Political Issues That Are On the Minds of Mercer County Taxpayers

Written by Roberta Biros

I’ve had the pleasure of talking politics with lots of people over the past few weeks. My attendance at last week’s Jefferson Township Fair along with the time that I spent in Farrell at the Slovak and Italian Homes Ethnic Food Festival gave me an opportunity to discuss important and pressing issues with local taxpayers. I’d like to share some of the issues that were discussed and debated.

The Status of the Pennsylvania State Budget

While there were many topics that were on the table, the one issue that remains on the tip of everyone’s tongue is the State budget. There were many local folks that were confused to see State Legislators at the weekend events. Most people expected that our lawmakers would still be in Harrisburg working to come to some sort of compromise on the budget. Instead, they were back home in Mercer County enjoying summer festivities. I realized that the budget was out of the control of the House, but it was my understanding the Senate leaders were to be working over the weekend to move the budget process further. I thought I should do a little research in order to clarify the questions.

When I last addressed the issue of the budget, the House had rejected the State Senate’s last draft of a budget and it was being sent back to the Senate. The plan was that a bipartisan Conference Committee would be assigned on Monday to tackle the project. Governor Rendell, however, stated last week that he felt that work could be done over the weekend before the Committee was even assigned. It seems that the Governor was mistaken. According to KYW News Radio 1060 (read HERE),

“Last Thursday, Governor Rendell expressed optimism that negotiations could produce a budget agreement even before the conference committee met. But later that same day, the majority leader of the GOP-controlled Senate said there was no rational basis for such optimism. And in fact, the majority leader’s spokesman says while there were some informal budget discussions over the weekend, there were no breakthroughs. “

It seems that the optimism that was painted on this part of the budget process was simply like ‘putting lipstick on a pig’. The establishment of a Conference Committee may move the budget process forward, but it will not be moving with any particular amount of speed . . . and that is unfortunate.

State Employees Remain Unpaid During Impasse

Another topic that almost everyone agrees on is that shameful use of State Workers as a pawn in budget negotiations. State Employees are currently continuing to work, but they will not receive their paychecks until a budget is passed. The Governor has been using the workers as a threat during budget talks, but no move was ever made through the Governer’s office to insure that workers would continue to get paid. I reported back in mid-May about legislation that was on the table to prevent this exact problem (read HERE). Specifically, House Bill 913 was submitted in March of this year as an effort to insure that State Workers would continue to be paid during a budget impasse. Two State Representatives from Mercer County (Representative Dick Stevenson and Representative Michele Brooks) were part of the group that introduced the bill on March 12. Unfortunately, the bill has been sitting in committee ever since.

Now that State Employees are officially not receiving paychecks, the real problems for the State are just around the corner. According to the Associated Press (read HERE),

“On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor said it had begun investigating whether Pennsylvania has violated its employees’ rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act by ordering them to work without regular pay. The department received more than 1,500 calls, a spokeswoman said.”

The threat of a Federal Labor Department investigation now has the Governor squirming. So much so, that the Governor is now looking for a ‘quick fix’ like an ‘interim budget’ that would fill the gap until final budget negotiations are completed. According to the same article by the Associated Press,

“Gov. Ed Rendell said Monday that he will look for a way to speed money to pay for Pennsylvania’s state government operations so that tens of thousands of employees don’t miss more paydays during an entrenched budget impasse. Rendell said he decided to pursue an interim budget that is whittled down to the essentials after informal talks over the weekend with Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, made it clear that any agreement on an approximately $28 billion budget still is far away. “

It seems like the Governor should have focused on this potential problem months ago, but, instead, he was holding on to his big bargaining chip. Again, this is an unfortunate situation no matter how you look at it.

Keystone Exams

Another issue on people’s lists of concerns are the Keystone Exams. Governor Rendell has been trying to push through these graduation exams since the end of the fiscal year, but concerned and responsible lawmakers have been trying to put a stop to it. The exams are EXTREMELY expensive (a seven-year contract totaling $201 MILLION), and their effectiveness is questionable. Senator Jane Orie authored Senate Bill 281 that was designed to STOP the Keystone Exams, and it was referred to the House Education Committee in June . . . where it stalled.

It seems that a bipartisan group of lawmakers are going to attempt to drag the legislation out of committee this week through a Discharge Resolution. A Discharge Resolution is a tool that can be used by the House to force legislation out of committee. We last saw it used in mid-June in an effort to move the Budget forward (read HERE for details). A Discharge Resolution requires 25 signatures from House Members, and I suspect the list of names may be similar to those that signed onto DR1 and DR2 in June (read the list HERE).

With the current state of the economy, local taxpayers are concerned about projects with large price tags, and the Keystone Exams qualify in that regard. Taxpayers simply aren’t willing to pay.

Health Care Reform

Another important issue of discussion last week was that of Health Care Reform. While the President is currently pushing for some sort of “Universal” plan that would cover all Americans, people are discussing the various possibilities amongst themselves, and it is a rather ‘healthy debate’ (no pun intended).

The majority of people that I talked to agree that SOMETHING needs to be done to provide health insurance for those that don’t have it. Unfortunately, no one is exactly sure what the best solution would be. Surprisingly enough, this is the same problem that lawmakers in Washington are running into. The problem is SO big, that a quick fix doesn’t seem possible. For that reason, most people that I talked to simply felt that this was an issue that deserved more time and debate. Rather than pushing through some sort of legislation now, most taxpayers feel that more time should be taken to hammer out the details and examine the big picture.

The President has hopes of passing something through sooner, but I think that most Americans would prefer to take our time to do this right. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Gun Rights: Concealed Weapons Amendment

The final issue that was brought up numerous times last week was the recent amendment that was voted on in the U.S. Senate regarding the Concealed Weapons Law (specifically referred to as Senate Amendment 1618 to Senate Bill 1390). The amendment would have required each of the 48 states that currently allow concealed firearms to honor permits issued in other states. The issue was overwhelming supported by those of us that firmly support the Second Amendment, but it was hotly debated by those that wish to limit gun rights.

The issue was brought to vote on Wednesday, July 22, 2009. It needed 60 votes to pass the Senate. It only received 58 votes (with a final vote count of 58 to 39). Three Senators did not vote (Byrd, Kennedy, and Mikulski). Pennsylvania Senators Casey and Spector split their votes (Casey was FOR the amendment, and Spector was AGAINST it).

The issue of Gun Rights is an important one in Mercer County. With a strong base of sportsmen in the area, the issue was supported by Republicans and Democrats alike.

In Closing . . .

While I had the opportunity to discuss MANY issues with local taxpayers, these were the ones that were brought up most often. I wanted to share the details with all of you so that you, too, have a sense of the conversations that are going on. I thank all of the folks that took the time to talk to me. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations, and I look forward to many more opportunities in the coming weeks and months.

.