Category: Pennsylvania Legislation

Laws proposed or passed in the Pennsylvania Legislature

Bills Modernize Prevailing Wage In Pa.

Bills Modernize Prevailing Wage In Pa. — The House Labor and Industry Committee sent to the full body last  week two bills aimed at modernizing the state’s prevailing wage law, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129), who is a member of the Committee.

The prevailing wage applies to any public works project estimated to cost more than $25,000, which includes any construction, reconstruction, demolition, alteration, or repair paid for in whole or in part out of the funds of a public body. That amount has not been altered for more than 50 years.

House Bill 796 would raise the threshold to $100,000. If the current $25,000 threshold were to be adjusted for inflation, it would equal just under $188,000.

House Bill 665 would expand the types of road maintenance projects that would be exempt from Prevailing Wage Act requirements to enable municipalities to stretch their road repair budgets and allow them to maintain more roads.

 

Bills Modernize Prevailing Wage In Pa.

Turnpike Commission Ends With HB 1197

Turnpike Commission Ends With HB 1197Turnpike Commission Ends With HB 1197 — Legislation has been introduced last week to abolish the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, following grand jury findings highlighting waste, fraud and abuse within the agency, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

House Bill 1197 would transfer all operations, maintenance, construction and other responsibilities for the turnpike to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) in an effort to streamline government and enhance efficiency.

If enacted, House Bill 1197 would require PennDOT to honor any collective bargaining agreement in existence between the Turnpike Commission and any employee organization. The bill also would assign debt of the outstanding bonds of the Turnpike Commission to the Commonwealth and would allocate turnpike tolls for repayment of the debt.

The Turnpike Commission is currently run by nine executives and is in charge of 545 miles of roadway. By comparison, PennDOT is run by seven executives and manages more than 41,000 miles of roadway.

The bill now awaits consideration in the House Transportation Committee.

 

Turnpike Commission Ends With HB 1197

 

Quakers, Bootleggers, State Stores

Quakers, Bootleggers, State Stores — Kevin Williamson’s explains how anti-free market Republican cronyists are trying to stop the ending of Pennsylvania’s government liquor monopoly.

Hey, did you know that the guy who got the contract for those laughable wine kiosks in grocery stores was Ed Rendell’s finance chairman?

Or that state store clerks are members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 which is led by Wendell W. Young IV,  who gets  a $260,000 salary?  Do you really think he works a 40 hour week?  The union’s previous president was Wendell W. Young III. You’d almost think they were North Koreans or something.

Hat tip Bob Guzzardi

Quakers, Bootleggers, State Stores

Quakers, Bootleggers, State Stores

Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Bill Before Senate

Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Bill Before Senate — The House voted this week in support of legislation to eliminate the inheritance tax on property transferred upon the death of a natural, adoptive or step-parent to or for the use of a child 21 years of age or younger.

House Bill 659 would eliminate the current 4.5 percent tax placed on a property transfer of that type. The bill unanimously passed the House last session and is one step in dealing with the levy commonly referred to as the “death tax.” Current law does not tax the transfer of property upon the death of a child 21 years of age or younger to or for the use of a natural, adoptive or step-parent, and this bill seeks to ensure children also would not be taxed in the event of a property transfer.

House Bill 659 goes to the Senate for consideration.

 

Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Bill Before Senate

Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Bill Before Senate

Pennsylvania Charities Seek Relief From State

Pennsylvania Charities Seek Relief From State — Charities and churches who depend on raffles and such were slammed in the back last year by those in Harrisburg who passed  Act 2 that placed regulatory burdens and strict reporting rules on running these events.

VFW Post 3460 of Media is among the many organizations asking that legislators be contacted and asked to support SB 144, SB 390 and HB 290.

And to think “small government” Republicans run things there.

 

Pennsylvania Charities Seek Relief From State

Pennsylvania Republican Angers Constituents

Pennsylvania Republican Angers Constituents — Sen. Ted Erickson (R-26), three days ago before the Springfield Republicans, expressed a distinct coolness to privatizing Pennsylvania’s state-run liquor monopoly which is something passed overwhelmingly by the State House and is overwhelmingly supported by his constituents — at least those who are not part of a special interest group.

Erickson has now made it official that he supports expanding Medicaid to low-income workers despite the burdens it will place on the vast majority of his constituents — hey, you hear our national debt is now $16.8 trillion —  not to mention the truly poor who will now have to compete with new clients for  attention from a shrinking supply of doctors willing to accept Medicaid patients.

Erickson is not a leader in that he can’t fight to make a change to something that doesn’t work or fight to stop a change to make something that sorta works fail. He is not a follower in that he refuses to listen to those who elect him. He is the perfect example as to why Republicans lose — and he should get out of the way.

Pennsylvania Republican Angers Constituents

House Bill Gives Vets In-State Tuition

House Bill Gives Vets In-State Tuition — The State House sent to the Senate last week legislation to grant in-state tuition rates to eligible veterans, their spouses and dependents at Pennsylvania’s public institutions of higher learning, says State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).

House Bill 472 would apply in-state tuition rates of Pennsylvania’s state-owned and state-related universities and community colleges, such as Kutztown University, to eligible veterans seeking to study in Pennsylvania.

Currently, a full-time semester at a state-owned university averages $4,310 for Pennsylvania residents, while an out-of-state veteran would pay $9,223 for tuition at the same university.

The bill aims to level the playing field for veterans who, because of the nature of military service, may not have residency status in the Commonwealth.

House Bill Gives Vets In-State Tuition

Sen. Erickson Throws Cold Water On Liquor Privatization

Sen. Erickson Throws Cold Water On Liquor Privatization — Sen. Ted Erickson (R-26) in a talk before the Springfield Republicans, tonight, April 17, put a damper on expectations that Pennsylvania would get out of the booze business. He said there were “questions.” He said the citizens could expect some “modernization” but left the strong impression that HB 790 would not survive as passed by the House.

Erickson also said that Gov. Tom Corbett has met with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about accepting federal money that would make an estimated
600,000 low-wage Pennsylvanians eligible for Medicaid, the government
health program for “poor” people, and has come away with positive feelings. He did say that it is not certain that Corbett will accept the money.

In better news, Delaware County Council Chairman Tom McGarrigle that Monroe Energy has made $100 million in profit since taking over ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer.

It was also noted that about 20 homes a month were being sold in Springfield with the prices stable.

GOP Chairman Mike Puppio noted that  people move to Springfield due to the quality of the community and much of that has to do with the government of the township.

And that is true.

Sen. Erickson Throws Cold Water On Liquor Privatization

Bill Kills Turnpike Commission

Bill Kills Turnpike Commission — State Rep. Donna Oberlander (R-63) will hold a press conference 10 a.m., tomorrow, April 17, to announced legislation “abolishing the PennsylvaniaTurnpike Commission and ceding all responsibility and maintenance of the turnpike to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).”

It’s about time. Kudos to Rep. Oberlander.

While one suspects the bill would not make the toll booths go away, it is a good time to point out that these man-made traffic snarls are about the least efficient of all means of raising revenue with all sorts of hidden costs ranging from higher milk prices in supermarkets to creating a competitive disadvantage to the port of Philadelphia versus New York which shippers can use to access the interior via toll free I-80.

And of course, the cost of tolling interchanges means that there is a lot less of them than there would be with freeways which means longer drives to destinations which means wasted gas and more smog.

 

Bill Kills Turnpike Commission

Bill Kills Turnpike Commission

Prevailing Wage Reform Advances

Nathan Benefield has just tweeted that  important prevailing wage reform bills have been moved out of the Pennsylvania House’s Labor & Industry Committee on 15-10 votes.