Burns crosses party lines to support Taxpayer Protection Act
Measure to increase transparency dovetails with his LCB fight
Rep. Frank Burns January 15, 2020 | 2:08 PM
EBENSBURG, Jan. 15 – Intrigued by the similarities between its aims and his own effort to pry public information from the state Liquor Control Board, state Rep. Frank Burns has sponsored a Republican-authored bill known as the Taxpayer Protection Act.
Burns, D-Cambria, said H.B. 1316 not only seeks to limit the rate of state spending increases, tying them to the Consumer Price Index and population growth, it also would create greater transparency in a state budget process that often leaves rank-and-file legislators in the dark.
“I have absolutely no qualms about crossing party lines to support good legislation,” Burns said. “That’s what my constituents expect of me, that’s what I’ve promised them – and that’s what I’m going to deliver.”
As a fiscally conservative legislator who’s consistently refused to raise state taxes, sometimes in the face of enormous pressure from his own party, Burns said he would welcome the bill’s provision that would essentially tie state spending hikes to reasonable benchmarks.
“Too many times, we’ve all been victimized by the Harrisburg shell game of, ‘Authorize the spending now, figure out how to pay for it later,’ which is doing things backward,” Burns said. “It’s time for that game to end, for everyone to know up front how the bills are going to be paid, and for state government to learn to live within its means instead of automatically reaching deeper into people’s pockets.”
Burns also lauded the bill’s other goal of bringing transparency to secret funds that aren’t currently easily visible in what remains an often-foggy state budget process. Burns said his own battle with the LCB – which has forced him to go to court to obtain the number of restaurant liquor licenses available for auction in each county – has strengthened his resolve to make all components of state government more open and accountable.
“After the way the LCB has treated me, denying a simple information request that’s been supported by the state Office of Open Records, I’m even more determined to eradicate government secrecy,” Burns said. “We need to restore the public’s trust that state government works for them, not any special interests.”
House Bill 1316 would make its changes by amending the Pennsylvania Constitution. It has cleared the House State Government Committee, but leadership has not brought it before the full House for a vote.