Recent legislative activity by PA House Democrats

 

Sept. 18, 2009

 

PASSED THE HOUSE AND SENATE

 

Pension bill ready for Rendell signature

Legislation meant to help shore up 3,100 municipal pension plans across Pennsylvania is headed to the governor's desk for his signature. Gov. Ed Rendell is expected to sign the legislation (H.B. 1828) into law quickly, in part because it includes language that allows Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter to increase the city's sales tax temporarily in an effort to bolster the municipal pension funds, stave off that city's financial collapse and stop the layoffs of as many as 3,000 workers. It won final approval in the state Senate by a vote of 32-17.

"Pension relief for local governments is a critical issue now and in the future. Enacting this bill is a good first step, but the House and Senate understand we must revisit this issue to address large shortfalls in coming years," said Speaker of the House Keith McCall, D-Carbon.

"Philadelphians can breathe more easily today," said Rep. Jewell Williams, chairman of the Philadelphia delegation and the bill's prime sponsor. "This legislation allows the city to move forward with efforts to strengthen its finances. That's good for Philadelphia and the whole southeast region of the state."

"The Senate's action today insures that more than 3,000 municipal pension plans across Pennsylvania, including those in the city of Hazleton in my home county, will receive critical financial relief from the pension fund losses suffered in the collapse of the stock market during this economic recession," said Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne. "Without this bill, many of these boroughs, cities and townships would find themselves on the brink of financial disaster. This bill also preserves important protections for our police, firefighters and other first-responders, who put their lives on the line every day to protect our communities."

"This has been a long and frustrating process, but I am pleased with the end result," said House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans, D-Phila. "I would have preferred that we deal with the broader issue of underfunded pensions statewide in a separate piece of legislation. But this bill meets our goal of helping Philadelphia. At the same time it focuses attention on the fragile state of our municipal pension plans, so that's good. I expect the legislature will gives this matter further consideration."

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COMMITTEE ACTION

Pashinski bill to expand heart and stroke program approved by House Health and Human Services Committee

State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Luzerne, said the House Health and Human Services Committee has approved legislation he introduced that would expand Pennsylvania's heart disease and stroke program. Pashinski said the legislation (H.B. 816) would expand the program already in place to provide more information on the prevention and treatment of heart disease and stroke. The program is administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

"This is the first step in trying to initiate new processes that deal with training emergency medical technicians and having best practices throughout hospitals in Pennsylvania that deal specifically with heart and stroke diseases," Pashinski said.

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Lowery Brown resolution on dental care for disabled, working poor clears committee

The House Health and Human Services Committee has unanimously approved state Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown's resolution (H.R. 380) that would direct the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study and report on disparities of dental care for Pennsylvanians who have disabilities or are working poor. The resolution also would direct the committee to determine the availability and need of dental providers county by county. It also would examine the availability of physically accessible dental offices and dental equipment in those offices for people with disabilities.

"I'm hopeful the resolution will be adopted by the House," said Lowery Brown, D-Phila. "The study would help me write legislation to preserve the quality of dental services already in place and to make incentives so dentists open their practices to the disabled and to the working poor."

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Wheatley's select committee issues report on small business, diversity in state contracts, purchasing

State Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Allegheny, announced that the select committee he chairs has approved and issued a report that makes 16 sets of recommendations to ensure participation in state contracts and purchasing from minority-owned, women-owned and disadvantaged-owned businesses. The committee's recommendations include having all state agencies reserve 10 percent of their procurement and contracting dollars for small businesses with 250 or fewer employees; having state agencies, boards and commissions establish an overall aspirational target of 25 percent of procurement and construction dollars going to minority-, women- and disadvantaged-owned businesses; requiring prime contractors doing business with the state to pay subcontractors within five days; having the state Department of General Services accept certification of minority-, women- and disadvantaged-owned businesses from the Pennsylvania Unified Certification Program and having local governments and school districts accept those certifications as sufficient.

"As chairman, I am proud of this report because it is based on vital input from the public, businesses, experts, and state officials," Wheatley said. "Ultimately, I believe our recommendations will help small businesses grow and keep Pennsylvania moving in the right direction. I commend all members of this select committee for working in a bipartisan manner to produce this report. I look forward to working with them and the rest of our colleagues in the House and Senate to implement our recommendations."

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