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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State Rep. Mike Sturla
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House State Government Committee approves Sturla’s state police bill
HARRISBURG, July 2 – According to state Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster, the House State Government Committee this week favorably reported out his legislation (H.B. 1500) that would create the Pennsylvania State Police Municipal Patrol Services Act.
"My legislation is about fairness and equity because it is obvious there is a serious inequity in how we fund police services in our state," Sturla said. "I thank Chair Babette Josephs for bringing House Bill 1500 up for a vote and I am grateful for the committee members’ support of it."
Under H.B. 1500, every municipality that relies solely on the state police would be required to pay an annual per capita fee of $156. In addition, it requires municipalities that do not have a certain level of local patrol services to pay an annual per capita fee of $52. For those municipalities required to pay a fee, there would be an "opt-out" provision to allow them to pay on a per-incident basis. All fees would be phased in over a three year period.
Sturla added, "All residents of Pennsylvania are taxed for state police patrol services, but only 20 percent of the state population utilizes these services. Approximately 72 percent of the state’s population does not solely rely on state police patrol services, and yet they pay an additional $100-$400 per capita annually for their own local police."
Sturla’s bill would generate approximately $450 million in the third year of implementation. Twenty million dollars annually from this funding will be used for training of state police cadet classes while 90 percent of the remainder would go into the Motor License Fund and the final 10 percent would be allocated to the Department of Community and Economic Development for grants and studies for cooperative policing arrangements.
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