FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State Rep. Barb McIlvaine Smith D-Chester www.pahouse.com/BSmith

McIlvaine Smith takes aim at legislative cost-of-living adjustment

Preparing bill to end automatic COLAs for lawmakers

HARRISBURG, Nov. 26 – State Rep. Barb McIlvaine Smith, D-Chester, is taking aim at legislative cost-of-living adjustments by crafting legislation that would repeal Act 51 of 1995, ending automatic COLAs for the legislature, as well as for judges and executive branches officials, including the auditor general, attorney general, state treasurer, PUC commissioners, and heads of boards and commissions.

"Here in Pennsylvania, retirees from our schools as well as state government were told that a COLA was out of the question for the coming year. Yet officials in all three branches of state government stand ready to receive an annual COLA," McIlvaine Smith said. "Our constituents are losing their jobs and everyone is struggling to pay their bills. Thousands will not see their salaries or wages increased in the coming year, so why should we?"

McIlvaine Smith donated her 2007-08 COLA to five local charities and did not declare the donations as charitable deductions on her federal income tax return:

Ø Community Volunteers in Medicine

Ø Homeless Single Women’s Task Force

Ø West Chester Public Library

Ø West Chester Area Senior Center

Ø West Chester Head Start

Salaries for the governor, his/her cabinet, the judiciary and the legislature are set by legislation. Act 51, which provided for the automatic COLAs, was passed to eliminate last-minute, late-night, sometimes lame-duck votes to hike legislators' and other state officials' salaries. But McIlvaine Smith noted that the controversial 2005 pay raise demonstrated that this law could be circumvented.

Under the bill McIlvaine Smith is preparing, future COLAs would have to passed in legislation, and would be subject to new House rules that require the public to have adequate time to review bills before they are voted. McIlvaine Smith said she intends to introduce her bill when the new legislative session begins in January.

###