Taxpayers First | Education Fiscal Reform | Creating a Business Friendly and Job Friendly State | Public Health & Safety | 2nd Amendment | Other

Taxpayers First

Act 25 of 2011 - I advocated and passed the first on time budget since 2003. No current taxes were raised and no new taxes were approved. The budget did not include any new or increased borrowing. It funded critical core and constitutionally required functions of state government.

Act 22 of 2011 (Welfare Reform)- Requires random drug testing by convicted drug felons. Requires public assistance applicants to only apply for benefits at their county public assistance office to stop individuals from applying for and receiving public benefits in multiple counties. Requires the department of Public Welfare to check income eligibility BEFORE an individual receives public benefits. Reforms the fraud laden Special Allowances Program.

Act 18 of 2011 (Penn WATCH) – Creates the Pennsylvania Web Accountability and Transparency Act to provide greater accessibility and transparency in Pennsylvania government.
Back to Top

Education Fiscal Reform

Act 26 of 2011 (Closing Property tax Increase Loopholes - Act 1 from the Special Session of 2006 allows school boards to raise property taxes to an index without voter approval, but afforded school boards 10 exceptions so they could raise property taxes even higher without having to ask voters for approval. I led the charge in closing out 7 of these exceptions and restricted 2 exceptions to give even more protections to property taxpayers.

Act 24 of 2011(School District Mandate Relief) – Prior to the passage of Act 24 of 2011, school districts were required to apply for approval through the PlanCON process when school districts wanted to do a construction project whether they were receiving state reimbursement. In order to save time and taxpayer money, Act 26 (my HB 257), would remove the require for school districts to.

HB 258 (Prototypical School Facility Design Clearinghouse) – Too many times school boards have approved “Taj Mahal” school buildings across Pennsylvania increasing property taxes to pay for extravagant and unnecessary school buildings. I have authored legislation to require school districts to pick pre designed school building plans which meet the goals of education without extra and costly architectural additives.

HB 244 (Professional Construction Management)– As most administrative staff are education or finance professionals, they probably do not have a background in professional construction, which they are at a disadvantage when it comes to construction projects. Allowing school districts to be reimbursed by the state for professional construction managers will ensure school districts construction projects are on time, under budget, and are not littered with unnecessary costs to protect the taxpayers interest and ensure students and faculty have quality education facilities.

HB 1504 (School District Fiscal Year) – Currently school district budget cycles are the same as state governments, which means school districts never know how much state funding they will receive in order to finalize their budgets. This makes absolutely no sense, so I authored legislation to allow school boards to change their budget cycles in order to better plan their budgets.
Back to Top

Creating a Business Friendly and Job Friendly State

Act 6 of 2011 (Unemployment Compensation Reform) – This law will require those on U/C to do an active job search, require severance packages be considered in U/C payments, which will provide an annual savings of $133 million or nearly $1 billion over 7 years. Act 6 also created a shared worker program to provide incentives for businesses to hire those on unemployment and get unemployed workers working again.

Act 17 of 2011 (Fair Share Act) – Important tort reform that ensures those defendants responsible will only pay their fair share of the judgment.

Act 60 of 2011 (Small Business Regulatory Protection) – Mandates the Independent Regulatory Review Commission to get input from small businesses prior to approving regulations.

HB 253 (U/C Fraud Prevention) – Allows the Department of Labor & Industry to recoup fraudulent U/C payments.

HB 1852 (U/C Fraud Prevention) – This will save the U/C system an estimated $7 million per year by increasing penalties for those who obtain U/C benefits fraudulent.
Back to Top

Public Health & Safety

HB 247 (Do Not Text List) – In order to prevent unwanted text solicitations, I authored this legislation to add text messaging to the Do Not Call List which has been an effective tool to end unwanted telephone solicitation.

HB 815 (Sexting) – This legislation will create the crime of sexting as a misdemeanor instead of charging teenagers as felons under child pornography statutes.

HB 256 (Forfeiture of vehicle for habitual DUI offenders) – I authored this legislation to take away the DUI habitual DUI offenders tool – their vehicle. Just like we do for drug offenders, this legislation will require the confiscation of DUI offenders’ vehicles that have 3 or more DUI’s.

HB 254 (Motorcycle Safety) – This legislation requires junior drivers who want to get a motorcycle license to complete the free motorcycle safety course prior to getting their permit. It also restricts the renewal of motorcycle permits to 3 times in any 10 year period in order to have more fully licensed motorcycle riders.

HB 817 (Access to Immunizations)–This will allow pharmacists to administer immunizations to adolescents, which will provide even more access to health care for all Pennsylvanians. Pharmacists are already allowed to administer immunizations to adults.
Back to Top

2nd Amendment

Act 10 of 2011 (Castle Doctrine ) – Extends current law to allow individuals to protect their loved ones and themselves in public or outside their residence. Also provides liability relief for citizens and dedicated law enforcement officers.

HB 251 (Protecting Constitutional Rights) – Allows licensed firearm dealers to assist individuals in in filing out paperwork to purchase a firearm to ensure Pennsylvania is not violation of the United States Constitution, Pennsylvania Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act. This bill will also apply this criteria to concealed firearm permit applications and also allow firearm dealers to record multiple firearm transactions on a single form.

HB 819 (True Concealed Carry Reciprocity) – Allows individuals who are not residents of Pennsylvania but have legally obtained conceal carry permits from their state to carry concealed within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

HB 910 (Pennsylvania Rifle) – Designates the “Pennsylvania Rifle” as the official rifle of Pennsylvania.
Back to Top

Other

HB 816 (Social Worker Access to Licensing) – This legislation corrects an oversight in previous law to reduce the number of supervised experience hours required to obtain a license from 3,600 to 3,000 for marriage and family therapists and professional counselors, and would remove the specified number of years. It would also extend a grandfathered provision of the law to allow applicants who graduated prior to June 30, 2009, to receive a license even if they were awarded a master’s degree requiring less than 48 credits.

HB 1323 (Quarter Auctions) – Recently the District Attorney’s across PA have opined, correctly, that quarter auctions are not allowed via PA small games of chance law. I have authored this legislation to ensure non profits like our volunteer fire departments, libraries, and other wonderful organizations can continue this effective and popular small game of chance. These small games of chances allow the community to support their community organizations to reduce our tax burden and keep small out of our lives.
Back to Top