Recent legislative activity by PA House Democrats
 

 May 8, 2009

 

PASSED THE HOUSE

House passes Lentz bill targeting unfair employer practices

Employers who misclassify their workers to avoid paying taxes and workers' compensation premiums would be penalized under a bill passed by the state House this week and sponsored by state Rep. Bryan R. Lentz, D-Delaware. House Bill 400 would require people who work in the construction industry to be employees of the party that pays their wages unless they can prove they are legitimate independent contractors. That would mean that the service or services they performed are outside of the usual course of the business of that particular employer; and that they are customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business.

"While this tactic of misclassifying employees is certainly used as a tax-evasion strategy, it even more importantly cheats workers and above-board employers that pay taxes as the law requires them to," Lentz said. "This practice puts workers and honest business people at a disadvantage by continuing to allow unscrupulous employers to avoid responsibility to their workers while gaining a competitive advantage over other businesses."

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Conklin bill to boost sexual violence awareness at colleges passes House

State Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Centre, said his legislation that would provide rape and sexual violence awareness courses for all incoming freshmen at Pennsylvania colleges and universities passed the House this week. Under Conklin's proposal (H.B. 240), colleges and universities in Pennsylvania would have to implement educational programs for freshmen covering various topics related to sexual violence, including what legally constitutes consent or resistance, susceptibility to sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, and the relationship between drugs, alcohol and sexual violence.

"As our children leave home to begin their adult life, it's in those first six months that they are most susceptible to harm," Conklin said. "We need educational programs to teach students how to recognize red flags and what they can do to prevent or avoid an attack."

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Markosek quality bill passes House

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has passed a bill introduced by Rep. Joseph Markosek, D-Allegheny/Westmoreland, which would revamp the Pennsylvania Quality Improvement Act of 1992 by renaming and restructuring the award. The bill, H.B. 588, would make several changes to sections of the original law. The most dramatic change would rename the organization and restructure the entire foundation and advisory council to represent input from a wider array of citizens.

"The purpose of the original law was to establish awards for industries and businesses that demonstrated improvements in operations and quality, and in turn translate it into improved cost-effectiveness, productivity and profit," Markosek said. "My legislation will reinvigorate, expand and build on the great work that is already being done under that initial program."

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House passes Curry's legislation designed to save the Eastern box turtle

With 30 Montgomery County fourth-graders watching on the House floor, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives this week passed a bill that would name the Eastern box turtle the official state reptile. The bill (H.B. 621) was sponsored by state Rep. Lawrence Curry, D-Montgomery/Phila., on behalf of Glenside Elementary School students, and is designed to protect the turtle from becoming extinct in the Commonwealth.

"The number of Eastern box turtles is declining in Pennsylvania due to its loss of habitat, pollution, inability to find mates, being killed by vehicles, being taken for the retail pet trade and by predators," Curry said. "Adopting the Eastern box turtle as our official state reptile would save not only these turtles, but other reptiles, as well."  

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COMMITTEE ACTION

House Judiciary Committee approves measures to reform juvenile justice system

A package of bills that would reform Pennsylvania's juvenile justice system was approved by the House Judiciary Committee this week, setting the stage for full House action on the proposals. A proposal (H.B. 1211) introduced by House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, would eliminate the ability for a juvenile to waive counsel, or for the parent, guardian or custodian of a juvenile to waive counsel on that juvenile's behalf.

"The opportunity for wrongdoing by the unscrupulous judges in Luzerne County was enhanced by their ability to waive counsel for juveniles," Eachus added. "Even though the practice of waiving counsel by juveniles in delinquency cases is not standard procedure in Pennsylvania, the judges in Luzerne County took it upon themselves to misuse their power and abuse the system. This legislation would make sure that this kind of tragedy never happens again in Pennsylvania's court system."

State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Luzerne, is sponsoring legislation (H.B. 1391) that would require the state Department of Public Welfare to pay counties 50 percent of the expenses associated with the appointment of a guardian and legal counsel for juveniles involved in dependency or delinquency proceedings.

"The Supreme Court adopted a rule in 2005 that eliminates the right of a parent or guardian to waive counsel for a juvenile, but the state's Juvenile Act was never amended to reflect this rule," Pashinski said. "Having counsel there to represent the interest of the juvenile is critically important, but the counties should not bear this financial burden alone."

The final component of the package is H.B. 1384, introduced by Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne. It would expand the powers and duties of the Juvenile Court Judges' Commission to require the commission to analyze statistical data and trends in the juvenile justice system and provide information regarding evidence-based programs and other best practices in juvenile adjudication.

"The ability to collect data and look at trends in our juvenile court system is vital to protecting our citizens against potential corruption and abuse," Mundy said. "We need to be ever-vigilant in our quest to protect our juveniles from injustice. These bills will go a long way in helping us root out potential wrongdoing."

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Casorio bill would expand list of crimes requiring pension forfeiture

A state House committee has approved legislation introduced by Rep. James E. Casorio Jr., D-Westmoreland, that would expand the list of crimes that trigger forfeiture of public pension benefits. Public officials or public employees who are convicted of various crimes related to their office or employment, including offenses such as sexual assault against a student, theft, forgery, bribery, false swearing, and witness or evidence tampering, are required to forfeit their pension benefits. Casorio's bill (H.B. 1182) would add the offenses of institutional sexual assault and contraband to that list of crimes.

"Public employees such as prison guards, mental health professionals and youth center employees are placed in a position of authority and supervision over inmates, care-dependent people and young people," Casorio said. "When they use that authority, and their access to these people, to commit crimes - either against the people they are supervising or in concert with the people they are supervising - they should not be entitled to benefits paid for by the taxpayers of Pennsylvania."

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Committee approves Murphy's firefighter cancer compensation bill

The state House Labor Relations Committee has approved legislation sponsored by Rep. Kevin Murphy, D-Lackawanna, that would provide greater support to firefighters who contract cancer on the job. Murphy's legislation (H.B. 1231) would include cancer suffered by firefighters as an occupational disease, qualifying these first responders automatically for workers' compensation benefits. The bill would place the burden on employers to prove that a firefighter's job was not a major contributing cause of his or her cancer in order to withhold workers' compensation benefits.

"Right now, a firefighter who gets cancer by doing his or her job is not automatically protected under workers' compensation laws," Murphy said. "Firefighters who contract cancer due to on-the-job exposure to smoke, fumes and gases, or heat often have to spend years and thousands of dollars in legal costs trying to prove that they developed cancer on the job before they can receive any benefits."

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Committee approves Bradford bill to help keep sign language interpreters in Pa.

The state House Professional Licensure Committee has approved legislation sponsored by Rep. Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery, that would help keep graduates of sign language interpreter programs working in Pennsylvania. Bradford's legislation (H.B. 916) would amend the Sign Language Interpreter and Transliterator State Registration Act to provide a one-year provisional state registration to recent graduates of interpreter education programs with an associate's degree or higher who pass a written exam and meet applicable qualifications.

"Right now it is difficult for recent graduates of sign language interpreter education programs to obtain state registration in Pennsylvania," Bradford said. "These graduates, who have the skills but not the work experience, are often unable to become state-registered and are then shut out of job opportunities. They end up leaving Pennsylvania to pursue other job opportunities in their field, and our hearing-impaired residents lose out on perfectly qualified interpreters."

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Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee reviews alternative energy land use bills

State Rep. Mike Hanna, D-Clinton/Centre, chairman of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, held a public hearing this week on two bills the committee is considering that would encourage Pennsylvania landowners to lease their land for alternative energy production or exploration.

House Bill 984, sponsored by state Rep. Dave Kessler, D-Berks, would amend the Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act, or Clean and Green, to limit the imposition of roll-back taxes when a landowner leases land enrolled in the program for a wind power generation system. The preferential assessment would continue to apply to land that is not leased provided leased tracts remain accessible and are not sold or subdivided.

House Bill 1394, sponsored by state Rep. Tom Houghton, D-Chester, would clarify the status of land leased for exploration of oil and gas, coal bed methane extraction and commercial wind energy production. Under the bill, roll-back taxes would be imposed on land subject to the actual activity, not the entire tract of land.  In addition, roll-back taxes could not be imposed retroactively.

 "Wind energy and exploration of the Marcellus Shale are essential to promoting clean and stable energy production in the Commonwealth," Hanna said.