Category: Pennsylvania Legislation

Laws proposed or passed in the Pennsylvania Legislature

Animal Fighting Paraphernalia Vote In Pa. House

Animal Fighting Paraphernalia Vote In Pa. House — The Pennsylvania House passed legislation last week to protect animals by addressing an aspect of animal fighting, reports state Rep. Jim Cox (R-129). House Bill 164 would create the offense of possession of animal fighting paraphernalia, which would be defined by any device, implement, object, facility, space or drug used, or intended to be used, for animal fighting or to train an animal for fighting.

Possession of animal fighting paraphernalia would be graded as a third-degree misdemeanor, with a penalty of up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $2,500. If enacted, the law would aid in the prosecution of animal fighters since investigators often find the tools of the trade rather than an animal fight in progress.

The bill is in the Senate for consideration.

Animal Fighting Paraphernalia Vote In Pa. House

House To Vote On Transportation Fee Hikes

House To Vote On Transportation Fee Hikes — The  House Transportation Committee completed a series of public hearings on Senate Bill 1, a multi-year, comprehensive transportation funding plan, reports state Rep. Jim Cox (R-129). The committee received testimony from various stakeholders and industry representatives, including Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Barry Schoch, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and representatives from public transportation systems, construction and engineering interests, agriculture, trucking, rail freight and others.

Senate Bill 1 aims to raise an additional $2.5 billion a year for transportation funding, with an additional $11 billion overall over five years, by proposing to:

–Remove the cap on the Oil Company Franchise Tax, which is charged at the wholesale level, over a period of five years.

–Reduce the State Liquid Fuels Tax over a period of four years.

— Make vehicle registrations valid for two years instead of one and increasing the net cost by $32.

— Make driver’s licenses valid for six years instead of four and increasing the net cost by $6.25.

The House Transportation Committee expects to vote on the bill this week.

Pennsylvania has some of the oldest transportation infrastructure in the country, Cox said. The governor’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission has identified the need for an additional $3.5 billion annually to support maintenance and repair of the state’s roads and bridges, as well as public transportation systems.

You know Jim, ending the prevailing wage requirements might just cut the cost of those infrastructure improvements to the point where we don’t need these burdensome fee hikes.

Just sayin’.

House To Vote On Transportation Fee Hikes

Child Abuse Bill Package Leaves Committee

Child Abuse Bill Package Leaves Committee — The House Children and Youth Committee last week advanced a package of bills aimed at strengthening and enhancing laws pertaining to child abuse, says State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

The keystone of the package is House Bill 726, which would expand and enhance the definition of child abuse in the state’s Child Protection Services Law. The bill lowers the injury threshold to mirror simple assault, expands the ability to substantiate serious emotional abuse, includes grooming activities, broadens serious physical neglect and expands the definition of perpetrator.

Other bills in the package include:
• House Bill 430, which would establish procedures for reporting suspected child abuse through advanced communication technology in an effort to improve the ability of reports to be made in a timely manner and made available to the proper investigative authorities.
• House Bill 433, which would establish additional safeguards and due process with respect to the outcome of a child abuse investigation.
• House Bill 434, which would remove the separate standards and procedures that exist for school employees accused of abusing a student and hold them to the same standards as parents, child care workers, and other perpetrators of child abuse.
• House Bill 435, which would enhance background clearance requirements for those who work with children or volunteer in a role where they supervise children.
• House Bill 436, which would expand the list of mandated reporters of suspected child abuse, clarify a mandated reporter’s basis to report child abuse and enhance penalties for the failure to report.

This package is in addition to numerous other bills that have already passed the House.

Child Abuse Bill Package Leaves Committee

Victims Voice Bill On Governor’s Desk

Victims Voice Bill On Governor’s Desk — A bill to give crime victims a voice during the parole process of an inmate is now on the governor’s desk, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

House Bill 492 would change the Crime Victims’ Act to allow a victim or victim representative to appear personally before the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole and provide testimony in connection with an inmate’s application for parole. The bill would make it clear that the decision of victims or their representatives to appear and be heard by the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole is up to them, not the board. Additionally, the bill would allow victims or their representatives to appear by any electronic means made available by the board, such as video conference, if they elect to do so.

If signed by the governor, the law would take effect Sept. 1.

Victims Voice Bill On Governor’s Desk

Vets Get Dibs At Public Colleges

Vets Get Dibs At Public Colleges — The House last week unanimously approved a measure to help veterans who plan to take college courses, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

House Bill 1164 would allow veterans who are students to receive priority course scheduling at public institutions of higher education in Pennsylvania to give them the flexibility to assimilate back into civilian society and receive the necessary education to rejoin the workforce. Unemployment among veterans is higher than the general population. The bill empowers veterans to use their VA educational benefits in the most efficient manner possible.

House Bill 1164 now goes before the Senate for consideration.

Vets Get Dibs At Public Colleges

Pa. To Use UC Money To Save State Jobs

The State House has approved a bill to take money from unemployment compensation taxes and use it keep workers at unemployment centers from losing their jobs and pay for “infrastructure” improvements to the service centers, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

That would be a definition of irony if it were written by Ambrose Bierce.

Cox says House Bill 26 would divert a portion of employee unemployment compensation taxes to be deposited into a newly established fund known as the Service and Infrastructure Fund.

Money deposited into this fund would allow the Department of Labor and Industry to improve the “quality, efficiency and timeliness of services” provided by unemployment compensation centers, Cox said.

The bill aims to save the department from unemployment compensation service center closures and personnel cuts that would further degrade services to claimants, Cox said.

So were employers paying too much in unemployment comp taxes allowing
for a surplus to be used to save these state workers and improve the
infrastructure as per the bill? Was there a surplus in the unemployment
fund with our great booming economy?

Maybe if the employers paid lower taxes they would not have to lay so many people off and we would not need so many state workers in the unemployment office. Was that considered?

Ninety-nine weeks of “funemployement”. Wheeeee.

Hey, what’s money but magic green paper anyway?

The measure now goes before the Senate for consideration.

Cox Testifies About Property Tax Reform Proposal

State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129) testified last week about The Property Tax Independence Act (HB 76) which would replace revenues collected through school district property taxes with alternative statewide funding sources.

You can find information about the bill here.

You can watch Cox’s testimony here.

 

Cox Testifies About Property Tax Reform Proposal

Local Pubs Help Stop Pro-Environmental Law

Local Pubs Help Stop Pro-Environmental Law — An attempt to de-fang the anti-environmental Davis-Bacon Act was defeated, June 5, after 36 Republicans joined all Democrats to vote down an amendment to the Military Construction/Veterans Affairs appropriators bill to bar the use of its funds to enforce the Davis-Bacon  prevailing wage requirements.

The Davis Bacon Act is a 1931  federal law that mandates  paying the local prevailing wages on public works projects over $2,000.

The law inflates the costs of such products by an estimated 15 percent, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

This means there is less money to repair bridges, fix roadways and resolve polluting traffic snarls that waste gas and clog our atmosphere.

Just consider that the historic Rose Tree Tavern in Upper Providence was moved back from the intersection of Route 252 and Rose Tree Road in 2004. When is PennDOT going to put in the desperately needed turn lanes? Wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to wait until 2017 for an interchange between I-95 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike?

In fact, with less money needed for construction projects maybe we could get rid of the turnpike tolls ending the smog producing toll lanes.

Davis-Bacon is a significant part of the reason for our declining infrastructure.

Here are, courtesy of Bob Guzzardi, the Pennsylvania Republicans that voted against the amendment: Jim Gerlach (PA-6), Pat Meehan (PA-7), Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-8), Bill Shuster (PA-9), Lou Barletta (PA-11) and Tim Murphy, (PA-18).

Guzzardi also notes the last year’s vice presidential GOP nominee Paul Ryan of Wisconsin also opposed the amendment.

And this is why things don’t get better.

Local Pubs Help Stop Pro-Environmental Law

Pennsylvanians Want Private Liquor Stores

Pennsylvanians Want Private Liquor Stores — The Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association reports that the  latest  results  from Susquehanna Polling and Research, show that 55 percent of Pennsylvanians want the state out of the liquor business while just 41 percent are against.

Those
who would be more likely to support liquor privatization, however, grew to 69  percent if penalties for selling to minors became stricter and to 68 percent if displaced workers could find jobs in the private sector.

Now, Republicans control the governor’s office, and both houses of the legislature. Who do you think is going to get the blame if this rather popular — and simple — thing goes undone?

Hmmm, Sen Erickson?

Hat tip Bob Guzzardi.

Pennsylvanians Want Private Liquor Stores

Pennsylvanians Want Private Liquor Stores -- The Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association reports that the  latest  results  from

No Cheers For Corbett In Alcohol Sting

No Cheers For Corbett In Alcohol Sting

The season has finally arrived!

Memorial Day weekend ushered in the unofficial start of summer when people relax with family and friends, enjoying what little leisure time is left in America.

But Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett made it abundantly clear he wasn’t interested in that season.

For him, it was all about making it Open Season — on Pennsylvanians.

In a move that defies every ounce of common sense for a governor touting the lowest popularity in the nation, Corbett had his state police slip across the border over the weekend to engage in sting operations, targeting Pennsylvanians for the capital crime of buying liquor in Delaware and crossing back into the Keystone State.

And what was the mammoth haul of Tommy’s troopers?

The equivalent of 17 cases of beer, 10 cases of wine, and 15 bottles of liquor.

At least Pennsylvania has no other pressing problems to which its increasingly limited resources should be allocated. Oh, wait. It does. A lot, actually.

That was made readily apparent watching the local news when, immediately after the liquor confiscation story, it was reported that Pennsylvania had the worst, most dangerous bridges in the nation (while Delaware’s were second best).

How can the governor reconcile those things? Despite having historic Republican majorities in both legislative chambers, Corbett has made zero headway fixing our crumbling infrastructure, yet prioritizes undercover operations (which nab three people) buying alcohol in another state. Going out on a limb here, but wouldn’t the substantial resources spent on operations in Delaware be better utilized elsewhere? Like in Pennsylvania?

How much taxpayer money was wasted on logistics, fuel costs, and troopers’ salaries, compared to the miniscule tax Pennsylvania “lost?” The numbers aren’t even in the same ballpark, so what were they doing? Squandering resources just to make a point — whatever that point is?

Try explaining that to the family who loses a loved one to a drunk driver who maybe, just maybe, could have been stopped had the state police been patrolling in-state. Or to those victimized by burglary, assault and numerous other crimes while their police were busy making out-of-state, small-time liquor busts.

On a holiday weekend where there is always an upswing in driving while intoxicated (there were five fatal DUI crashes, according to state police), the governor unleashed his dogs on those simply trying to avoid the whopping 18 percent Johnstown Flood Tax of 1936 (plus the additional sales tax) that Pennsylvania levies on wine and liquor.

Is this his way of strong-arming his liquor privatization plan? A kind of “pass my bill or it’ll be like this until you do” message?

Great, except that his bill wouldn’t keep people from flocking to other states to buy liquor, as Freindly Fire explained in a prior column. No one is a bigger privatization proponent than I, but do it right or not at all. But since neither Corbett’s nor the Legislature’s plan eliminate the Johnstown tax, prices will remain high or, quite likely, further increase, if either proposal passes.

And if Delaware stings aren’t about liquor privatization, then what are they about? And why?

Give Tom Corbett credit for one thing: If he’s trying to attain a single-digit approval rating, he is succeeding better than the Democrats ever dreamed.

Aside from the sheer stupidity of engaging in such an operation, several questions are worth asking:

1. Are Pennsylvania State Police legally permitted to operate in other states? If so, why? A call to the Delaware State Police yielded no information, as two individuals had no knowledge of Pennsylvania’s actions. Which makes sense, since it is not in Delaware’s interest to put a damper on legal Delaware commerce.

2. How is this not a violation on the Interstate Commerce Clause? It should be, but the 21st Amendment has a provision allowing states to regulate alcohol almost any way they want. It should be changed.

3. Since random, empty liquor boxes are used to package alcoholic and non-alcoholic bottles at the checkout counter, do the police have probable cause to search one’s trunk after the border crossing is made? How do the police know that the Grey Goose box doesn’t contain soda and non-alcoholic beer? As long as we’re talking about amendments, the governor and police should read the Fourth one. It’s kind of important.

4. When Corbett’s liquor privatization plan doesn’t pass this month — and it probably won’t — will the number of search and seizures escalate? Bet you a case of Delaware liquor they will.

Corbett continues to rationalize why his Jerry Sandusky investigation took so long. One excuse was that he didn’t have the necessary resources, since as attorney general, he didn’t control the state police — the governor did. Under that rationale, Tom Corbett as governor is, and must be, responsible for all operations of the state police under his command, so the buck stops with him on these heavy-handed liquor stings.

As the backlash grows, it has become yet another reason why next year’s re-election chances looks very sobering for Tom Corbett.

 

No Cheers For Corbett In Alcohol Sting