Feeling safe in our homes, our communities and on our roads is everyone's right. Yet there are municipalities across this state that are not pulling their weight when it comes to paying for police protection.

Twenty-one municipalities with populations of 10,000 or more are choosing to rely on the services of the Pennsylvania State Police rather than fund their own police force or join a regional police force.

This means that the rest of us are paying taxes to support our own local police forces, plus seeing a portion of our state tax dollars go to provide police protection for these larger communities that enjoy stellar police protection without having to foot the bill fairly. Click here to hear my comments.

I have introduced H.B. 747 that would assess $100 per resident on municipalities with populations of more than 10,000 that rely solely on the PSP for police services. Click here to read the release.

This fee would generate about $40 million, which could be used to hire an additional 4,000 state troopers, increasing public safety for everyone.

In his budget address, Gov. Rendell suggested that we look at imposing fees on municipalities relying on state police for local police protection. I ask you to lend your voice in support of H.B. 747 by signing the petition.