Senate News Update
From Senator Jane Earll
January 8, 2009

LEGISLATIVE OVERVIEW – SESSION OF 2007-2008

The new, two-year legislative session is underway in the General Assembly, and if it's anything like the last one, ideas and the bills necessary to implement them will not be in short supply.

A total of 4,626 bills were introduced in 2007-2008, but only 215 general acts were signed into law. Another 77 budget-related acts were enacted and four bills were vetoed by the governor.

That's about the normal, low success rate for bills. And it's not necessarily a bad thing. It means the Legislature did not pass, among other measures, a real estate transfer tax, a gas tax increase, or a new tax on legal services. We also didn't get around to passing legislation designating an official "state rock," but the Commonwealth will continue.

That's not to say opportunities were not missed. I introduced several bills that were worthy of support, but didn't survive the legislative process, including a bill to make it easier for municipalities to merge, consolidating services and saving tax dollars, and another measure to clarify the requirements for airport authority board members.

My legislation to provide for merit selection of judges wasn't passed, and a bill to extend the Lake Erie stamp to protect aquatic habitat and improve our fisheries met the same fate. I introduced legislation that would allow the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority to recapture unused funds dedicated to manufacturing grants -- which were in low demand due to the economic slowdown – and use them for economic development programs that were short on funding. Unfortunately, the bill didn't pass either.

Bills that don't pass in any two-year session may be reintroduced in the next, and the process starts over.

What did we pass in 2007-08? Some solid pieces of legislation, including:

• ACT 3 OF 2008 -- strengthening Pennsylvania's 50-year-old Open Records Law to reverse the presumption of access to records and put the burden of proof on a government agency denying access to a record, and posting state contracts on the Internet.
• ACT 63 OF 2008 (H2O PA) – my bill authorizing $800 million for critical water and sewer projects and other infrastructure needs, with the debt service funded by existing gaming funds.
• ACT 32 OF 2008 -- my legislation consolidating the collection of earned income taxes at the countywide level, reducing the number of tax collectors from 560 to 69.
• SPECIAL SESSION ACT 1 OF 2008 -- boosting renewable energy development and reducing energy consumption without imposing new taxes.
• ACT 52 OF 2007 -- ensuring that hospitals, nursing homes and ambulatory surgical facilities use proven tools and protocols to reduce health care-associated infections and reduce health care costs.
• Plus, important new laws supporting emergency responders, veterans, consumers and families, and two state budgets that rejected a host of tax increases.

Passing a law is a lengthy, deliberative process, as it should. It requires the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Governor's Office to work together. In the end, the success of a legislative session isn't measured by the quantity of bills passed, but the quality.

As always, if you have questions on this or any state government matter, please do not hesitate to call my office at 814-453-2515.