Recent legislative activity by PA House Democrats

 February 13, 2009

PASSED THE HOUSE

House passes measure to extend participation in Main Street Program

A bill that would allow Main Street Program communities to extend their participation in the program for up to an additional five years passed the state House this week, according to the bill's sponsor, state Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Northampton. The Main Street Program is funded through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. The program provides grants to help revitalize downtown business districts and for the assistance of a full-time Main Street manager who works with local officials and downtown merchants to implement a revitalization plan for the downtown. Freeman said that under H.B. 102, communities seeking an extension for participation in the program would have to get approval from DCED.

"Many times we have seen that the current five-year time frame to turn a traditional downtown around is not long enough," Freeman said. "A Main Street community just begins to see progress and the funding stops because of the program's time limit, causing revitalization momentum and success to suffer. If we allow those communities to continue in the program for additional time, we can help ensure their success in achieving their Main Street revitalization goals."

-- Visit www.pahouse.com/Freeman for more information.

Caltagirone's animal cruelty bill passes House

Less than one month after state Rep. Thomas Caltagirone reintroduced his bill to restrict the ability of untrained individuals to perform certain surgeries on Pennsylvania dogs, the legislation has passed the full House. Caltagirone's bill (H.B. 39) proposes significant changes to the state's animal cruelty law by prohibiting owners and breeders from performing debarking (cutting or destroying a dog's vocal cords) and cesarean sections. The current law provides little to no oversight over what Caltagirone says has become an alarmingly common practice -- breeders and owners, with no formal training, personally performing surgical procedures on their animals.

"My hope was to get this bill signed into law last year when we instituted sweeping reforms on kennel and puppy mill operations in the Commonwealth," said Caltagirone, D-Berks. "After months of negotiations, the bill finally is running clean the way it was intended."  

-- Visit www.pahouse.com/Caltagirone for more information.

Bill to make viewing child porn a crime passes House

State Rep. Jennifer Mann, D-Lehigh, said legislation she authored that would make viewing child pornography a criminal offense under Pennsylvania law unanimously passed the House this week. Pennsylvania Superior Court previously ruled that existing state laws prohibiting child pornography apply only to individuals who possess these illegal images. In at least one case, the conviction of an individual who admitted to intentionally viewing sexually explicit images of children on the Internet was overturned. Mann said H.B. 89 would close the loophole in the law to better protect children from child sexual predators. 

"Because the court has ruled that current law does not make it illegal for people to view child pornography, we must act quickly to change the law," Mann said. "These sexual deviants who intentionally view these images of children are contributing to their exploitation and should be held to the same criminal standards as those who hold the camera."

-- Visit www.pahouse.com/Mann for more information.

COMMITTEE ACTION

Briggs bill to enable sibling visitation voted out of House Children and Youth Committee 

State Rep. Tim Briggs, D-Montgomery, said legislation he sponsored that would help children maintain contact with their siblings when they live apart due to a change in family situation was voted out of the House Children and Youth Committee this week. The bill (H.B. 295) would allow courts to grant visitation rights to siblings who live apart due to divorce, separation, death or court order. 

"Siblings need each other's support, especially during difficult times," Briggs said. "This bill would ensure that they can continue to maintain a close relationship even though the circumstances around them have changed."

-- Visit www.pahouse.com/Briggs for more information.

Committee approves Roebuck's proposed changes to Master Plan for Higher Education

State Rep. James Roebuck, D-Phila., House Education Committee chairman, said the committee has approved his proposal to amend the state's Master Plan for Higher Education to make sure the state is adequately preparing students for current and future workforce needs. Roebuck's proposal (H.B. 114) would require the State Board of Education to identify unmet needs in career preparation, emerging issues in higher education and strategies to address them, and local collaboration opportunities for workforce development programs and economic development under the Master Plan every five years.

"This legislation would amend the Master Plan for Higher Education to make sure that we are assessing several issues to ensure our colleges and universities function correctly for today's economy, such as accessibility, affordability and making sure that we are creating the kind of workforce that will underwrite the future needs of the Commonwealth," Roebuck said.

-- Visit www.pahouse.com/Roebuck for more information.

BILL INTRODUCTIONS

Grucela reintroduces bill to allow some 17-year-olds to vote in primaries

State Rep. Richard Grucela, D-Northampton, has introduced a bill (H.B. 259) that would allow 17-year-olds to register and vote in primary elections in Pennsylvania if they will be 18 by the time of that year's general election. Grucela, who taught at Easton Area High School for 31 years, explained that current law excludes some young voters from determining the candidates for whom they will later vote in the general election.

"The record turnouts of young Americans during the 2008 presidential election clearly indicates how engaged the youngest generation is," Grucela said. We should be encouraging this behavior, and certainly if we allow a young person to vote at 18 for elected officials, we should allow them to vote in primaries and decide the candidates they will choose from."

-- Visit www.pahouse.com/Grucela for more information.

Mundy bill would require Blues to refund excess surpluses

State Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne, has reintroduced legislation that would require Pennsylvania's four Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans to return to ratepayers much of their billions of dollars in surpluses. Under the bill, the Blues would be required to use reserves that exceed minimum levels required by the Insurance Department -- and in excess of the amount needed to honor subscriber contracts for an additional three months -- to reduce subscribers' health insurance premium rates.

"My constituents in northeastern Pennsylvania don't understand why their premiums rise so much faster than overall inflation when, at the same time, the Blues companies report billions of dollars in surpluses," Mundy said. "This is extremely troubling considering more and more Pennsylvania families and businesses are finding it difficult to afford health insurance," she said. "My bill would put those surpluses back into the hands of ratepayers."

-- Visit www.pahouse.com/Mundy for more information.

Casorio introduces Senior Alert system legislation

Legislation that has been reintroduced by state Rep. James E. Casorio Jr., D-Westmoreland, would create a system in Pennsylvania to help law enforcement, the media and the public work together to locate and recover missing, care-dependent senior citizens and other adults. Under Casorio's legislation (H.B. 122), the state police would create a Senior Alert system to notify local law enforcement and the media in cases of missing, medically endangered or care-dependent senior citizens. In such cases, local police would be authorized to begin a missing person investigation immediately, and to prepare and distribute within five hours a report to the media and the public with information on the missing senior.

"The system would be modeled on the very successful Amber Alert system that is in place nationally to help locate missing or kidnapped children," Casorio said. "In many cases, senior citizens who go missing have medical issues or mental disabilities that make finding them quickly extremely important. Some senior citizens who go missing do not even realize that they are in danger."

-- Visit www.pahouse.com/Casorio for more information.

Mahoney reintroduces bill to consolidate school districts for local tax reform  

State Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fayette, has introduced legislation that would provide taxpayer savings by allowing county residents to approve the consolidation of smaller school districts into a single countywide school district. Mahoney's legislation (H.B. 351) would allow county commissioners to place a referendum on the ballot asking voters if they support consolidating small school districts into a single, countywide school district for the purposes of administration and taxation. The consolidation process would begin if at least two-thirds of voters approve the referendum.

"We need to review school district consolidation in Pennsylvania to see if we can provide taxpayers with expanded real estate tax savings," Mahoney said.

-- Visit www.pahouse.com/Mahoney for more information.

Longietti introduces legislation to combat criminal street gangs

State Rep. Mark Longietti, D-Mercer, has introduced legislation aimed at combating criminal street gangs. The legislation (H.B. 296) would create a separate criminal offense for being a member of a criminal street gang and participating in activity related to criminal street gangs, and calls for the forfeiture of assets by those prosecuted for participation in criminal street gang activity. The assets and any revenue recovered as a result of fines would be used by law enforcement and community groups for crime-fighting and anti-gang measures and programs.

"Gang activity has become an increasingly significant problem across the state," Longietti said. "This bill would create a tool for deterring and punishing criminal street gang activity by hitting gangs where it hurts them most, in their wallets."

-- Visit www.pahouse.com/Longietti for more information.

Solobay pushes for adequate nursing staff ratios

State Rep. Tim Solobay, D-Washington, has introduced a bill (H.B. 147) that would set minimum nursing staff-to-patient ratios for various types of care in Pennsylvania health-care facilities. According to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality study, infections, cardiac and respiratory failure, patient falls and injuries increase with inadequate nurse staffing.

"It is well established that inadequate hospital staffing results in dangerous medical errors and patient infections," Solobay said. "That means longer hospital stays that increase the cost of medical care for all of us."

-- Visit www.pahouse.com/Solobay for more information.

Dermody reintroduces bill to eliminate school property taxes

State Rep. Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny, has reintroduced legislation to eliminate the school property tax. Dermody's legislation (H.B. 272) is patterned after a 1993 Michigan law in which that state eliminated school property taxes in order to enact a more equitable tax plan to pay for schools. After Michigan's legislature eliminated property taxes, the voters approved new funding sources for schools, including higher sales and cigarette taxes. Property taxes also were included in the mix, but at a much lower rate.

"Eliminating school districts' ability to levy property taxes on residents would force the state to look at how we pay for our schools and develop a better way to fund them," Dermody said. "This is the first step in fixing a system that is deeply flawed and finding a way to better address the burden property taxes place on residents and school districts."