An
update of recent legislative activity by
Pennsylvania House Democrats
March 9, 2007
Petrone bill supporting mental health counselors
approved by committee
A bill introduced by Rep. Thomas Petrone, D-Allegheny,
that would provide student loan forgiveness to mental health, mental
retardation and substance abuse addiction counselors has been approved by the
House Health and Human Services Committee.
The bill (H.B.
282) would offer loan forgiveness to Pennsylvania residents who graduate
from higher education institutions and apply their degrees to in-state careers
in the mental health field. The loan forgiveness would be up to $5,000 per
year, up to a total of $20,000 per person.
"Quality care for mental health
and addiction is essential for the well-being of Pennsylvania residents,"
Petrone said. "My loan forgiveness bill would help to ensure we continue
recruiting the best and the brightest into this rewarding field."
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House Ag Committee reviews state's dog law regulations
Rep. Mike Hanna,
D-Centre/Clinton, chairman of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Committee, held a public hearing this week on proposed changes to the state's Dog
Law regulations.
The changes, being proposed by the Department of
Agriculture, would introduce more stringent requirements for exercise,
sanitation, feeding, housing and record-keeping for boarding
kennels, shelters or breeders housing 25 or more dogs a year.
"The goal of Pennsylvania is to
protect dogs and consumers and help consumers distinguish reputable breeders
and kennels from puppy mills," Hanna said. "I encourage state residents to
comment on these proposed changes so that we can find a way to improve the
conditions under which dogs are bred and sold in Pennsylvania."
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more.
Frankel introduces breast and cervical cancer
screening bill
Rep. Dan Frankel,
D-Allegheny, has introduced legislation that would enable low-income women in Pennsylvania to be screened for breast and cervical cancer.
The bill (H.B.
49) would address a loophole created in the federal Breast and Cervical
Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act of 2000 that allows states to deny
Medicaid-funded breast cancer treatment to low-income, uninsured women if their
cancer was diagnosed outside of the state screening program network. It would
allow all uninsured women to qualify for Medicaid-funded breast cancer
treatment regardless of where they were screened.
"I am always inspired by meeting
cancer survivors, but their stories are also a reminder that there are more
lives we can and should save," Frankel said.
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Mann and colleagues introduce
gang violence prevention
bill
Rep. Jennifer Mann,
D-Lehigh, along with several House Democratic colleagues, has introduced a bill
aimed at giving police and district attorneys more power to combat the growing
problems of gang violence.
The bill (H.B.
326) would define criminal gang activity and establish strict penalties for
such activity in Pennsylvania. It also would authorize the Pennsylvania
Commission on Crime and Delinquency to establish a Criminal Gang Deterrence
Fund to provide grants for community efforts to deter gang violence.
"This legislation would give law
enforcement the leverage it needs to successfully prosecute violent gang
members and get them off the streets," Mann said. "Gang-associated shootings and
murders have been on the rise along the Route 222 corridor in the past five
years, and we need to act, rather than react, if we want to get control of the
situation. The General Assembly has to address this issue by providing local
authorities with the funds and the legal authority to aggressively remove the
threat of gang violence from our neighborhoods."
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Williams reintroduces legislation
to fight witness
intimidation
In response to increasing incidents of gun violence across
the state, Rep. Jewell Williams,
D-Phila., has reintroduced legislation that would protect witnesses and victims
of crime when they testify.
The witness intimidation legislation (H.B.
382) would grant the courts - at the request of law enforcement officers, prosecutors
or victims and witnesses -- the ability to conceal the identity of a victim or
witness when testifying by using teleconferenced testimony, voice distortion or
other means. It would also prohibit disclosure of a victim's or witness'
identity or personal details, and allow for additional security for victims and
witnesses, such as transportation to court, secure areas at the courthouse or
police protection.
"Philadelphia Assistant District
Attorney William Fisher once said, 'Witnesses and victims don't tell you
everything for a number of reasons. One of the reasons is that they're
afraid for their lives,'" Williams said. "We have a serious gun violence problem
in urban areas. If we want to solve it, we cannot allow our witnesses to be
intimidated or scared."
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Dermody working to phase out MTBE
Rep. Frank
Dermody, D-Allegheny, has introduced legislation (H.B.
436) that would phase out over five years the use of methyl tertiary butyl
ether, commonly known as MTBE, in automobile fuel and allow the Department of
Environmental Protection to enforce the law and establish penalties for
noncompliance.
MTBE is a chemical that raises the oxygen content of
gasoline. The heightened oxygen level allows the gasoline to burn more
efficiently and reduces harmful emissions from automobiles.
However, research indicates that the chemical is a potential
carcinogen at high doses. MTBE has been used heavily to comply with oxygenate
requirements set by the U.S. Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, but other
alternative oxygenates, such as ethanol and RFG fuel, are available.
"My bill will ensure that the
potential health risks of this chemical are not ignored," Dermody said. "It is
our obligation to protect people from any further contamination while we can
still manage it."
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Bill would protect Pennsylvanians' confidential
information
Rep. Frank
Dermody, D-Oakmont, has introduced legislation that would prohibit the
state from selling or disclosing confidential information about its citizens.
Under the bill (H.B.
438), no government agency would be allowed to sell, disclose or give
access to confidential information to a nongovernmental agency, business or
person unless authorized by law. Such confidential information would include
information gathered or given to the state in order to obtain benefits or to
qualify for a program, such as welfare and food stamps, or PACE and the
Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program; or to comply with legal requirements, such as
obtaining a driver's license or photo ID. In
addition, the bill would cancel any current contracts with the state that go
against this restriction.
"It's a privacy issue. With
identity theft as rampant as it is today, this bill will protect our people
from their own state government agencies selling their private
information," Dermody said. "We
should not be trading our citizens' private information in order to earn a few
bucks, especially when people are required to regularly submit this information
to the state."
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Dermody reintroduces bill to eliminate property taxes
Rep. Frank
Dermody, D-Allegheny, has reintroduced legislation to eliminate the school
property tax.
The proposal (H.B.
440) 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, 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
take a serious look at how we pay for our schools and develop a better way to
do that," 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."
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Surra introduces worker protection measures
Rep. Dan Surra,
D-Elk/Clearfield, has reintroduced legislation that would protect workers in Pennsylvania from being forced to work long hours without breaks or excessive mandatory
overtime.
One bill (H.B.
632) would require employers to provide workers with a minimum 30-minute
rest period after they have worked five hours. The measure would not apply to
police officers, firefighters, EMTs or other first responders. A second bill (H.B.
633) would give workers the right to refuse overtime in excess of eight
hours in a week if they have already worked 40 hours that week. An employee who
refuses overtime in excess of eight hours could not be fired or disciplined for
doing so.
"Forcing workers to work all day
without a break, or to work so many hours in a week that they have time for
little else except eating and sleeping is not healthy for workers, not healthy
for their families and, in the long run, not healthy for our communities,"
Surra said. "Pennsylvania should protect the right of its working men and women
to keep their jobs without having to trade their health and the rest of their
lives for that privilege."
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James bill would heighten penalty
for using minors in
drug trafficking
Rep. Harold James,
D-Phila., has introduced legislation to discourage drug dealers from exploiting
children.
The bill (H.B.
679) would strengthen penalties for adults who use children in the
trafficking of illegal drugs. The charge would be increased to a second-degree
felony, which includes imprisonment for up to 10 years and/or a fine of up to
$25,000.
"People who would expose children
to the dirty and dangerous world of drug trafficking deserve to be penalized
heavily, and increasing the grade of crime would impose a stronger punishment,"
James said. "Using children to deliver or receive drugs is just another form of
child exploitation."
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Josephs: Real ID is a real problem
Rep. Babette
Josephs, D-Phila., has introduced a resolution (H.R.
100) in the state House that would urge Congress to delay or repeal
implementation of the federal Real ID program, which requires all states to
meet a national standard for driver's licenses by 2013.
The Real ID law, passed by Congress in 2005, will require
states to collect and manage private information about their residents via
driver's licenses. States must link this driver's license information to a
national database. The database will be accessible to many entities, which
could make it easier for personal information to be stolen, sold or even used
for purposes other than which Real ID was intended.
"Implementing Real ID at a
cost of $100 million not only will be a drain on Pennsylvania's finances, but
it will also cause confusion and delay for drivers seeking to renew their
driver's licenses," Josephs said. "It will be an infringement on citizen civil
liberties and state rights. At least six other state legislatures have already
voted to ignore the federal law, and others are viewing the law with distaste
and mistrust."
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Cohen wants select panel to examine shortages
in
health-care professions
Rep. Mark Cohen,
D-Phila., has introduced a resolution (H.R.
109) to create a select House committee to examine Pennsylvania's shortages
in various health-care professions.
The committee would study both the short- and long-term
problems caused by these shortages, and recommend actions the state could take
to mitigate them.
"With the impending shortages of
skilled professionals, health care in Pennsylvania will suffer dramatically,"
Cohen said. "The time to examine this issue is now. We can't afford to wait any
longer to determine a course of action to manage this looming crisis."
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Preston to
introduce bill to protect consumers
from utility shutoffs
Rep. Joseph
Preston, D-Allegheny, will introduce legislation that would make it easier
for Pennsylvania gas and electric customers to have their utility service
restored.
The legislation would allow qualifying customers to have
their electric or gas service restored by setting up a payment plan to pay
outstanding utility bills. Utility companies currently require customers whose
service has been suspended to pay their entire outstanding balance in order to
have service restored. The bill also would cap utility reconnection fees at $50
and set a maximum security deposit to have utility service restored at $100. It
also would require public utility companies to accept grants from the state's
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program as utility payments during winter
months.
"I want to give low- and
fixed-income families more time to pay their home heating bills because with
all of the other bills they struggle to pay such as food, transportation and
clothing, it can be hard for people to catch up with their utility payments," Preston said.
"Currently, some families just can't afford to pay the entire outstanding
balance in a lump sum to get their heat working again."
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Gibbons proposes grant program to help counties
pay for
death-penalty cases
Rep. Jaret Gibbons,
D-Lawrence/Beaver, will introduce legislation that would create a grant program
to reimburse smaller counties in Pennsylvania for the cost of prosecuting
capital murder cases, which can often run in excess of $50,000.
"Larger counties have the
financial resources to handle multiple capital murder cases in a fiscal year,"
Gibbons said. "But in smaller counties, a single death-penalty case is a serious
financial burden that could exhaust the funding set aside for such cases and
force a county to raise property taxes."
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Markosek wants Pa. gasoline tested for octane accuracy
Rep. Joseph
Markosek, D-Allegheny/Westmoreland, plans to introduce legislation that
would establish an automotive fuel testing and disclosure program in Pennsylvania.
The new program would ensure that poor quality gasoline is not dumped in Pennsylvania. Currently Pennsylvania is one of only four states
-- Alaska, Nebraska and Ohio are the others -- in which inspectors do not
verify posted octane ratings. Ohio has a law pending.
"Pennsylvania could very easily
become a dumping ground for defective fuel, if it already hasn't, because
almost every other state has protective measures in place," Markosek said. "This
legislation would give us the regulatory authority to test fuel quality, putting
our state on par with the rest of the nation."
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