Tag Archive | "State"

IL House votes to end free health care for state retirees

May 09, 2012

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By Stephanie Fryer | Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois House voted Wednesday to eliminate a premium-free insurance perk for retired state workers, including university employees, judges and lawmakers.

Senate Bill 1313, which passed by a 74-43 vote, would require retirees to pay for their health insurance, regardless of how long they worked for the state. The pricey perk costs Illinois more than $800 million a year.

“I think this is a good start toward doing the difficult things we have to do — to put the state of Illinois on a path toward fiscal solvency and fiscal responsibility, which is very much needed,” said House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who sponsored the proposal.

State employees with 20 years of service now qualify for premium-free health insurance. The years of service are even lower for judges and General Assembly members, who receive the perk after serving six and four years, respectively.

“Not only are these benefits unaffordable, given today’s fiscal situation, but they are far more generous than those provided by other governments to their employees and those provided by the private sector,” Madigan said.

Madigan acknowledged Illinois is the only state offering free health care to state retirees after 20 years of service.

“We have for years seen this state spend money we didn’t have and make commitments that we could not keep,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego. “We are at that point if we do not address retiree health care, pensions, Medicaid, the budget, we will find ourselves where we can no longer fund schools, charge even more for higher education, not be able to protect our communities.”

So far its unknown how much retirees would pay under the new measure. One possibility is having premiums set on a sliding scale based on income.

The legislation places the price-setting power in the hands of the state Department of Central Management Services. The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules would have veto power on any recommendations from the department.

House lawmakers debated the bill for about an hour. Opponents argued it breaks a promise to retirees. Retirees last week in Springfield pointed out that free doesn’t always mean free, and many still have to pay the cost of prescriptions and co-pays.

The bill heads to the Senate.

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PA lawmakers tell TSA to lay off searches

May 09, 2012

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Resolution calls searches too invasive
By Melissa Daniels | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — A radiation-emitting scanner used to screen airplane passengers is, some say, nothing more than a digital strip search.

A examination by a gloved official, feeling for the unknown beneath passengers’ clothes, might well follow that scan.

The hopped-up screening methods, the Transportation Security Administration says, helps keep America’s travelers safe.
But not everyone is convinced.
The House State Government Committee on Wednesday passed, in a majority vote, a resolution protesting the extent and pervasive nature of TSA procedures, but not without debate.
Rep. Will Tallman, R-Adams, York, the resolution’s prime sponsor, said he’s seen ”the gradual deterioration” of personal rights at the hands of the TSA.
House Resolution 16 urges Congress to limit the use of advanced imaging technology and pat-downs, on the grounds that such actions violate the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, as well as Article I, Section 8 of the state constitution.
The resolution follows a growing number of complaints nationwide from travelers who say they feel violated by the security screening, including several instances of alleged sexual abuse by aggressive agents.
Pennsylvania lawmakers aren’t the first to try to address the situation.
Last month in New Hampshire, lawmakers tried to pass a bill that would create a database to track reported abuses, but it failed in the state Senate. Federally, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., proposed a bill that would require a “passenger advocate” at every airport to limit such abuses.
TSA has gone too far, Tallman said, subjecting law-abiding citizens to too many searches while potentially dangerous people find a way past the agents, citing the case of a man who, around the holidays in 2010, boarded a plane with a loaded gun despite having his bags screened.
The Pennsylvania resolution asks Congress to exercise greater oversight and place greater restrictions on procedures.
“They’re inefficient; they’re violating our personal liberties,” Tallman said of the TSA.
Tallman cited two groups with often disparate views — the American Civil Liberties Union and the Heritage Foundation. The groups attested, during the resolution’s hearing last summer, to reports of rights violations by the TSA.
That hearing brought out another concern: radiation from the scanners. A related amendment to the resolution also passed. It asks for the establishment of an independent review board to monitor health and safety issues of TSA procedures, and would subject the agency to the same safety regulations as other radiation-emitting devices.
But some feel the trade-off of personal liberty for increased safety isn’t asking too much.
Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, says he probably would have agreed with this resolution before the Sept. 11 attacks, but preventing a similar tragedy is worth some sacrifice.
“In this new world, where it’s clear Islamic terrorists are bent on destroying this country, it’s necessary for all Americans to understand that to prevent 9/11, to prevent other things like that, we’re going to have to give certain things up,” Vitale said. “If that involves advanced screening, so be it. If that involves pat-downs, so be it.”
Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, similarly questioned the resolution’s ability to make a difference. To Tallman, she implored: If the TSA doesn’t use screenings to look for weapons or bombs, then who will?
“I think we do need the transportation safety authority to be making us feel like we can fly in a way without the danger of terrorism,” she said.
The House will take up the resolution later.
Committee Chairman Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, who supported the resolution, said the problem started with the creation of the agency in the first place — Congress’ “knee-jerk reaction” to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which led to an expanded bureaucracy and the invasion of the rights of citizens who’ve merely bought a ticket to travel on an airplane.
He said it’s “outrageous that TSA has gotten away with what they already have,” citing the pat-downs of a disabled child and elderly passengers that made headline news.
“It’s a huge cost we’re paying for that’s increasing our cost to travel that has done nothing but give us a window dressing for what threats really are out there,” Metcalfe said, “to try to make people think there’s some security when there really isn’t.”

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PA $27.6B budget bill clears Senate with bipartisan support

May 09, 2012

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Leaves Democrats divided
By Eric Boehm | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — The state Senate approved a $27.6 billion budget Wednesday afternoon and will now let the House tackle how much Pennsylvania should spend next year.

The final vote on the budget was 39-8, with all Republicans and more than half of the Senate Democrats in support.

The Senate plan represents a $500 million increase from Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposal in February, with increases aimed at basic education, higher education and human services programs. Notably, the budget restores the entire funding cut proposed by Corbett for the state’s colleges and universities.
The Senate’s budget maintains some of the more controversial parts of Corbett’s budget, such as the elimination of cash-assistance welfare payments for the poor.
Republicans said the budget made prudent increases in light of increased revenue in recent months while maintaining fiscal accountability and planning for long-term costs.
“This is a responsible, sustainable state budget,” said state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester.
Democrats were sharply divided; 12 voted with the Republican majority, eight Democrats opposed it.
State Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, urged fellow Democrats who supported the budget to reconsider.
Williams and other Democrats who voted against the plan said it should include further increases for education and welfare, along with changes in the tax code to get more revenue from gas drillers and companies using loopholes to avoid paying taxes.
State Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, said Democratic support for the budget was important to maintain their voice in the budget discussion, an important part of getting the funding increases.
“It’s better to be bipartisan in this process, especially when it is going in the right direction,” Hughes said.
Corbett on Wednesday called the $27.6 billion spending figure a ceiling, but the governor has not commented on the specifics of the Senate’s plan.
The real haggling over the budget will happen in the state House, where the Republican majority appears to be divided over the Senate’s addition of $500 million in spending.
House Democrats already have voiced concerns over the Senate-passed budget and are less likely to support a plan that does not spend more on education, welfare and other programs.

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PA Senate increases spending by $500M in budget plan

May 08, 2012

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Restores proposed cuts in higher, basic ed, includes more aid for struggling districts
By Eric Boehm | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — A state Senate panel voted unanimously Tuesday to add $500 million in spending to Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget proposal.
The half-billion spending boost came from better-than-expected tax revenue in recent months, which has left Pennsylvania with a smaller deficit to be closed at year’s end.

The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced the plan, which would spend $27.6 billion next year, up from the governor’s proposed $27.1 billion. An additional $550 million in tax revenue would funnel into reserves for the next budget year.

The proposal moves to the Senate for a final vote as early as Wednesday. If it passes, it heads to the House.
State Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, chairman of the appropriations committee, said the increases were within the revised revenue estimates, made available last week. The $550 million carryover, Corman said, will be needed as the state faces increases in pension costs and Medicaid payments.
Spending will grow about 2 percent over the current year.
“I think it’s fiscally responsible, and it reflects the revenues of today,” said Corman, noting the governor’s proposal in February was made with a different set of fiscal assumptions, which changed in the spring.
But higher-than-expected tax collections in April led the state’s Independent Fiscal Office last week to anticipate a $300 million deficit for the end of the year. That report allowed for the additional spending in this year’s budget, as well as preparation for higher costs in coming years, Corman said.
Democrats joined in supporting the budget and, too, pointed to cheerier revenue projections.
State Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, minority chairman of the committee, said the governor’s original budget failed to meet residents’ concerns, or the state’s fiscal reality.
Funding for higher education is the biggest change when the governor’s proposal is juxtaposed with the plan advanced Tuesday.
One year after the four state-related universities — Penn State, Pittsburgh, Temple and Lincoln — took a 20 percent budget hit, Corbett proposed another 20 percent funding cut for all except Lincoln, which was flat-funded.
State subsidies account for less than 10 percent of those schools’ overall budgets.
But the heads of the universities promised to keep tuition hikes “to a minimum,” Corman said, so the Senate committee voted Wednesday to restore the proposed cuts.
The university presidents during budget hearings this spring said state funding kept college affordable for more students by allowing for reduced in-state tuition.
The plan also adds $50 million to help close budget gaps at the state’s most financially troubled school districts, though senators say the number of qualifying districts has not been determined.
Unlike cities, which can enter an official state program for financial distress, school districts have no such indicator, meaning the final version of the state budget would have to create a formula for awarding the extra cash.
Democrats tried unsuccessfully to add another $250 million for various social-service programs, including cash assistance for those in need and child-care programs, which, Hughes said, would help unemployed Pennsylvanians get back to work.
Republicans voted away those amendments.
State Sen. John Blake, D-Lackawanna, said he hoped the House would take note of the Senate’s bipartisan support for a “vastly improved budget bill.”
But budget bipartisanship is probably an endangered idea.
Though Corbett’s office House Republicans would not comment on specific line items that got increases in the Senate plan, both have held a more conservative view of government spending over the past two years, since Republicans took control of all three parts of the budget process.
Kevin Harley, Corbett’s spokesman, said the governor was looking forward to negotiations with the House and Senate, but the focus should be on long-term cost drivers, such as increasing pension costs and debt-service payments that go beyond a one-year budget.
 
Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said Wednesday that the House GOP is evaluating the Senate increases.
If additional funding is available, House Republicans would give priority to education, including higher education, he said.

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“The key is that it has to be sustainable with the revenue,” Miskin said.

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PA works to take scoop from gorging triple dippers

May 08, 2012

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Lawmakers may close loophole
 
By Melissa Daniels | PA Independent
 
HARRISBURG — A concerned resident saw something amiss in the state's unemployment system. Something lawmakers had not yet noticed.  

Read the full story

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