State government: June 2009 Archives

Here's me explaining the state budget process. You might want to have a change of underwear handy, because it's pretty damn exciting.

Here's a news release from the House Democratic caucus:

HARRISBURG, June 23 - State Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-York, said legislation he authored that would strengthen Pennsylvania's consumer protection laws by targeting unsafe toys and other children's products unanimously passed the state House today.

"This is common-sense legislation that seeks to protect Pennsylvania's children," DePasquale said. "If a recalled toy is on the store shelf, we need to get it off - period. Parents shouldn't have to fear that items they buy for their children could be unsafe."

DePasquale, who first introduced this legislation last session, said he did so because of the Consumer Product Safety Commission's recall of nearly 200 items in 2007 - including children's toys, cribs and other products.

DePasquale said the bill, H.B. 1431, would make it a crime in Pennsylvania to knowingly sell recalled children's products and would give the state attorney general and local district attorneys the authority to prosecute such offenses.

The attorney general would also be required to establish and maintain a Web site that would provide links to lists of all national agencies that deal with consumer product safety and product recalls. The products identified by any of these lists would be restricted from sale or commerce within Pennsylvania.

The bill also would require manufacturers, importers, wholesalers and distributors to notify their customers and retailers of recalled children's products within 24 hours of the announced recall. Retailers would have three days to remove recalled items from their shelves, DePasquale said.

The bill now moves to the state Senate for consideration.

And here's a video I picked to accompany it:

I've got another story coming up Sunday about the state budget debates. Be sure to read it. It's going to ROCK your world! (Assuming your world is easily rocked.)

Today, I was interviewing state Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-West Manchester, about it, and he said something which I thought served as a pretty good summation of the Democrats' arguments: "Just because the state doesn't spend the money, doesn't mean it won't be spent."

Gov. Ed Rendell just announced that he's proposing a temporary personal income tax increase. I'll post the whole new release. But first, here's a comment by state Rep. Ron Miller, R-Jacobus.

And here's the governor's news release:

Now that we seem to be heading for another state budget showdown between Gov. Ed Rendell and the Senate Republicans, I thought it might be fun to take a trip down Memory Lane.

Here's a story I wrote back in 2007, when a standoff between Rendell and legislative Republicans led to a missed deadline for the budget, and state parks closed down for the day.

As you'll read, I headed out to Gifford Pinchot State Park to talk to campers who were being kicked out. There, I had a conversation that still strikes me as funny in a rather sad kind of way.

I encountered four very nice people from Australia. One couple had been living in Canada for several years. The other couple was visiting them.

They had planned the trip that took them through Pennsylvania for some time. They got word over the Internet that a budget impasse might close the park, but decided not to alter their agenda.

America's a civilized country, they reasoned. Members of the Pennsylvania government wouldn't really let the state's parks close solely in the interests of political posturing, would they? Surely, they would make a reasonable compromise based on the public good before that became necessary.

Heh heh heh! You're a loooong way from Oz, mates!

Anyway, here's the story ...

If you saw my story on the state budget battle that ran today, you'll see that Dr. Terry Madonna, political scientist and Franklin & Marshall College, gave me an interesting insight on the intensity of the debate.

He believes a lot of it has to do with next year's elections -- including the governor's race.

Since February, a $3 billion revenue deficit has raised its inconvenient head. The Pennsylvania state constitution requires a balanced budget, and there are only two ways the folks in Harrisburg are going to accomplish that: program cuts or tax increases.

Either action stands a good chance of ticking off large segments of the voters. So the lawmakers probably want to make the tough decisions and suffer the resultant public wrath now, so maybe people will be over it by the time next year's elections come around.

OK, here's what I wrote on May 31:

" ... And the best way to do that would be to get the public on your side, which I suspect is why Sen. Corman was here last week touting the GOP's spending plan directly to a roomful of York County's movers and shakers. I wouldn't be surprised if Rendell himself or a proxy shows up sometime before July 1 to tout some wonderful program that the Republican budget plan would hurt."

And here's the text of a news release I got today:

"Revenue Secretary TO DISCUSS STATE BUDGET

HARRISBURG - Secretary of Revenue Stephen H. Stetler will discuss the proposed 2009-10 state budget at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, June 9, during a York County Chamber of Commerce meeting at 96 S. George St., Suite 300, York."

Am I awesome, or what?

This is interesting. Apparently state Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-West Manchester, plans to introduce legislation that would create open primaries in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania, as you probably know, is now a closed primary state -- meaning that you have to be registered in a given party to vote in that party's primary.

I recently weighed in on that topic on this blog. I suspect that if we did institute open primaries, we'd have a lot of instances where both parties would try to sabotage each other by lending their primary "support" to the opposite party's candidate who's least likely to win in the general election.

Unfortunately, politics have a way of getting dirty here in Pennsylvania.

But of course, this is one of those instances where I'd like to be proven wrong, especially since I feel professionally obliged to register as an independent. In any case, I'll be very interested to see what kind of response DePasquale's idea gets in Harrisburg.

Here's the news release:

Here are a couple of interesting news releases from state Sen. Lloyd Smucker, R-Lancaster, and state Sen. Pat Vance, R-Camp Hill, dealing with -- respectively -- fishing and health care. Hey, I said "interesting," not "thematically consistent."

Remember back there in the last blog entry when I was talking about how Senate Republicans seem to be taking the budget fight to the public?

Now it appears that a couple of locals from the House are getting into the act. Not that I have a problem with it. This is the kind of thing where the public should have some input.

Here are a couple of news items I got today:

1) State Rep. Ron Miller, R-Jacobus, will discuss the state budget and field viewers' questions Tuesday night on the Pennsylvania Cable Network's call-in program. Miller is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, where he is chairman of the subcommittee on education. He is also co-chairman of the House Republican Policy Task Force on Education.

Miller will appear with state Rep. Kathy Manderino, D-Philadelphia, from 7 to 8 p.m. Check local listings, or view the program at www.pcntv.com.

2) Residents from throughout the state's 47th legislative district are invited to take part in a tele-town hall meeting on Thursday hosted by state Rep. Keith Gillespie, R-Hellam Township.

At approximately 5:45 p.m., a majority of households in the distrtict will receive a call inviting them to take part in a telephone discussion of legislative issues. Listeners may discuss any topic of their choosing.

"Obviously, the budget is on the minds of many Pennsylvanians," Gillespie said. "I am anxious to delibertae the subject with my constituents and get their thoughts and feelings on this enormous problem of how to close an approximate $3 billion spending gap."

Residents must be registered with Gillespie's office in order to receive a call and take part in the tele-town hall meeting. To receive a call, contact his office at 840-4711.