GOVERNMENT WASTE

- PENNSYLVANIA -

Date	Individual / State Agency	Who, What, Where?
07/08/05	House and Senate	Pennsylvania Legislators Think They Are Valuable Commodity According to the Intelligencer, Pennsylvania legislators voted themselves a whopping 16 percent increase in salary plus additional benefits fit for a king. Both the House and Senate approved, in the quiet wee hours of the morning, approved, without debate, an increase in salaries to more than $81,000. Pennsylvania legislator’s salaries are second to only their California counterparts. In the hastily approved bill they tied all future salary increases to federal pay scales, so it removes the onus of responsibility for their backs and irate citizen’s empty complaints. In addition to the salary increase, lawmakers receive $129 per day per diem if they live more than 50 miles from the state capital, Harrisburg, up to $650 a month in reimbursement for car expenses; free healthcare and life insurance; long-term medical care insurance, and a pension equivalent to the royal benefits Congress has awarded it’s members. The Intelligencer said, “In most lines of work, high salaries/excellent benefits are commensurate with high levels of on-the-job performance In state legislative politics, there is no connection If there were, Harrisburg would be a model of government efficiency instead of a poster child for self-serving bureaucrats.”
11/01/05	Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority	Philadelphia Transit Workers Strike According to Fox News, thousands of transit workers for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority went on strike shutting down buses, trolleys and subways for over 500,000 commuters. They rejected the latest city offer for three reasons: 1) the city offered a 9% raise over three years; 2) the city has demanded they pay 5% of their healthcare premiums; and 3) new work rules regarding disciplinary procedures are necessary (which were not defined). It’s most likely that the authorities want to fire incompetent workers, which the union naturally rejected by learning from the socialistic welfare rules of the European Union. With the majority of Americans now sharing more and more of a burden in their own healthcare costs, don’t most of us wish we would only need to pay 5% of our healthcare premiums, with no deductibles or co-payments? Mark Rivers, 50, a security officer who works overnight in downtown Philadelphia, who normally rides the bus, said he planned to walk about three miles home when his shift ends Monday morning. SEPTA employees have good benefits already, Rivers said. "They've got the best health plan in the city, and they want more," he said. "Selfish people, they are."
01/01/06	Supreme Court / Legislature	Supreme Court to Rule On Pay Raises to Hundreds of Public Officials The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments whether the legislation passed last summer giving raises to hundreds of public officials was constitutional. After an outcry from the public, the raises were rescinded, but the court said it would hear a constitutional challenge by a political activist that a lower court had dismissed as moot. It will also hear a second case filed by a judge seeking to reinstate higher judicial salaries. The court said it would review the propriety of how the General Assembly passed the law giving pay raises to all three branches of state government. The law, passed in the quiet hours of the night without debate or public hearings (a practice that is becoming common in many state governments), boosted the salaries of 1,300 judges, lawmakers and senior executive branch officials. The raises ranged from 11 to 54 percent. There was such an outcry about the raises that legislators repealed the bill over fears that taxpayers would take it out on them during re-election next year. Perhaps if elections were held every year, salaries would be frozen permanently.
04/01/06	Legislature	Legislators Rebuffed but Still Manage to Screw Taxpayers When Pennsylvania legislators authorized an outrageous raise for themselves, the citizen’s screamed so loudly that these “dedicated” public servants were forced to rescind the raise, but calculating politicians always have a little trick up their sleeves. The raise was repealed after four months, and some of the legislators did not return the raise to the state, instead donating the money to “worthy” charities. Representative Elinor Z. Taylor, the House majority caucus chairwoman donated her $12,000 to fire companies, nursing homes and veterans groups, all very noble causes. Since she did not return the money to the state, it counts towards her retirement, and when she retires in December her annual pension will be $97,000 - $9,500 more than if she hadn’t taken the raise. Rep. Taylor said, “My intention was to give it to those people who have served the community. I wasn’t doing it for the purpose of my pension.” Yeah, sure, and by the way, who paid the taxes on the $12,000?
07/01/06	Legislature	Return Fiscal Sanity to the State A new bill, HB 2082, proposes to cap spending based on either the rate of inflation or the average change in personal income for residents over the previous three years. The bill will also mandate that budget surpluses be returned to the citizens in the form of tax cuts and placed into a “rainy day” fund. At least someone was thinking in a positive vein. Along with HB 2082, two companion bills, HB 2067 and SB 884, will amend the constitution so that a majority of the General Assembly cannot vote away the provisions of HB 2082, as has been done in a number of states when the politicians soon amended “hold spending” laws since it was not assured by other laws. Naturally, advocates of big government spending are crying foul, but it does not cut government spending, it merely limits the upper limit of government spending in any year. To let your representatives know you are in full support of this bill, click below to access a Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) letter that you can personalize and then send to your specific representative. Tell Your Representative to Return Fiscal Sanity to Pennsylvania