Rep. Bill Kortz, D-Allegheny, would require the same level of public right-to-know on private contracts as is required on services provided by state agencies.
- House Bill 1505, the Public Services Privatization Act, introduced by McCall, would guarantee “whistleblower” protection to any public employee or employee of a private company providing public services when they report illegal or unethical actions by a public or private agency, advocate for service recipients served by the contract, or cooperate with a legitimate government investigation.
McCall said the proposals will be referred to standing House committees for additional study.
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