State GOP senators pushing 'legislative reform bills'
January 22, 2009 State government | SB 107 Salary Information Act | SB 105 Taxpayer Transparency Act
By Tom Barnes
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HARRISBURG -- State Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, says she wants to end "old-fashioned, pay-to-play politics" by stopping politically connected consultants from getting no-bid state contracts.
Sen. John Eichelberger, R-Blair, says he wants to prohibit any type of bonuses being paid to state employees.
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, said he wants to post the salaries of all state government officials online so people can easily find out how much they make. [SB 107]
"This is a simple, common-sense move that will let people track how their dollars are spent," Mr. Pileggi said yesterday at a news conference where GOP senators said they'll push for 10 "legislative reform bills." Mr. Pileggi said he expects the GOP-controlled Senate to vote on the measures by the end of March.
Republicans are picking up where they left off last year. The Senate approved most of the bills in 2008, but they weren't acted on by the Democrat-controlled House.
"My bill to ban bonuses unanimously passed the Senate, but it got stalled in the House for reasons I still don't understand," Mr. Eichelberger said.
Some of the blame for the House's inaction last year was placed on Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, who was, and still is, head of the State Government Committee, where most of the Senate-passed bills went for consideration.
Ms. Josephs said yesterday her panel "will take these bills seriously and analyze them. I am sure there will be House equivalents to these proposals. We will work to come up with the best policies for Pennsylvania."
She said she's still looking for the final language of the bills, and cautioned people not to be naive about the word "reform."
"We will consider all 10 concepts, but just because someone calls something 'reform' doesn't make it reform," she said.
Rep. Bill DeWeese of Waynesburg was the House Democratic leader in the past, but new leaders are now in place -- Speaker Keith McCall, D-Carbon, and Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne. Mr. Pileggi said he'll work with them to try to get the package of 10 bills enacted.
Some Democrats have criticized Senate Republicans for stalling on other important matters, such as an extension of health insurance to lower-income people who don't have it. That bill passed the House last term but not the Senate.
Ms. Orie said the Democratic administration of Gov. Ed Rendell has given out no-bid contracts to his old Philadelphia law firm, Ballard Spahr, as well as to California businessman David Rubin, who contributed to Mr. Rendell from 2001 to 2005.
She said her bill to stop the "pay-to-play" system would "create an open bid process and provide for transparency in regard to who is receiving state contracts and their political contributions."
Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said that if Senate Republicans were really interested in reform, they would reduce their annual operating budget by 4.25 percent, as the governor's agencies have already done because of the state's growing deficit. Mr. Ardo said senators also should return to the treasury a sizable portion of the Legislature's $200 million operating surplus that's left over from previous years.
As for no-bid contracts, he said that sometimes law firms or other consultants have specialized knowledge in certain fields and giving work to the lowest bidder isn't a smart thing to do.
"Would you pick a surgeon to operate on you just because he was the lowest bidder?" Mr. Ardo said.
Other Republican bills would put the state budget online in an easily searchable form [SB 105]; limit state vehicles only to employees who drive at least 1,200 miles per month; allow the governor to choose a new lieutenant governor if a vacancy occurs, rather than having the Senate president pro tem take over; and eliminate "lame-duck sessions" held in the November of even-numbered years, after the election but before new members can be seated.
The Republican proposals are listed as Senate bills 101 to 110. More information on them is available at www.pasenategop.com.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HARRISBURG -- State Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, says she wants to end "old-fashioned, pay-to-play politics" by stopping politically connected consultants from getting no-bid state contracts.
Sen. John Eichelberger, R-Blair, says he wants to prohibit any type of bonuses being paid to state employees.
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, said he wants to post the salaries of all state government officials online so people can easily find out how much they make. [SB 107]
"This is a simple, common-sense move that will let people track how their dollars are spent," Mr. Pileggi said yesterday at a news conference where GOP senators said they'll push for 10 "legislative reform bills." Mr. Pileggi said he expects the GOP-controlled Senate to vote on the measures by the end of March.
Republicans are picking up where they left off last year. The Senate approved most of the bills in 2008, but they weren't acted on by the Democrat-controlled House.
"My bill to ban bonuses unanimously passed the Senate, but it got stalled in the House for reasons I still don't understand," Mr. Eichelberger said.
Some of the blame for the House's inaction last year was placed on Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, who was, and still is, head of the State Government Committee, where most of the Senate-passed bills went for consideration.
Ms. Josephs said yesterday her panel "will take these bills seriously and analyze them. I am sure there will be House equivalents to these proposals. We will work to come up with the best policies for Pennsylvania."
She said she's still looking for the final language of the bills, and cautioned people not to be naive about the word "reform."
"We will consider all 10 concepts, but just because someone calls something 'reform' doesn't make it reform," she said.
Rep. Bill DeWeese of Waynesburg was the House Democratic leader in the past, but new leaders are now in place -- Speaker Keith McCall, D-Carbon, and Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne. Mr. Pileggi said he'll work with them to try to get the package of 10 bills enacted.
Some Democrats have criticized Senate Republicans for stalling on other important matters, such as an extension of health insurance to lower-income people who don't have it. That bill passed the House last term but not the Senate.
Ms. Orie said the Democratic administration of Gov. Ed Rendell has given out no-bid contracts to his old Philadelphia law firm, Ballard Spahr, as well as to California businessman David Rubin, who contributed to Mr. Rendell from 2001 to 2005.
She said her bill to stop the "pay-to-play" system would "create an open bid process and provide for transparency in regard to who is receiving state contracts and their political contributions."
Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said that if Senate Republicans were really interested in reform, they would reduce their annual operating budget by 4.25 percent, as the governor's agencies have already done because of the state's growing deficit. Mr. Ardo said senators also should return to the treasury a sizable portion of the Legislature's $200 million operating surplus that's left over from previous years.
As for no-bid contracts, he said that sometimes law firms or other consultants have specialized knowledge in certain fields and giving work to the lowest bidder isn't a smart thing to do.
"Would you pick a surgeon to operate on you just because he was the lowest bidder?" Mr. Ardo said.
Other Republican bills would put the state budget online in an easily searchable form [SB 105]; limit state vehicles only to employees who drive at least 1,200 miles per month; allow the governor to choose a new lieutenant governor if a vacancy occurs, rather than having the Senate president pro tem take over; and eliminate "lame-duck sessions" held in the November of even-numbered years, after the election but before new members can be seated.
The Republican proposals are listed as Senate bills 101 to 110. More information on them is available at www.pasenategop.com.
