w w w. CA P I TA L- WAT C H . c o m
CAPITALWATCH VOL. 4 NO. 11
INSIDE Senate approves red-light camera legislation PAGE 3 No compromise in sight on Sunday hunting PAGE 4 Activist says Senate Bill 1282 will “suck the blood out of Pennsylvania” PAGE 6 Senate passes low-income school vouchers bill PAGE 8 Democrats protest preliminary redistricting plan PAGE 11
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NOVEMBER 2011
No more textingwhile-driving in PA
Pennsylvania is just one step away from joining the majority of states that ban texting-whiledriving. All that is needed is the signature of Gov. Tom Corbett who is expected to sign the bill. The state Senate voted 45-5 to approve changes to legislation that the House passed 188 to 7. The law would make texting while driving a primary offense, meaning police could stop a driver they see texting and issue a ticket punishable by a $50 fine. With Corbett’s signature, the law would go into effect in March 2012. Opponents consider a texting ban an infringement on personal liberty. But supporters, including state police, the insurance industry and highway safety officials, say the law is necessary to save lives. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “PennDOT recorded 13,790 crashes involving distracted drivers, which resulted in 66 deaths. Cellphone use accounted for 1,093 crashes and 11 traffic fatalities.” Agency data do not distinguish
texting or e-mailing by other drivers as a serious safety threat, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s annual Traffic Safety Culture Index, which was released in October. One-third of those
increases crash risk by a multiple of 8.7 In addition, as reported by the New York Times, preliminary findings from a naturalistic study of a sample of heavy-truck drivers suggest
“PennDOT recorded 13,790 crashes involving distracted drivers, which resulted in 66 deaths. Cell-phone use accounted for 1,093 crashes and 11 traffic fatalities.” between texting or talking on a cell phone. Pennsylvania would become the 35th state to ban texting for all drivers, according to Governors Highway Safety Association. Nationally, 95 percent of respondents said they viewed
respondents also admitted to texting while driving. A study conducted by the National Highway Safety Administration in which college students text messaged while operating a driving simulator found that text messaging
that text messaging while driving increases truck driver crashes and near-crashes by a factor of 23.7 However, another study released last year showed that road crashes increased slightly in states where texting bans had
been adopted. “The laws are well meaning, and texting while driving is obviously dangerous, but there is no evidence that texting bans enacted in other states have reduced crashes,” said Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Washington, D.C., the group that conducted the research. Drivers from around the Harrisburg region said they would support a texting ban, even if they doubted it would eliminate the practice. “While I doubt if textingwhile-driving is going to stop altogether, it probably will crack down on the practice,” said state employee Hilary Johnson. “I sure hope it does.” CW
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NOVEMBER 2011 CAPITAL WATCH
CAPITALWATCH www.capital-watch.com PUBLISHER/AD DIRECTOR Jim Laverty (717) 233-0109, ext. 122 EDITORIAL Editor-in-chief Jacqueline G. Goodwin, Ed.D. goodwinpin@comcast.net (717) 418-3366 Contributing Writers Chris Comisac Peter L. DeCoursey Kevin Zwick News Service Capitolwire Graphic Design Lisette Magaro Production Shawn Skvarna Capital Watch is published every month. Reproduction of this publication in whole or part is prohibited except with the written permission of the publisher. Capital Watch is non ideological and nonpartisan.
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NEWS 3
Senate approves red-light camera legislation Nineteen cities across Pennsylvania would be authorized to enact ordinances to use red-light cameras to improve traffic safety at intersections under Senate Bill 595, approved by the state Senate. “Red-light running killed an estimated 676 people in 2009 and injured another 113,000 across the United States, according to a recent report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety,” said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, the bill’s prime sponsor. “My legislation will make Pennsylvania roads safer, and it will save lives.” Senate Bill 595 permits Pennsylvania cities with a population greater than 18,000 and a full-time police force to install red-light cameras. Cameras are already used in Philadelphia; this bill would permit Pittsburgh, Scranton and 17 third-class cities to use the cameras, if approved by the local city council. A red-light violation under this program would result in a civil fine of $100 unless a lesser amount is set by local ordinance. No driver’s license points will be issued for violations, and violations cannot be considered in ratings for car insurance. No city can use the fines to enhance its general budget. All funds generated by the program will go to the state’s Motor License Fund and will be used by the Department of Transportation (PennDOT) for transportation safety projects. Half of the fines will be used for local projects in the cities that implement the systems; the other half will go to municipalities across the state. Additionally, total collections in a particular city are capped at five percent of that city’s annual budget. Approximately 500 cities in 25 states now use red-light cameras. According to the report from IIHS, an independent, nonprofit organization focused on reducing deaths and injuries from traffic crashes, there was a 24 percent reduction in fatalities caused by drivers running red lights in cities where cameras are installed. The IIHS estimates that 150 lives have been saved over the past five years just in the largest 14 cities with redlight cameras. The legislation also makes more records available to the public under Pennsylvania’s new Open Records Law, including the number of violations in a given city and annual reports required from any city that used red-light cameras. Before installing any cameras, cities will be required to consult with PennDOT. Senate Bill 595, approved 35 to 14, now moves to the State House for consideration. CW
4
NEWS
NOVEMBER 2011 CAPITAL WATCH
No compromise in sight on Sunday hunting BY KEVIN ZWICK, CAPITOLWIRE
Supporters of a bill to expand Sunday hunting said adding an extra hunting day could have economic benefits, increase the ranks among younger hunters, and allow for greater property rights. But a compromise might be far off in the distance, as signaled by the hard-line opposition of the state’s largest farm organization. “You need to talk to the grassroots; they set the direction,” said Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s Joel Rotz on Oct.27 during a four-hour House Game and Fisheries Committee hearing. Rotz told lawmakers who were looking for a compromise that the bureau’s 53,000 members guide its policy, and he was not in the position to change the organization’s stance, he said. The bill, sponsored by Chairman John Evans, R-Erie, would repeal the state’s Sunday hunting prohibition law, which dates back to 1873. Pennsylvania is one of
11 states that have some type of restrictions on Sunday hunting. The Game Commission would regulate how many Sundays would be opened for hunting. Carl Roe, executive director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said they would take “a very conservative approach to adding Sunday hunting.” He said the agency would monitor the effect on game populations and the possible impacts of increased hunting. Brent Miller, of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, said the Game Commission could use Sunday hunting as an additional wildlife management tool. Rotz said the repeal would restrict those who wish to be outdoors on Sundays without concern of interfering in the hunter’s sport. “These citizens are not unlike the farmer who is saying to the hunter, ‘you have six days and can’t I have one?’” he said. Democratic Chairman Ed Staback,
D-Lackawanna, said the Farm Bureau is not helping themselves by staying away from negotiations. Some lawmakers on the committee touted a recent Legislative Budget and Finance Committee study, conducted by Southwick Associates, which estimated that Sunday hunting could generate $804 million in economic activity, support 7,439 jobs and generate $56.8 million in state and local taxes. Rep. Kevin Murphy, D-Lackawanna, said the bill is “a jobs bill, as well as a Sunday hunting bill.” Rep. Dan Moul, R-Adams, said he would offer a “compromise amendment” that would open Sunday hunting to private lands only, which should limit the interference between hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts. “All we’re asking for is the opportunity to do it with our land,” he said. Miller said the present ban is an
infringement on how private landowners manage their property. “Allowing farmers and other landowners to diversify their income source by allowing an additional day of hunting on their land will provide a large capital influx to rural economies that are hardest hit by the current recession,” Miller said. Rep. Jeffery Pyle, R-Armstrong, said he wasn’t so much concerned with the economic benefits of a bill, but said he was concerned about the dwindling ranks of hunters. Rep. Marc Gergely, D-Allegheny, said that those opposed to Sunday hunting should not be espousing a “perception of danger.” “We aren’t the bad guys out there,” he said. “We are your friends not your enemies.” CW
House returns juvenile court reform bill to Senate The state House of Representatives on Nov. 1 unanimously approved legislation to address problems with the state’s sex offender registration requirements.
Senate Bill 818’s original focus, as sent to the House by the Senate, was related to the Luzerne County “Kids for Cash” scandal. The underlying legisla-
tion seeks to require courts to make certain information available before handing down a sentence in a juvenile proceeding. Seen as moving toward becoming
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law, the bill was amended in the House Judiciary Committee to attach language that closes a loophole in Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law by requiring convicted sex offenders without a residence to register every 30 days with the Pennsylvania State Police as transients. The amendment would also establish specific criminal sentences for sex offenders who fail to comply with registration requirements. “Convicted sexual offenders continue to roam the commonwealth with absolutely no accountability,” said Rep. Ron Marsico, R-Dauphin, bill sponsor and majority chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told the House. The committee’s minority chairman, who helped craft the changes to the bill, said the new Megan’s Law provisions are necessary to prevent the state from losing federal funding. “This is a mandate by the federal government that this been done” and federal dollars will be jeopardized if the bill fails to become law, said Rep. Tom Caltagirone, D-Berks. Legislation that contained the loophole provisions was vetoed by Gov. Ed Rendell on Nov. 27, 2010. That bill also included provisions to expand the state Castle Doctrine – opposed by the governor and Rendell said the inclusion of the two separate subjects made the legislation unconstitutional, requiring his veto. Responding to that veto, the House approved similar Megan’s Law legislation in February, but those bills have not yet been considered by the Senate. “I’m asking members to once again send a message over to the Senate that we’re supporting the bill, as amended, overwhelmingly, and ask them to get the job done,” said Marsico just before the final House vote. CW
NEWS 5 5 NEWS
NOVEMBER WATCH November2011 2011CAPITAL CAPITAL WATCH ADVERTORIAL
Policy Roundtable Spotlight The PBC Policy Roundtable, like its national counterpart in Washington, is a forum in which CEOs meet on a peer-to-peer basis to formulate public policy proposals to the most pressing issues of competitiveness. The Policy Roundtable provides senior managers the opportunity to interact extensively with policymakers, policy experts, media, and other stakeholders; participate in policy evaluation; decide upon long-term public policy strategy; and guide policy education/advocacy efforts. Corporate Chairpersons, CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and Presidents are invited to become members of the PBC Policy Roundtable. For more, see: www.pabusinesscouncil.org.
Hugh C. Long, II
Regional President for Pennsylvania and Delaware Executive Vice President Eastern Community Banking Group Wells Fargo Bank Hugh Long has been a banker since 1973 serving currently as Regional President for Pennsylvania and Delaware and Executive Vice President of the Eastern Community Banking Group within Wells Fargo. Long provides executive leadership to Wells Fargo’s retail, small business and business banking in Pennsylvania and Delaware. He is based in Philadelphia. Long came to Pennsylvania with Wachovia Bank that was later acquired by Wells Fargo. He had been Wachovia’s Regional President in Atlanta before his transfer to Philadelphia where he managed the bank’s activities throughout the midAtlantic region. Long had served as a Regional President with successively large responsibilities for First Union Bank in Washington, DC; Atlanta; and Richmond. He began his career with the Georgia Corporate Banking Group. Long is a board member of the Pennsylvania Business Council, a member of the board and executive committee of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber, and a member of the board of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association; Boy Scouts of America, Cradle of Liberty Council; and Drexel University. Long served in the US Army Reserve rising to the rank of Captain. He holds a B.A. in History from the Virginia Military Institute.
CW: What are your firm’s major products and services?
CW: What are your near-term and long-term goals for the firm?
HL: Wells Fargo & Company is a nationwide, diversified, communitybased financial services company with $1.3 trillion in assets. The company was founded in 1852 and has its headquarters in San Francisco. We provide banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores—about 300 of which are here in PA—12,000 ATMs, the Internet (wellsfargo.com), and other distribution channels across North America and internationally. We have more than 270,000 team members, including more than 8,000 here in PA. Wells Fargo serves one in three households in America and is ranked No. 23 on Fortune’s 2011 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to help our customers succeed financially.
HL: Our most recent near-term goal has been to complete the Wells Fargo/ Wachovia merger in PA and Delaware with no disruption in service. Our local retail conversion took place back in April while the final retail bank conversion—in the Carolinas—was just completed a few weeks ago. I am proud to say that the conversion, both locally and nationally, went off as flawlessly as one could expect. It is now up to us to deliver on the complete Wells Fargo experience of helping all our customers succeed financially while capitalizing on the goodwill the Wachovia brand had built over the years across PA.
CW: Under what circumstances did you join the firm? HL: I joined a bank in Georgia in 1973 after listening to some great advice my father gave me. I had graduated from Virginia Military Institute and then served in the U.S. Army, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted for my career. My father suggested that I go work for a bank because in banking I would learn about many types of businesses and might get exposed to an industry that interested me. This was something that he had done in his life and it had worked out well for him. I did discover an industry that I thought was intriguing, where I could put my skills to good use—it was banking. I enjoyed learning about new companies and new opportunities, but what I really loved—and found a passion for—was helping individuals and companies succeed and grow. That’s been my focus for 38 years now, and while I have never left my job, the small bank I started with is now Wells Fargo and I am proud to now be with one of the largest banks in the United States. I have had the opportunity to meet many fascinating individuals and help companies throughout the east coast. My company has given me the opportunity to serve in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia and I have enjoyed every minute of it, especially the last eight years in PA.
Our immediate attention is turned to helping our customers—both individuals and businesses—deal with the economy. For us that will be putting really good bankers in front of our customers and coming up with great ideas and providing best-in-class service. All of our competitors claim to have good people—we have the best people. Our competitors claim good service— we have great service. We have more than 80 lines of business, with a depth of product and service solutions that is unmatched. That is what we’re really good at as a company. Long term, our job is to deliver good value to our customers and shareholders and help our communities become stronger. To reach this long term goal, we are doing all we can to keep credit flowing and to help customers in financial distress find solutions. CW: Are your customers local, regional, national, global? Where else do you have facilities? HL: We are proud to provide banking services to individuals, small business, middle market companies, governmental entities and Fortune 500 firms, including some of the largest companies in the world. We hold the second largest share of deposits in the Commonwealth and are by far the largest depository institution in the eastern third of the state where we have the majority of our community banking stores. We are honored to count many of PA’s most revered companies and organizations as major clients and are proud of our position as the nation’s #1 SBA lender, and #1 small business lender.
While our decision making is local, our company is global, with more than 40 representative offices around the world including a major presence in Hong Kong, London and other financial centers to serve the overseas banking needs of our customers. And as the needs of our customers expand, so will our presence in foreign markets. In the United States, we have community banking stores in 39 states and the District of Columbia. We also have hundreds of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Wells Fargo Advisors stores across the country, including offices in states where we do not have a community bank presence. CW: Would you invest more in PA? What would you do to improve PA’s competitive business climate? HL: We recently made a substantial investment across our PA market as all of our community bank stores were completely refurbished, with new furniture, fixtures, paint, landscaping and signage. We have also hired close to 300 team members in PA since the merger and will continue to hire additional bankers, expanding our employment in business and consumer banking in 2012. There is a strong need for transportation infrastructure improvements and continued upgrades of our airports. Additionally, we need to provide more support for education at all levels. Our business customers are talking about uncertainty: around healthcare costs, around taxes, and around where new customers for these businesses will be coming from. A business is not going to take out an expansion loan or hire additional workers if they don’t think there will be customers to buy their product or service or if they do not know how much it will cost them to deliver the product or service. We must continue to promote a pro-business climate in PA. The Pennsylvania Business Council is a key driver in this effort as are the effective partnerships that have been built between the business community and our local, regional and statewide chambers.
6 NEWS
NOVEMBER 2011 CAPITAL WATCH
Activist says Senate Bill 1282 will “suck the blood out of Pennsylvania” “He wants to suck your blood,” says political activist Gene Stilp of Taxpayers and Ratepayers United characterizing Sen.Dominic Pileggi’s proposed legislation, Senate Bill 1282, which, according to Stilp would “suck the blood out of Pennsylvania’s national standing” by changing the Electoral College method of electing a president by electing a president through the congressional district results in the state. Stilp and Baylor and the organizations they represent want to drive a stake though Pileggi’s plan before it sees the light of day. As a swing state with 20 electoral votes at stake, Pennsylvania is a draw for Pennsylvania candidates -- and their campaign dollars, says Stilp. If “Count Pileggi’s plan is approved,
Gene Stilp is optimistic that the legislature will drive a stake into Sen. Dominic Pileggi’s electoral bill before it sees the light of day.
then the state would lose campaign dollars that would otherwise be spent. It just doesn’t make sense.” The proposal by Pileggi would assign 18 of the state’s electoral votes to the winner in each congressional district, and two to the at-large winner. Stilp and Dennis Baylor of Citizens Accountability Project, say a popular vote count is a better method of selecting the president. Using a large photo of what they called “Pileggi” Stilp and Baylor voiced their disapproval of the Senate bill proposal inside the State Capitol on Oct. 27. However, Stilp and Baylor’s protest was short lived. After delivering the photo depiction of Sen. Pileggi to his senate office security was called and Stilp and Baylor were told to leave. CW
Sen. Pileggi’s electoral bill still slated for Senate vote BY PETER L. DECOURSEY, CAPITOLWIRE
As legislation on Marcellus Shale, vouchers, state redistricting and congressional reapportionment heat up and are debated, public notice of Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi’s electoral bill has largely died down. So much so that John Gizzi, honcho of the conservative publication Human Events on Friday wrote: “Nervous Pennsylvania GOP House members kill electoral college change.” Gizzi quoted no one actually saying this, and after summing up the issue from the viewpoint of the state’s congressional GOP delegation, which opposes the bill, he wrote: “For now, however, signs are strong that electoral vote-by-district will not be taken up or even debated by the Republican legislators who originated the idea in Pennsylvania and, for that, the blame (or credit) must go to some nervous Republican congressmen.” Mr. Gizzi’s venerable weekly conservative tabloid is reading very different signs than those held up by the Senate GOP here. Unlike the congressional Republicans, they have jurisdiction over the issue, and three sources here say Pileggi will move his bill for a floor vote and Senate passage. That bill, of course, would change the apportionment of the state’s electoral votes from its current winner-take-all status, to awarding them by congressional district. That would change the 2008 election from 21-0 for President Obama in Pennsylvania electoral votes to 11-10 for Obama, for example. A similar 21-0 win by Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would have been 12-9 for
Kerry if this had been in effect. If it had been in effect since the founding of the nation, it would not have changed a single presidential election, scholars say. But critics say it could do so in the future, and that make it a GOP power grab. Pileggi and others say it is wrong to use 10 or so GOP congressional district’s voters as ballast to double the prize that voters in Philadelphia and the 10 or so Democratic districts can bestow. When will a vote on the bill happen? That is not clear, and Pileggi’s office did not comment or make him available to do so, an extraordinarily unusual lack of
House Speaker Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, and House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, have both said they are for it. But many House members, including a surprising number of Republicans, would rather let this issue pass them by. Plus, folks have just gone quiet on it. When Capitolwire tried to find out if Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, R-Bucks, was going to even schedule the bill for a committee vote, nobody responded. Corbett, after answering questions about the weather, declined to discuss the issue, much less restate his support for it.
The major part of the meaningful discussion has to be to refute an effective counter-campaign run against it so far by Republican State Committee Chairman Rob Gleason. In addition to his practical argument that this will cost the state GOP too much money, Gleason has made a persuasive case to House GOP conservatives. Many now say the bill contradicts the intentions of the framers of the U.S. Constitution. I don’t understand that argument, since back in the first half of the 19th century, this was an oft-used system for apportioning electors, back when people paid attention to the framers, not just lip
That bill, of course, would change the apportionment of the state’s electoral votes from its current winnertake-all status, to awarding them by congressional district. That would change the 2008 election from 21-0 for President Obama in Pennsylvania electoral votes to 11-10 for Obama, for example. response for them, although they were up to their eyeballs in Senate redistricting, facing today’s deadline for a preliminary plan. The other comment made by Gizzi in his piece that I am not sure is true is that if this dies, the congressional Republican delegation will have killed it. This issue has divided the Republican establishment at the highest levels. Gov. Tom Corbett is for it. His close friend and ally and campaign supporter, former Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey, is not. And other pillars of the GOP establishment, east and west, are against it, while Pileggi is for it.
His staff restated his backing of the plan to its supporters, but the longer Corbett is silent on it, the more momentum the plan could lose. Plus, while I believe those who say Pileggi will bring it before the Senate and pass it from that body, if that is to be more than a show vote, it needs a couple of other things to happen: It needs not to be a Perzel Special. If this is left on the low-down for another month, then brought up and passed in three days in the Senate and then jammed into the final fall deal, along with shale, etc., without more meaningful public discussion, it will raise a stink.
service as they do today. But Gleason has made it well so far, and that is another debate that ought to be made in public. Of course, it is hard to say that a Pennsylvania legislative proposal that has drawn editorials in the New York Times and Washington Post has not been publicly vetted. But if it pops up again late in the process after a long quiet period, as the result of an end-of-the-year deal, it could help opponents continue to say it carries an unsavory flavor, which is the biggest reason the Legislature may not swallow it. CW
NEWS 7
NOVEMBER 2011 CAPITAL WATCH
Liquor store privatization could generate $1.6 billion Between $1.1 billion and $1.6 billion in one-time revenue could be generated from selling the state’s retail and wholesale liquor system, according to a report released Oct. 25. And if maximizing up-front revenue is the “paramount goal” of selling the state’s liquor system, then license availability should be limited to 1,500, which would increase the value of each license, according to the nearly 300-page study conducted by Public Financial Management, Inc. (PFM). “…Privatization would mean new wholesale and retail business opportunities for entrepreneurs, which in turn will create thousands of private-sector job opportunities throughout the state - something a government agency truly cannot mimic,” House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said in a press release. His Democratic counterpart, Democratic House Leader Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny, said the PFM study shows that privatizing “does not raise enough money” and will cost jobs. “The report confirms what we have said. Privatizing liquor sales in Pennsylvania does not raise enough money to make it worth giving up one of the state’s most valuable assets. It will cost thousands of Pennsylvania workers their jobs and pensions,” Dermody said in a statement. “It means higher prices and reduced selection for consumers who want to buy wine and liquor, and it does nothing to change the way beer is sold.” The study found that 3,200 current liquor store employees “will be separated from service,” 780 of which might be transferred to other state employment. But those workers have a “minimal” chance of finding employment with new private liquor license holders, according to the report. Wendell Young, President of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, a union that represents 3,000 state liquor store workers, said: “We have to review the entire report, obviously, but the executive summary alone raises enough red flags to put an end to this farce.” “Rep. Mike Turzai’s bill would raise taxes and prices – and we know this from media and witnesses who have testified before the House Liquor Control Committee,” he said. “The PFM people have reached the same conclusion. In order to match the revenues we already have today, taxes are going to go up and consumers will be forced to pay more. That makes no sense whatsoever.” Gov. Tom Corbett in a statement said that Turzai’s plan is a “place to start” and said he supports “taking the state out of the liquor business and putting it back
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into the free market.” Turzai’s bill privatizes the state’s retail and wholesale liquor system. The state’s 18 percent Johnstown Flood Tax and 30 percent markup would be eliminated in favor of a “gallonage tax,” which could range from $8.25 to $12 per gallon, based on types of liquor or alcohol content. “Finally,” said Rep. Mark Mustio, R-Allegheny, a House Liquor Control subcommittee chairman. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s a piece to the puzzle.”
Mustio and other legislators on the House Liquor Control Committee stated concerns concerned earlier this month about how the beer industry could be adversely affected by privatization. House Liquor Control Chairman John Taylor, R-Philadelphia, said recently that he was waiting for the PFM study to be released so the committee could have more hearings about the fiscal impacts. “The PFM report, issued earlier today, took many months to prepare and includes a great deal of information,”
said Erik Arneson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware. “Senator Pileggi looks forward to studying it over the next few weeks.” Among ways that the study suggests the state could maximize revenues from selling the retail operations is limiting the number of licenses available. The study suggests issuing 1,500 retail licenses to increase the value of each license with criteria based on a two-tier approach that distributes licenses based on square footage and shelf space. CW
8
NEWS
NOVEMBER 2011 CAPITAL WATCH
Senate passes low-income school vouchers bill The state Senate has passed a taxpayer funded private school voucher plan on a 27-22 vote. Senate Bill 1, sponsored by Sens. Jeffrey Piccola (R-Dauphin) and Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia), passed following a more than four-hour debate. Governor Tom Corbett applauded members of the Senate for passing the bill. “I want to commend the members of the state Senate for passing a strong education reform package that will help improve opportunities for thousands of school children throughout Pennsylvania,’’ Corbett said. Under the plan children from households making less than $29,000 a year would be eligible to receive a full voucher of equal to what is spent in the district in which they live. Students from households earning less than $41,000 would get a voucher equal to 75 percent of the subsidy amount. On average, a family would receive $7,700 for each student, but could get as much as $13,000. Both the PSEA (Pennsylvania State Education Association) and the PSBA (Pennsylvania School Board Association) strongly oppose Corbett’s plan. They were disappointed with the state funding cuts which forced already strug-
gling school districts to increase class sizes, decrease course offerings and cut programs. The PSEA and the PSBA say school vouchers will take even more money away from public schools. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Association) also released a statement accusing the PA Senate of ignoring its obligations to the state legislature by passing private school vouchers. Promoters of the plan, such as REACH Alliance & Foundation and Commonwealth Foundation believe that the competition created by the voucher plan will ultimately improve schools. For students from low-income backgrounds, especially black and minority households the voucher plan would provide an opportunity to get out of some of the states worst schools. Despite the widening achievement gap nationwide, students will have the chance attend more competitive schools, take Advanced Placement courses, and ultimately become more viable candidates for competitive colleges and universities. Advocacy groups like Dropout Nation expect the passage of this plan will start a conversation about expanding voucher plans to middle-class households, espe-
Senate Bill 1 was sponsored by Sen. Jeff Piccola and passed the the Senate on a 27-22 vote.
cially in the suburbs. The bill now goes to the House for consideration where support for the taxpayer-funded voucher system remains
uncertain. House Speaker Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, told the Patriot-News he doubts that the House will pass the education reform plan. CW
Sen. Hughes says vouchers will make school financial problems worse State Sen. Vincent J. Hughes (D-Philadelphia/Montgomery) expressed his dismay at Senate approval of legislation (Senate Bill 1) that would institute a school voucher program in 144 Pennsylvania schools. “The voucher plan will make the financial problems of the Philadelphia School District and other struggling districts across the state that much worse,” Hughes said. “The financial burden of this plan will strain the budgets of school districts and cost taxpayers millions.” Hughes noted that the Philadelphia School District just announced another $22 million in budget cuts. “It is disappointing that this legislation passed the Senate,” Hughes said. “Not only is the plan costly to taxpayers and public schools, it does not put into practice proven reforms that have a track record of success in education. “All children and all schools should benefit from education reform.” Hughes said the plan would cost $133 million in 2013-14. Gov. Tom Corbett’s
budget slashed public school funding by $1 billion this year. He added that there is no new money to fund school vouchers. “On top of last year’s basic education cuts, we are demanding that our public schools cut even more from their resources for the 90 to 95 percent of children left in low-performing schools,” Hughes said. “It offers no commitment to provide additional dollars for charter school reimbursement in Philadelphia – and across the state. “On top of that, this school voucher concept no track record of success. School reform is necessary — and should be a top priority — but it needs to be done with proven solutions like longer school days, Saturday classes, smaller classes, intervention and parental involvement, not through costly initiatives that benefit only a relatively small number of students.” Hughes offered an amendment that would establish so-called “Hope Academies” that included many of the concepts that he said were successful in raising student achievement. The West
Philadelphia lawmaker’s amendment was rejected on a party line vote of 20 to 29. Senate Bill 1 offers taxpayer-funded vouchers to low-income students in poorly performing public schools. The vouchers would first be available to lowincome children enrolled in the bottom 5 percent of the worst-performing schools. In the second year, the plan would then be expanded to include private-school students who live in the districts of those failing schools. By the seventh year, vouchers would be offered to low-income students at any public school where half of the students are performing below grade level on state math or reading exams. The measure would also expand the state’s Education Improvement Tax Credits — a program giving tax breaks to businesses that donate to privateschool scholarships or public-school programs. Hughes said that this costly measure would short-change real education reform and take much needed funding
from public schools. “There is no doubt that reform is needed to improve education in lowperforming schools, but it cannot take funds from public schools because that disadvantages the students left behind in the public school,” Hughes said. “We need reforms that help all students in all schools.” “Reform should start with using ideas in education that have a long record of success and not rely on concepts where the evidence of academic achievement is inconclusive. That is why I offered my plan – the Hope Academy concept – that would have implemented proven educational solutions.” Hughes, who serves as the Democratic chair of the Appropriations Committee, said public schools are already struggling with severe budget cuts as a result of Gov. Corbett’s budget and do not have the resources or the latitude that private schools have in adjusting policy. The bill now goes to the House for consideration. CW
NOVEMBER 2011 CAPITAL WATCH
9
PA Chamber applauds Senate’s education reform bill The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry applauds the state Senate for advancing legislation (S.B. 1) that would ensure that the state’s public education system better meets the needs of all students. “Passage of Senate Bill 1 is a good first step toward making sure public education is delivered in a way that matches students’ ability to learn; fostering overall student achievement; and ensuring that Commonwealth taxpayers receive a good return on investment for money spent on education,” PA Chamber President Gene Barr said. Barr said the reform measures contained in the bill – specifically the creation of an opportunity scholarship program for low-income students in the Commonwealth’s poorest performing school districts and an expansion of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit program – infuse fresh thinking into the mindset that the only way to improve education is to spend more. “The reality is that achievement results
have not matched taxpayer money spent on education in recent decades,” Barr said. “Providing an effective and efficient system of public education is an essential function of state government; it’s simply time for a new approach to how this is accomplished in the Commonwealth.” Barr said consumer choice and competition help drive business success in the private sector. Those same concepts applied to education give options to students who would benefit from alternatives to the status quo, while encouraging struggling schools to take steps to improve. Barr said the business community supports the governor’s and lawmakers’ educational improvement efforts because today’s students are tomorrow’s workforce. “Having a workforce that offers the skills employers require starts with a strong educational foundation in the early years of learning,” he said. “Ultimately, Senate Bill 1 will lead to a quality education system that works for everyone.” CW
PSEA says school vouchers will cost taxpayers $200 million by 2012-14 A new government program approved by the state Senate to provide tax-funded tuition vouchers to students attending private and religious schools would cost Pennsylvania taxpayers more than $200 million by 2013-14. Costs to taxpayers are likely to rise as the program expands says PSEA President Michael J. Crossey. Crossey says the costs of the program created in Senate Bill 1 would come at the expense of students attending public schools, who began this school year suffering the impact of $860 million in state funding cuts. “Senate Bill 1 is a bad choice for Pennsylvania’s taxpayers, public schools, and the students who learn there,” Crossey said. “This legislation would drain more resources from public school students who are already feeling the consequences of brutal school funding cuts. Even though two-thirds of Pennsylvanians oppose vouchers, this bill would put the burden of this very bad and costly choice on the backs of taxpayers, schools and students.” A fiscal note released by Senate Democrats indicates that Senate Bill 1 would cost the taxpayers $73 million in 201213, and $133 million in 2013-14 for the voucher program. “Public schools educate every student
who comes through their doors and are accountable for everything they do and every nickel they spend,” Crossey said. “This voucher bill spends the taxpayers’ money on schools and programs that don’t live by those rules. It is a terrible choice that couldn’t come at a worse time.” The voucher scheme under Senate Bill 1 is also flawed with a lack of accountability measures. Schools receiving vouchers would not be required to report on student progress using the same standardized tests Pennsylvania public schools are required to administer to students. “Pennsylvanians don’t want tuition vouchers and they don’t want funding
pro-voucher organizations last spring publicly advocated for rapid expansion of such schemes. “That means the cost to the taxpayers would only increase,” Crossey said. The recent Terry Madonna Opin-
school funding cuts, which have forced school districts to increase class sizes and eliminate programs that work for students. In contrast, polling indicates that more than 80 percent of Pennsylvanians support initiatives like early childhood education, school safety and class size reduction. These are among the initiatives in PSEA’s Solutions That Work package, a set of recommendations backed by research and based on classroom experience. Crossey sent these recommendations to every member of the General Assembly. A recent study released by the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators and the Pennsylvania Association
“Pennsylvanians don’t want tuition vouchers and they don’t want funding for their public schools cut,” Crossey said. “This bill does both. It is definitely taking public education in the wrong direction.” for their public schools cut,” Crossey said. “This bill does both. It is definitely taking public education in the wrong direction.” Crossey also pointed out that several
ion Research poll shows Pennsylvanians oppose tuition voucher plans by a wide margin. The same poll indicated that 69 percent of respondents opposed Gov. Tom Corbett’s $860 million in public
of School Business Officials showed that state funding cuts have forced school districts to increase class sizes, eliminate course offerings, and cut tutoring programs. CW
10 NEWS
NOVEMBER 2011 CAPITAL WATCH
100,000 ineligible recipients trimmed from PA’s Medicaid rolls BY CHRIS COMISAC, CAPITOLWIRE
Working to reduce programmatic costs, the state Department of Public Welfare has trimmed from its Medicaid rolls more than 100,000 people found to be ineligible for the publicly-funded health insurance program. “The fact that this went on for so long is shameful, and I think the taxpayers have a right . to be outraged that it occurred,” Tim Costa, the department’s executive deputy secretary, told lawmakers during a House Republican Policy Committee hearing. But advocates for welfare recipients aren’t thrilled with the news. “So it’s come to this. Cutting 100,000 cases from Medicaid is celebrated as a good thing. In fact for many people it could be life threatening,” wrote Richard Weishaupt, a senior attorney for Community Legal Services, Inc., in an e-mail. Weishaupt, claiming that department staff has dropped by 16 percent during the last few years, wrote: “Suddenly re-determining all these cases with no increase in staff and no overtime means that tens of thousands of people who are eligible are being cut off even though they have complied.” He said the reductions were due less to ineligibility and more to these individuals being “the victims of a system that
has ceased to function effectively and efficiently.” Costa, too, said the system is broken, but to the detriment of taxpayers and those who truly need medical assistance. He noted recent data shows 2.2 Pennsylvanians pay for every one person enrolled in the Medical Assistance (MA) program, something he said is “unsustainable.” According to the department, there are currently 2,189,695 enrolled in Medicaid. Costa said the Corbett administration inherited a backlog of more than 154,000 cases requiring eligibility review. Those cases included people who had things change in their life that could impact their eligibility for Medical Assistance (MA). “Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, some of those [cases] were never looked at and, over time, would just go away,” becoming part of the backlog of eligibility reviews, said Costa. He explained that some of the closed cases involved deceased former recipients, people who moved out of state, and “a lot of them were just no longer eligible to receive services.” But that’s not the case, said Weishaupt. “While there may be a few cases that
should have been closed, our experience, confirmed by DPW data, is that the number of cases closing has shot way up for alleged failure to provide information,” wrote Weishaupt. “Yet when we talk to clients, many have receipts showing that they brought up the paper work and others detail their desperate attempts to call the Department to provide the documents that they are accused of not supplying.” The reduced enrollment numbers will go a long way to helping the department stay within its current budgetary allocation, Costa told the committee. He said the department does not plan on asking the Legislature to allocate additional funding for the agency during the current budget year.
“Enrollments and the number of recipients served drive much of the department’s budget expenditures,” said Costa. Costa said the current downward enrollment trend was encouraging: the number of Medicaid recipients have declined by 20,000 in July and another 15,000 in August. The 100,000 case closures were done during the last three months, Costa said. When asked by lawmakers about the fiscal impact of those reductions, Costa and the department’s budget director said the savings might not be instant, but they would eventually be significant. “The majority of those recipients were enrolled in managed care, which means we [DPW] were paying a per member per month fee [to managed care providers],” so recovering money from those providers for cases that DPW should have closed could be difficult, said Costa. “I’m not sure that in the majority of those cases that we can do that,” Costa explained. “I think that it’s the department’s responsibility to make sure its rolls are cleaned up … that burden really doesn’t fall on them [the providers], it falls on us.” Dave Spishock, director of the department’s budget office, said the enrollment reductions, going forward, are “slow to equate to savings” in Medicaid spending. But the reduction in the MA Managed Care program’s rolls by roughly 12,000 recipients in September “is a significant drop” and “is probably saving roughly $22 million in state funds,” said Spishock. He said the savings will occur at the back end of the fiscal year, as long as enrollment continues to drop. “If we see a continued decrease in MA enrollment, it’s going to slowly translate into savings, especially on our managed care side,” said Spishock. Currently, 1,618,722 individuals are enrolled in the MA Managed Care program in all but 17 of the state’s 67 counties. He added that “a significant portion” of the $200 million in fraud, waste and abuse the department has been tasked with finding by the current state budget “will be attributed to the efforts that we’re making on the eligibility side [of MA].” Spishock said the department is hopeful that it will have more data in the coming months to be able to present more specifics about enrollment reduction cost savings. As part of the state budget that was approved in June, the department was tasked with finding $471 million in savings within its expenditures. Approximately $271 million of those saving were spelled out in legislation passed in conjunction with the budget. The other $200 million is to come from reducing waste, fraud and abuse within departmental programs. CW
NEWS 11
NOVEMBER 2011 CAPITAL WATCH
Democrats protest preliminary redistricting plan BY PETER L. DECOURSEY, CAPITOLWIRE
The Legislative Reapportionment Commission voted 3-2 to approve a preliminary state redistricting plan that House and Senate Democrats said was a partisan and possibly unconstitutional plan to cement GOP majorities in power. A hearing will be held on that plan Nov. 18 at noon, and there is now a 30-day period to negotiate further before . a final approval vote can be held. Democrats pressed for more time, saying they had just seen the plans offered by the GOP but on another 3-2 vote, former Judge Stephen McEwen, the chairman of the commission, voted to proceed. McEwen declined to say when he first saw the plan or answer any other question, saying the other commissioners would offer the only explanation of his deciding votes. Barry Kauffman of Common Cause/ PA backed that view that the plan was partisan. Kauffman said of the commission chairman, former Judge Stephen McEwen, elected to the state Superior Court and as Delaware County district attorney as a Republican, “Well, I think it was what was expected now. He was appointed by the majority party. The Supreme Court is controlled by the
Republican Party and I think that was an outcome which was pretty much expected.” House Democratic spokesman Bill Patton said: “The commission voted 3-2, along party lines.” Kauffman said the vote showed: “We really need to get serious about reforming this whole process so that we protect the interests of communities and citizens … instead of the political careers of the self-interested people drawing the maps.” Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, and House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, both defended their maps as fair to the Democrats and constitutional. They both said districts had to be moved from the west to the east and central parts of the state to match the state’s population flow over the last two decades. The biggest surprise when the GOP plans were unfurled came in the House when the House GOP plan spurned part of their tentative deal with House Democrats, and saved the seat of Rep. Bud George, D-Clearfield. Instead of the House Democratic plan to move George’s seat to Coatesville and
Downingtown in Chester County, Turzai instead combined the Allegheny and Washington County districts of Democratic Reps. Nick Kotik and Jesse White, putting them in the same district. The combined district slightly favors Kotik, the Republican redistricting staff said. The plan also moves the home of Rep. Adam Ravenstahl, D-Allegheny, into the district of Rep. Dom Costa, D-Allegheny. The same maneuver occurred to Rep. Dan Deasy, D-Allegheny, whose home is now in the district of Rep. Matt Smith, D-Allegheny. Democrats said it was intentional and protested it. Asked if that was intentional, House GOP spokesman Steve Miskin said “No.” Miskin said the House GOP staff “is working to fix the Ravenstahl district” and planned to fix the Deasy district so both members lived in their districts again. He declined to call it a mistake but said wrong addresses were input for both men, and the House GOP would submit a fix to the commission. Democrats remained unconvinced. Patton wrote: “It is well known that Rep. Adam Ravenstahl lives in the city of Pittsburgh where his brother is mayor.
Mr. Miskin wants you to believe that it was simply ‘a mistake’ for the Turzai map to put the 20th District entirely outside the city of Pittsburgh. Give me a break. The majority leader cannot be that incompetent.” Turzai told reporters that the information regarding the home addresses came from the Democrats. “That’s why you have a 30-day period, to make corrections in the process,” Turzai said. The other three House seats were moved as expected: those of departing Reps. Denny O’Brien, D-Philadelphia, to central-western York County, Chelsa Wagner, D-Allegheny, to Allentown, and John Evans, R-Erie, to central and western Berks County. Turzai said once it became clear that George did not want to retire, and George angrily said Republicans were “taking me out in redistricting because they can’t beat me at the polls,” Turzai switched gears. An equal concern, Turzai said, was that of the 106,000-voter drop in western Pennsylvania, 6,000 came from northwestern Pennsylvania, and 100,000 from southwestern Pennsylvania, far from George’s North-central district. Continued on page 13
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12 OPINION
NOVEMBER 2011 CAPITAL WATCH
Vouchers, Marcellus bill, pushback, Oh My BY PETER L. DECOURSEY, CAPITOLWIRE
This is the part of the legislative year when lots of things are baking, but when you stick a fork in them, it comes back gooey and gloppy, because nothing is close to being done yet. Roberts Rules of Legislative Delicacies or Mr. Redistricting, Judge Stephen McEwen may say things are supposed to be cooked by now, since we have had plenty of time and temperature, but, as I told my 6-year-old Ellie, “if it isn’t ready when the . cookbook says it is, you cook it some more.” “How long do you have to cook it, daddy?” “Until it’s ready to eat or has to be tossed in the garbage.” Here is a look at two bills that apparently landed in the slow-cooker rather than the broiler. Their backers just hope that slow-cooker’s plugged in. And one of them needs the chief cook’s touch if it is to get to the table, not the trashcan. Sen. Joe Scarnati’s Marcellus Shale natural gas environmental provisions still industry opposition Last week, Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, who stopped a shale tax bill for two years, then has spent this year trying to create a fee-andregulation bill, brought out the environmental regulation part of his bill. As we wrote, he is still negotiating with his own caucus and Senate Democrats to
see how he can count to 26 votes for his package, with revenues of about $200 million. Democratic leaders initially signed off on that, but once they felt deceived and betrayed over redistricting, and decided they had leverage here, they wanted more money and more for the non-shale districts. To be fair, those were always their goals, although Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, said Scarnati’s fee levels were appropriate. But until the redistricting snafu, few thought the Senate Democrats would stick to those goals. Scarnati won’t discuss those negotiations, but industry sources say the Democrats may end up having to swallow the kind of bill Gov. Tom Corbett proposes, whose revenues will take a projected seven years to reach Scarnati’s $200 million for year one. So that is one problem for Scarnati. The other is that his 60-page-plus draft proposes lots of new restrictions and requirements for drillers. And they are mad about it, mad enough they say, to take their jobs and play elsewhere. The drilling companies say they were surprised by the number and extent of the proposed rules, and have started a campaign to oppose them. Not to fix a few here or there, but to try to junk most of them, despite Scarnati backing them. For example, there is a fracking water re-use requirement of 30 percent, but in
some wells, not that much comes back up, drillers say. But again, their point is not that they want a few lines dropped here or added there, but they feel assaulted. They have lobbyists telling lawmakers that if this is the bill, they’re against it and will take their drills and jobs to Ohio. That is what Scarnati said about the bills proposed by House Democrats and former Gov. Ed Rendell. Now the industry is whispering it, and is poised to shout it, about him. He says he will work with everyone to keep the jobs and environment both safe. He wrote in an e-mail: “90 percent of the amendment we put in was from the Shale Commission report. The other 10 percent is within the “strike” zone. As I have said repeatedly, this is a process which has a long way to go yet. The issues of a fee and zoning will complete a final product. After that is completed, as I have said before, we must have a package the Governor can sign. The industry has been included in this process right up to this point. I welcome their input publicly or privately.” But if the industry is pushing back on stuff from the Marcellus Shale Commission Report – which essentially was a compilation of what the governor and his folks wanted and what the industry wanted – that is a big hurdle. Because that will make it harder to get
the Democratic or southeastern Republican enviro senators Scarnati needs to pass his fee, when the fee level and the zoning requirements are already problematic enough. The new House bill on this that Rep. Brian Ellis, R-Butler, sponsored - and his leaders are backing - is essentially Corbett’s proposal, and will have trouble passing the Senate, to put it gently. And right now, Scarnati’s bill has the same problem. Plus the industry, which has generally acted as if it knows it wants a fee or tax and “strong safety standards” before next year’s electioneering starts, now looks like it may pull the rug out from under legislation for the third year in a row. Vouchers takes big step forward For months, House GOP leaders have been saying the Senate needed to pass a vouchers/education reform package and send it to them, and the governor needed to be clear and lead on the issue. Now that the Senate has done so, the chances of vouchers passing this session are real, no longer unlikely. Once one chamber passes a bill on an issue that is big with the party in power, it is hard for the other chamber to ignore it, even if it wishes to do so. That was the story of the pension bill of 2010, passed in the House by Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia. He had to negotiate the final bill after that, but if it had not passed the House, it had no shot in the Senate. Same thing here. The House can amend the bill, and may well take out the expansion of vouchers to another 140 schools, the so-called “Year Seven” provision. That would mean the $6,000-to-$8,000-a-year vouchers would not go, in 2018-2019, to kids in schools that still had 50 percent of kids under proficiency levels in reading or math. Plus, statewide charter school oversight is probably headed back into that bill. And House members may demand a new, higher funding formula for cyber-charters. And Gov. Tom Corbett may want to have more elastic targets for increasing the Educational Improvement Tax Credit. He wants to raise it, but doesn’t want to be locked into the kinds of raises the Senate bill proposes. The key here, though, is Chef Corbett. If he does his usual public silence on this issue, answering questions only when asked, it will go nowhere. If he starts inviting lawmakers to watch the Steelers game with him to get their voucher vote, and works a call list to get their votes, it could pass. Like a fine sauce, vouchers need to be stirred constantly by Chef Corbett. If he just stands there, they will burn in the pot, and he will have to start over again. He needs to play a similar, though less active role, in Marcellus, in that he has to start saying what he will actively support: what provisions he needs to be in the bill so he will tour the state touting a proposal, start charming lawmakers and making promises and releasing projects, etc. Because that is what past governors did when it came to their legislative feasts, and that is what lawmakers expect Corbett to do for his Voucher Flambe’ and his Shalicacies. CW
NEWS 13
NOVEMBER 2011 CAPITAL WATCH
Democrats protest preliminary redistricting plan Continued from page 11
So it was more demographically fair to take a second Allegheny County seat and move it, rather than move an incumbent from a region with much more modest population losses, Turzai said. And, he said: “We were not going to be accused of moving him when we were not, and this is more reflective of the population changes.” Patton said: “I think Chairman George’s unhappiness is genuine. Mike Turzai’s plan to preserve that seat is not. It is premeditated and part of a plan to conceal his political objectives and to win that seat.” White said he was surprised. Kotik said: “This map makes Machiavelli look like a piker. This is blatant gerrymandering at its worst. At its worst. Beyond comprehension.”
a Senate GOP objective, but said to be unfair by Costa. Costa also said the new district was molded to not only elect Scavello in a seat Brewster now holds but to weaken Sen. John Blake, D-Lackawanna, who won his first term with 63 percent of the vote in 2010. Pileggi said he sought to see if there were any senators vacating their districts in the west and “unfortunately there is no vacancy.” Costa said an example of the unfairness of the plan is “How they treat the Upper Darby area, … to us that is pure unadulterated politics. The split improves the electoral prospects of Sen. Erickson and Sen. Pileggi,” and keeps African-Americans from voting against
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Kauffman said the vote showed: “We really need to get serious about reforming this whole process so that we protect the interests of communities and citizens … instead of the political careers of the self-interested people drawing the maps.” Kotik said of McEwen that he engaged in a “whole charade of bipartisanship ... the so-called distinguished gentleman referee didn’t show me much bi-partisanship.” Patton said of McEwen and the upcoming hearings: “There is an opportunity to fix some of the damage in this plan. But only if we have a fair arbiter in the process.” Turzai said the plan reflected about 80 percent of the Democratic-GOP agreement, but diverged on the George seat and in Philadelphia, where the plan creates two new majority-minority districts. Those are now held by Rep.s Babette Josephs and Rep. Maria Donatucci, both Democrats. The Senate plan moves the seat of Sen. Jim Brewster, D-Allegheny, the second biggest population loser in the state, down more than 33,000 residents from the population ideal of 258,000 voters per district. It is moved to a Monroe County seat. Pileggi said the new district had an 11.1 percent Democratic advantage, so he was moving a senate district held by Democrats to one with bigger Democratic voting performance for president and 2008 attorney general than the old district. But Costa said: “We just got it this morning, so I have to take a look at this, but it looks to me like a Republican district they drew for [Monroe County GOP state Rep. Mario] Scavello,” which has been a Senate GOP redistricting goal. Brewster will now be in the district of Sen. Tim Solobay, D-Washington, and have little or no base to mount a challenge to Solobay if he chose. That plan had long been known as
either by moving the Delaware County residents into a Philadelphia district. Upper Darby has more than 80,000 residents, and Erickson has lost it but gotten at least 45 percent in his last two elections. In the entire state, only three contiguous municipalities are being split into multiple Senate districts: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Upper Darby. Darby Twp. is the fourth split municipalities, but its halves are three miles apart. Costa said commission counsel and former Judge Joseph Del Sole wrote an advisory opinion that the commission should not split municipalities. McEwen responded: “Any number of municipalities have multiple House seats.” Therefore, he said, quoting Pennsylvania House Speaker and founding father Ben Franklin, “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” McEwen also dismissed the argument that “it’s never been done before.” “Where would we be” if Columbus followed that view, he asked? Costa responded: “We are guided by our case law” and that splitting municipalities is not allowed by law “unless absolutely necessary. The plan today devised by our Republican colleagues” did not prove it was “absolutely necessary.” McEwen said that Philadelphia has lost considerable population, and needs, as it did in the last redistricting to add territories to make up Senate seats. He said the two areas had much in common and that part of Philadelphia’s scenic Fairmount Park was in Upper Darby. “What more appropriate place for a Philadelphia seat to move than where Fairmount Park is?” CW
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14 OPINION
NOVEMBER 2011 CAPITAL WATCH
Put the brakes on red-light cameras The Senate has approved a bill to expand the use of red-light cameras throughout the state, sending the bill to the state House of Representatives for consideration. Last session, a similar bill didn’t even make it out of committee in the Senate. But now that it has gotten out of one chamber, opponents are urging caution as lawmakers move forward on the proposal, which was mentioned by Gov. Tom Corbett’s transportation funding advisory commission as a potential source of transportation revenue. And if the suggestion is adopted, it’s the “Gotcha!” flash that no driver will want to see. Red-light cameras automatically photograph vehicles whose drivers run red lights. The cameras are connected to the traffic signal and to sensors that monitor traffic flow just before the crosswalk or stop line. The system continuously monitors the traffic signal, and the camera captures any vehicle that doesn’t stop during the red phase. The person or business to whom the vehicle is registered receives a ticket, regardless of who was driving the vehicle at the time. At present, only Philadelphia is allowed to use red-light cameras, under a pilot program begun in 2005. The cameras are at 19 intersections and generated 141,571 citations in the year ending March 31.
Careless drivers running red lights are a serious hazard, and the desire to catch these dangerous drivers and motivate them to be safer drivers is a good one. Unfortunately, the use of red-light cameras is fraught with some very disturbing problems. First is the issue of constitutionality. In our legal system, one has the right to face one’s accuser, per the Sixth Amendment. No defendant can subpoena a camera and cross-examine it, yet it is allowed to give testimony in a legal proceeding. Red-light cameras are exact instruments that don’t have any judgment, intelligence or consideration for the current environmental or physical conditions. The exact millisecond a light turns red, the camera takes a picture. The computer doesn’t take into consideration the conditions (wet or icy roads) or extenuating circumstances (fragile or heavy load in your vehicle or a vehicle that is tailgating you). Driver identification, gender mismatch or other conditions that don’t allow for a citation to be issued account for almost 50 percent of tickets not being issued. If an officer were to make a traffic stop for an intersection violation they would issue a citation to the violator, NOT the owner of the vehicle. The officer can also make a decision based on circumstances whether or not that person will receive a citation, warning or arrest.
Second, the motives of equipment vendors, and those cities that use them, are suspect at best because neither makes any money unless someone breaks the law. This puts cities in the position of being tempted to arrange yellow lights and other factors to trap motorists. While this may sound like a far-out assertion, it is exactly what was shown to be the case in Baltimore. If it happened there, why not Pennsylvania? In a time of financial constraint, do we really want to allow even the possibility of abuse? Third, we have every right to ask ourselves this: Do we want to live in a society where cameras record our every move? At the end of the day, these are our streets and our corners and our red lights. As taxpayers we should have the final say about having our every move monitored. Free people are not lorded over by faceless ones issuing citations from desks, on evidence the faceless ones cannot personally vouch for. Free people drive their cars, not looking over their shoulders for cameras. And the jury is out on whether the camera systems actually increase safety any better than conventional traffic engineering. One study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that the Philadelphia system helps to reduce
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BY JACQUELINE G. GOODWIN, Ed.D.
Jacqueline G. Goodwin, Ed.D.
accidents. But another study in Virginia found that red light cameras actually produced a 27 percent increase in rearend collisions as drivers slam on their brakes at monitored intersections. Other studies have found decreases in right-angle collisions but increases in rear-end collisions. According to the Federal Highway Safety Administration, T-bone crashes have been reduced in places where red-light cameras have been installed, but rear-end collisions have increased Before moving for cameras, PennDOT and local governments should ensure that yellow caution signals are timed properly. A study in Philadelphia found that increasing yellow light timing by one second alone decreased red light-running by 36 percent. Subsequent installation of red light cameras further reduced it at those intersections by 96 percent, but of the already-reduced number. Rather than accepting a safety recommendation from a commission tasked with funding, lawmakers should require PennDOT to make a specific case for the systems, based on safety, and to demonstrate that it has implemented design features to make intersections safer. There is growing evidence that the cameras can provide much-needed revenue. Let’s be honest. In addition to safety, red light cameras are being pursued because of their ability to generate revenue during a time of tight budgets. That’s being disingenuous. If cities need to generate additional revenue they need to raise taxes or fees to help pay for services. Don’t turn Big Brother loose to spy from above on motorists. Let’s hope the Legislature applies the brakes to a bad suggestion before redlight cameras come to an intersection near you. CW Jacqueline G. Goodwin, Ed.D. is the editor of Capital Watch. She is also president of Capital Commuications, a full-service public relations and lobbying firm based in Harrisburg, PA.
OPINION 15
NOVEMBER 2011 CAPITAL WATCH
Gov.’s appointees should take “Integrity and Accountability Pledge” BY REP. MIKE HANNA
Every two years the newly elected members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly take an oath to support, obey and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. No such oath is required of Gov. Tom Corbett’s hand-picked appointees to his various advisory commissions and councils – despite the fact that these positions often carry with them great power and influence with regard to the governor’s public policy direction. Public service is a privilege that demands strict adherence to core values, including accountability, integrity and personal responsibility. Yet, the governor continues to hide behind appointed advisory councils and commissions – which require no oaths, pledges or ethical standards by their appointed members – to determine his administration’s policy positions on some of the most pressing issues facing Pennsylvania. Since Gov. Corbett took office in January, he has appointed three high-profile policy advisory commissions or councils. They include: The Governor’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, which was stacked with natural gas industry executives and campaign donors; the Governor’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission, which was charged with
developing a plan to fix Pennsylvania’s crumbling roads, bridges and transit systems; and now the recent creation of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Privatization and Innovation, which is again loaded with Gov. Corbett’s corporate friends and campaign donors. The members of these appointed councils and commissions take no oaths to ensure their actions are bound by a sacred commitment to protect the interests of the people of Pennsylvania and to swear they will not use their appointed position for personal financial gain. That is why I have introduced House Resolution 469, urging the members of Gov. Corbett’s most recent advisory council to sign an Integrity and Accountability Pledge. The pledge reads: “I, as a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Privatization and Innovation, do hereby pledge that neither myself, my spouse, my parent, my brother, my sister, or child nor any business in which I, my spouse, my parent, my brother, my sister, or child is associated with, will benefit financially, in any manner whatsoever, from the actions taken by the council of a period of not less than five years after the enactment of any recommendation.” As an elected member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, I am charged
with protecting the public trust – a responsibility I don’t take lightly. It is clear that we must institute stronger ethical safeguards for members of high-level state policy advisory commissions. We must ensure these members are held to the same high standards of ethics and integrity as other public officials. During his gubernatorial campaign, Gov. Corbett promised the public that “cronyism” and “pay-to-play” politics would be relics of the past under his administration. Yet, within two months of taking office, he appointed some of his largest campaign donors to serve on his first advisory commission to study the issue of natural gas drilling. Last month, he named influential lobbyists and campaign donors to his privatization council, where they will have the ability to pick winners and losers for potentially lucrative contracts to privatize various state functions and assets. I urge Gov. Corbett to hold his own appointees to the same standards he has set for himself and his employees. He should require the members of his Council on Privatization and Innovation to sign the Integrity and Accountability Pledge in my resolution. Also, House Majority Leader Mike Turzai should
Rep. Mike Hanna
immediately allow my resolution to get a vote by the full House. After all, if members of these commissions cannot pledge to uphold core ethical principles, such as integrity and accountability, then they have no business advising our governor on any public policy matters – let alone the most critical issues facing our commonwealth. CW Rep. Mike Hanna is the House Democratic Whip who represents Clinton and Centre Counties.