HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE BUDGET HEARING
STATE CAPITOL MAJORITY CAUCUS ROOM HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2005, 10:00 A.M.
BEFORE: HONORABLE BRETT FEESE, CHAIRMAN HONORABLE DWIGHT EVANS, CHAIRMAN HONORABLE MATTHEW BAKER HONORABLE STEPHEN BARRAR HONORABLE GENE DiGIROLAMO HONORABLE PATRICK FLEAGLE HONORABLE DAN FRANKEL HONORABLE HAROLD JAMES HONORABLE KATHY MANDERINO HONORABLE FRED McILHATTAN HONORABLE ANTHONY MELIO HONORABLE PHYLLIS MUNDY HONORABLE JOHN MYERS HONORABLE SCOTT PETRI HONORABLE DOUGLAS REICHLEY HONORABLE SAMUEL ROHRER HONORABLE STANLEY SAYLOR HONORABLE JOSH SHAPIRO HONORABLE JERRY STERN HONORABLE THOMAS TANGRETTI HONORABLE KATIE TRUE HONORABLE DON WALKO HONORABLE JAKE WHEATLEY
ALSO PRESENT: EDWARD NOLAN
JEAN M. DAVIS, REPORTER NOTARY PUBLIC
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1 I N D E X
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3 WITNESS PAGE
4 MIKE TURZAI 4
5 PETER DALEY 9
6 GENE DiGIROLAMO 14
7 PAUL COSTA 19
8 KATHY RAPP 22
9 SEAN RAMALEY 26
10 SUSAN CORNELL 29
11 THOMAS TIGUE 31
12 BERNIE O'NEILL 35
13 RICHARD GRUCELA 40
14 RON MARSICO 43
15 DAVID MILLARD 46
16 DARYL METCALFE 49
17 JACQUELINE CRAHALLA 54
18 DENNIS O'BRIEN 55
19 CURT SONNEY 62
20 W. CURTIS THOMAS 66
21 JESS STAIRS 72
22 GLEN GRELL 75
23 PATRICK BROWNE 79
24 DOUGLAS REICHLEY 83
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1 I N D E X (cont'd.)
2 WITNESS PAGE
3 TIMOTHY SOLOBAY 91
4 FRANK PISTELLA 95
5 BRIAN ELLIS 100
6 GREGORY VITALI 103
7 MARK KELLER 107
8 MARK MUSTIO 111
9 JOHN EVANS 112
10 STEVE SAMUELSON 117
11 MARK COHEN 122
12 JAMES ROEBUCK, JR. 125
13 JOSH SHAPIRO 129
14 JOHN PAYNE 132
15 PAUL CLYMER 134
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1 CHAIRMAN FEESE: I would like to call this
2 meeting of the Appropriations Committee to order.
3 Today is the day for members of the House of
4 Representatives to present written or oral testimony
5 to the committee.
6 At this point, we have a number of members
7 who are submitting written testimony. I would like to
8 read their names for the record and then make their
9 written comments a part of the record. Those
10 individuals at this point submitting written testimony
11 are Representative Susan Cornell, Representative
12 Jeffrey Pyle, Representative Larry Sather,
13 Representative Jess Stairs, Representative Tom Tigue,
14 Representative LeAnna Washington, and Representative
15 John Yudichak. That's the members at this point that
16 we have submitting written testimony.
17 Our first testifier today will be
18 Representative Mike Turzai.
19 REPRESENTATIVE TURZAI: Thank you very much,
20 Mr. Chairman. Good morning.
21 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee,
22 thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. I
23 appear before you to offer my thoughts on a couple of
24 points with respect to the Governor's 2005/2006 state
25 budget proposal.
5
1 My thoughts concern two primary areas, the
2 education funding formula and, secondly, net operating
3 loss carry-forwards.
4 I would like to first speak on education
5 funding and, more specifically, the need to reform the
6 state's basic education funding formula. This is
7 particularly important to me because I represent two
8 school districts in Allegheny County, the North
9 Allegheny and Pine-Richland School Districts that have
10 had rising student enrollments.
11 Last year, I was one of four House members
12 who co-founded the Growth Issue Task Force. This task
13 force was formed to advocate increased state funding
14 for growing school districts and help develop a new
15 funding formula accounting for student population
16 growth. North Allegheny and Pine-Richland both
17 received a growth supplement last year, and that
18 funding may be jeopardized under the Governor's
19 foundation supplement plan as part of his proposed
20 2005-2006 basic education funding.
21 Overall, the Growth Issue Task Force was
22 needed because the current basic education funding
23 formula is broken, as it is largely calculated based
24 on 1990 enrollment figures.
25 Pine-Richland and North Allegheny have grown
6
1 by 76.9 percent, or 1,600-plus students, and 10.9
2 percent, by about 800-plus students since 1991-1992,
3 respectively when the last formula was taken into
4 account. While the estimated state average per pupil
5 allocation of basic education funding is $2,468 and
6 the median is $2,703, under the Governor's 2005-2006
7 budget proposal, North Allegheny stands to receive
8 only $940 per student and Pine-Richland only $918 per
9 student under this plan.
10 These figures become more troublesome when
11 comparing state subsidies to inflation since 1992.
12 North Allegheny received 9.5 percent more per pupil in
13 basic education funding in 2003-2004 compared to 1992.
14 Pine-Richland actually saw a 9.4 percent drop in its
15 per-pupil funding during this period. However, if
16 North Allegheny and Pine-Richland had simply received
17 basic education funding increases at the rate of
18 inflation over this period, they would have seen a
19 31.1 percent funding increase.
20 I remain a staunch advocate of reforming the
21 state's education funding formula to take better into
22 account parity in per-pupil funding. At a minimum, I
23 would like to continue my efforts in advocating at
24 least growth supplements to school districts like
25 Pine-Richland and North Allegheny so that they may
7
1 receive a closer fair share of that state funding.
2 Secondly, I'd like to talk about the
3 Governor's proposal with respect to net operating
4 losses. As part of the Keystone Manufacturing
5 Initiative, we had advocated last year an increase and
6 hopefully an abolition of the cap on net operating
7 loss carry-forwards.
8 Net operating losses are essentially if a
9 business has a loss in a particular year, they can use
10 that against a profit in a future year. And that is
11 particularly important to industries out West, in the
12 steel industry in particular, that absolutely are
13 going to face cyclical time periods.
14 In addition, those companies that were trying
15 to grow in Pennsylvania in connection with
16 universities like Carnegie-Mellon University or the
17 University of Pittsburgh, those start-up businesses
18 are going to experience losses, oftentimes seven to
19 ten years. And their ability to use those in future
20 years against profits really is essential capital for
21 getting that business growing and to take it to the
22 next step.
23 Currently, the net operating loss is capped
24 at $2 million per year in the state of Pennsylvania.
25 Forty-seven states in the United States Government
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1 offer net operating losses. And yet, Pennsylvania is
2 only one of three states that cap net operating
3 losses. We are at a complete disadvantage, a complete
4 disadvantage, with respect to competitor states on
5 this net operating loss issue.
6 The fact of the matter is, I'm happy to see
7 that the Governor has moved in the right direction and
8 started to take a truly pro-business perspective,
9 which we did not see in the first two years of his
10 term.
11 In addition to the fact that we really do
12 need to reduce taxes for our employers, because you
13 can't have jobs without employers, we also need to
14 take on workers' compensation reform, unemployment
15 compensation reform, and tort reform as well.
16 But here, with respect to the budget, I would
17 like to emphasize that we would like to see the net
18 operating loss cap eliminated. This is the year to do
19 it. And it's a great opportunity to make Pennsylvania
20 more competitive.
21 I have introduced a bill as part of the
22 Keystone Manufacturing Initiative House Bill 650 that
23 will, in fact, do that and it will make it retroactive
24 to the year 2000 so that business in this state can
25 take advantage of the losses that they have incurred
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1 to put it against profits. It's the way we should be
2 doing business in Pennsylvania and we need to be
3 proactive.
4 I thank you very, very much for the
5 opportunity to address you on these two issues. It's
6 an honor to be in front of this esteemed committee. I
7 appreciate the hard work that you do for Pennsylvania.
8 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
9 Turzai, for your testimony.
10 REPRESENTATIVE TURZAI: Thank you.
11 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Our next testifier will be
12 Representative Peter Daley.
13 REPRESENTATIVE DALEY: Chairman Feese,
14 Chairman Evans, members of the committee, it's a
15 pleasure to be here with you this morning. I
16 apologize for my coughing. I have the budget bug; and
17 as you know, this time of year, it goes around. I
18 apologize.
19 This is a hard year to ask for an increase in
20 any line item with a straight face. I believe that
21 only extenuating circumstances can explain any such
22 request, and I have two to discuss with you this
23 morning.
24 First, as the Democratic chair of the
25 Agricultural Committee, as some of you know, the
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1 veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania
2 endured a devastating, hospitalwide infection of a
3 drug resistant Salmonella Newport at the New Bolton
4 Center Large Animal Hospital last summer. The entire
5 hospital had to be closed from May through August,
6 scrubbed and disinfected, during the busiest time of
7 the year. The immediate lost revenue during that
8 period was estimated to be $3.8 million.
9 This animal hospital is the specific portion
10 of the vet school that provides direct, critical
11 services to the Pennsylvania animal agricultural
12 industry -- of course, as you all know, Stormy Jones
13 was a participant at that center many times --
14 including the equine industry, of course, as well as
15 training many of the animal agriculture vets in
16 Pennsylvania.
17 The hospital provides diagnostic, clinical,
18 and surgical services to more than 7,000 animal
19 patients yearly and supports field services for
20 another 21,000 animal patients on both large and small
21 farms.
22 Significant applied research that assists all
23 of animal agriculture, horses, cattle, hogs, poultry,
24 and fish, goes on continuously at the New Bolton
25 Center.
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1 Although insurance paid for a portion of the
2 clean-up costs of the 2004 Salmonella infection, it
3 did not pay for lost revenue. Additionally, in order
4 to prevent another occurrence, the physical plant at
5 the school will need to be significantly restructured
6 and, in some cases, replaced. Insurance will not pay
7 for that; and the school has proposed to extend its
8 current, unrelated capital campaign to blend with
9 state capital budget funding for that purpose.
10 While that is not germane here, what is
11 relevant is that until that reconfiguration can take
12 place, certain functions and areas at New Bolton will
13 have to stay closed, further impacting on hospital
14 operating revenue.
15 As a result, Mr. Chairman, we are asking that
16 the budgeted line item for veterinary activities at
17 Penn be increased this coming year from the Governor's
18 proposed $37,924,000 to 41,582,000 to compensate for
19 the past year's lost revenue as well as some early,
20 unreimbursed remediation costs.
21 In another matter related to higher
22 education, as a longtime supporter of the State System
23 of Higher Education and an alumnus of California
24 University of Pennsylvania, where I currently serve as
25 a member of the council trustees, I want to express my
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1 appreciation of the Governor's proposed increases for
2 the system, and for all of higher education, most
3 notably for the community colleges, a key workforce
4 development tool.
5 Unfortunately, however, Mr. Chairman, many of
6 our areas lack community colleges; and the somewhat
7 onerous and expensive process of establishing them
8 makes it unlikely that many poorer counties will ever,
9 or in the near future, have community colleges.
10 To fill that gap in my area, we have been
11 working this year to establish a Community Education
12 Council, a state-funded honest broker of postsecondary
13 education services for underserved areas.
14 CECs survey their area employers and
15 potential students for postsecondary educational and
16 training needs and recruit nearby existing educational
17 institutions, including community colleges -- Mon
18 Valley will be dealing with Allegheny County Community
19 College, Westmoreland County Community College, as
20 well as Butler County Community College -- and
21 proprietary schools such as the many schools we have
22 in Washington, Fayette, and Westmoreland and Allegheny
23 County to offer courses that students cannot travel
24 any great distance to attend.
25 The nine existing CECs, whose line item is
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1 titled "Rural Initiatives Higher Education," have
2 struggled up and down in recent years to maintain
3 adequate funding in our yearly budgets and this year
4 have been cut back once again from last year's
5 $1,968,000 to $1,343,000 proposed.
6 I am asking that the Appropriations Committee
7 restore that cut and, as well, provide funding
8 sufficient for one new CEC, specifically the Mon
9 Valley region, which is suffering one of the highest
10 level of unemployment and underemployment in the
11 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as well as one of the
12 highest poverty levels in Pennsylvania, second only to
13 the city of Philadelphia. Greene County and Fayette
14 County and parts of the Mon Valley have the second and
15 third highest rates of poverty in Pennsylvania. This
16 will be a significant tool. We're asking for $250,000
17 for that specific CEC, plus a modest increment for
18 full funding of any new and existing CECs, for a total
19 of $2.5 million.
20 I believe that this will allow these
21 institutions to flourish and provide exactly the kind
22 of workforce development services that the Governor
23 seeks to support with the community colleges increase,
24 without the added expense of developing new,
25 full-scale community colleges throughout the state.
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1 I want to thank you for your indulgence this
2 morning and for your consideration. Thank you,
3 Mr. Chairman.
4 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
5 Daley, for your testimony.
6 REPRESENTATIVE DALEY: Thank you.
7 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Our next member to present
8 testimony will be Representative Gene DiGirolamo.
9 REPRESENTATIVE DiGIROLAMO: Good morning,
10 Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. I appreciate
11 the opportunity to be here with you today.
12 My testimony this year, as in the past, is
13 going to be for more funding for drug and alcohol
14 treatment. I'll get a little bit more specific in a
15 minute.
16 I would like to direct the members of the
17 committee's attention to a couple of newspaper
18 articles this week. The first one is from the
19 Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday, Police Try to Get a
20 Jump on Meth. Of course, that's methamphetamine, a
21 highly addictive drug that is quickly creeping into
22 each and every one of your communities.
23 The second article is from this Sunday's
24 Patriot-News, The Girl Next Door. The article reads,
25 she didn't wander city streets begging for money. She
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1 was a student, a waitress, a daughter from suburbia.
2 Her parents were blindsided when heroin killed her.
3 And if you turn the pages, there's two pictures, two
4 girls. One is 16-year-old Jennifer and the other one
5 is Dana, 18 years old. Both of them recently died
6 from an overdose of drugs, truly a tragedy, a horrific
7 tragedy.
8 Unfortunately, it's a tragedy that plays out
9 each and every day across the state of Pennsylvania in
10 every one of our communities and in every one of our
11 districts. And it's a tragedy, quite frankly, that
12 many times, especially among our young people, is
13 because there is no money available for treatment or
14 because of an insurance issue. We can do something
15 about it. We should do something about it.
16 I've worked with a lot of wonderful people
17 who work in the addiction and the recovery business
18 across the state of Pennsylvania. Wonderful people.
19 Courageous people. Extraordinary people. Committed
20 and caring people. They've taught me a couple of
21 pretty basic things.
22 The first thing they've taught me is that,
23 simply, addiction is a disease. And I want to
24 underline the word disease. Addiction is a disease
25 that, if left untreated, is always fatal. Always
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1 fatal. And that treatment works. Treatment works and
2 is highly effective when you get the proper treatment
3 for the proper length of time.
4 One in four families in the state of
5 Pennsylvania, one in four families, has a loved one or
6 an immediate family member with an addiction problem.
7 As I look around the room here today -- I don't
8 know -- maybe there's about 40 people in this room.
9 That would mean that ten of us in this room have a
10 family member with an addiction problem.
11 The Department of Health in the state of
12 Pennsylvania certifies to the Federal Government that
13 in the state of Pennsylvania, there are over 600,000
14 people in Pennsylvania who have an addiction, who need
15 to get into treatment. That is really compelling.
16 600,000 people out of 12 million. One in twenty
17 people. And again, if you apply that to this room
18 here today, 40 people, one in 20, there's two people
19 in this room here that might have an active addiction
20 that really need help.
21 There are waiting lists, waiting lists, in
22 every one of our counties for people to get into
23 treatment. Many times at the end of the month, they
24 run out of money. There's no money available. That's
25 why I'm here today. We have to chip away at this
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1 problem.
2 Specifically, I am requesting an $8 million
3 increase in state dollars to the Bureau of Drug and
4 Alcohol Programs, Department of Health, which will be
5 earmarked for addiction and drug treatment services.
6 And, members of the committee, the money that
7 we put in addiction treatment is a good investment in
8 state dollars and tax dollars. Every study that I've
9 looked at says that for every dollar that we invest in
10 treatment that we save between $7 and $10 somewhere
11 else along the line. And it's only common sense that
12 if people are not in treatment, they're going to be in
13 our emergency rooms and our hospitals or are going to
14 be involved in the criminal justice system and they're
15 also going to be involved in a strain on our other
16 social services.
17 Also, I'm really pleased by the Governor in
18 his budget this year. Last year at this meeting, I
19 requested more money in a line item for PCCD, the
20 Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, and
21 their drug and alcohol program. I am pleased -- and I
22 hope it's because of a lot of the efforts of the
23 members here last year -- that he had seen fit to
24 increase that line item by $2.5 million this year. So
25 I would also like to request your support for that.
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1 And just in closing, last year I had Dicky
2 Knowles with me when I gave my testimony. And for
3 those of you who know Dicky Knowles, he was a pitcher
4 for the Philadelphia Phillies. He pitched in the 1980
5 World Series. And he talked about his addiction and
6 how he got into treatment and how it helped him.
7 This year I don't have Ashley with me today.
8 Unfortunately, Ashley can't be with us. About two
9 years ago, I met Ashley's mother, Roberta, out in
10 Pittsburgh. Ashley is from Allegheny County.
11 I was out in Pittsburgh for a Commonwealth
12 Court hearing on Act 106. And again, that's an issue
13 for another time. But that's something we desperately
14 need also, enforcement of Act 106 here in
15 Pennsylvania.
16 Roberta lost Ashley a couple of years ago
17 because of a drug overdose. Ashley was actually in
18 treatment, couldn't find the money to keep her in
19 treatment, and she died from a heroin overdose a short
20 time later. And again, what a tragedy. Roberta
21 described her daughter as a loving child, someone who
22 wanted to be a marine biologist, someone who would
23 come home and leave home every day, give each family
24 member a kiss and a hug and told them she loved them.
25 Again, Mr. Chairman and members of the
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1 committee, this tragedy is something that we can do
2 something about. I ask for your support for these
3 increases in the budget.
4 Thank you.
5 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
6 DiGirolamo, for your compelling testimony.
7 Our next testifier will be Representative
8 Paul Costa.
9 REPRESENTATIVE COSTA: Good morning.
10 Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank
11 you for giving me the opportunity this morning.
12 Chairman Feese, I'd like to wish you luck
13 going through your Appropriations Hearings. If
14 there's anything I can do to help you, please don't
15 hesitate to give me a holler.
16 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you.
17 REPRESENTATIVE FEESE: Members of the
18 committee, thank you very much. I'm here today to
19 talk about the Governor's 2005/'06 budget proposal. I
20 believe that it is critical that we give thorough,
21 nonpartisan deliberation to the proposal during the
22 upcoming hearings and negotiations. So I'll get right
23 to it.
24 The University of Pittsburgh produces
25 brilliant minds. It creates job. Pitt boasts medical
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1 schools and clinics where research is conducted to
2 facilitate a better quality of life for everyone. But
3 the Governor's proposed budget uses Federal Medicaid
4 funds to match roughly $9 million of the University of
5 Pittsburgh's programs for the medical school, dental
6 clinic, graduate school of public health, and Western
7 Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.
8 The problem here is that if the Medicaid
9 funds do not come through, there's no guarantee that
10 the funding will be there at all.
11 Pitt is a teaching school. And it relies on
12 the state subsidy to help maintain its research
13 facilities and programs. But as important as Pitt's
14 appropriation is to this effort, the money it receives
15 from the tobacco settlement is also vitally important.
16 It relies on the research funding received from the
17 tobacco settlement to attract outside research
18 dollars.
19 Currently, 75 percent of Pennsylvania's
20 tobacco settlement funds are used for other programs
21 while only 19 percent is allocated for health-related
22 research.
23 I would hope that any re-evaluation of how to
24 use the tobacco settlement would not dip into the
25 funds currently earmarked for health-related research.
21
1 Now, as for the 3.1 percent appropriation
2 increase the Governor has recommended, it's still
3 nearly $3.5 million less than what Pitt received in
4 fiscal year 2001.
5 When the University of Pittsburgh became a
6 state-related institution in 1966, the Commonwealth
7 appropriation represented nearly one-third of Pitt's
8 operating budget. In 1995 it dropped to 19 percent.
9 Last year, it fell below 12. And as we know, the more
10 that we keep dropping, the more tuition increases have
11 to be put on the students. And while Pitt's
12 appropriation increased by 17 percent over the last
13 decade, inflation rose by 24 percent during the same
14 period.
15 Despite the recent economic downturn in
16 Western Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh
17 continues to grow and be a major player in the economy
18 of the region. Since 1995, Pitt's employment has
19 increased by nearly 25 percent, driven predominately
20 by the growth in university research.
21 Another indicator of Pitt's progress is the
22 fact that since 1995, Pitt has experienced a 140
23 percent increase in the undergraduate applications.
24 Last year alone, the university received nearly 19,000
25 applications. The increasingly impressive academic
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1 credentials and achievements of those applicants and
2 the national and international recognition of Pitt
3 faculty throughout numerous university programs all
4 contribute to Pitt's progress.
5 I don't believe that any other university in
6 the Commonwealth contributes to my region like the
7 University of Pittsburgh. And I hope when you do your
8 budget hearing, you'll consider the students and
9 faculty there.
10 Again, Mr. Chairman, I do thank you for your
11 time. And I would be happy to address any questions.
12 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
13 Costa, for your testimony. I don't believe anybody
14 has any questions. Thank you.
15 REPRESENTATIVE COSTA: Thank you.
16 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Our next testifier is
17 Representative Kathy Rapp.
18 REPRESENTATIVE RAPP: Good morning, Chairman
19 Feese, Chairman Evans, and members of the committee.
20 I appreciate the opportunity to voice the
21 concerns that I continue to receive from the people of
22 Warren, Forest, and McKean Counties regarding this
23 year's proposed budget.
24 First of all, I want to begin my brief
25 remarks by commending the Governor for continuing to
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1 fund school district block grants, special education
2 programs, vocational education, libraries, and
3 expanding the subsidies awarded to our institutions of
4 higher learning.
5 Whether you live in major metropolitan areas
6 like Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, or more
7 rural areas like mine, I believe this funding is
8 critical to ensure that our children are not left
9 behind in the classroom and, most importantly, are
10 adequately prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st
11 Century workforce.
12 Unfortunately, as with any budget proposal,
13 there are plenty of areas that will require ample
14 attention from both houses of the General Assembly to
15 better ensure that the interests of all Commonwealth
16 citizens are represented to the fullest extent.
17 To that end, I want to use my time today to
18 summarize some of the most common constituent concerns
19 that were directly expressed to me at my Warren
20 district office open house last week. Like me, for
21 the most part, my constituent are fiscally
22 conservative and have no problem with spending cuts.
23 However, they are concerned that the Governor
24 is making cuts in programs that will unfairly punish
25 the state police, farmers, volunteer firefighters, job
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1 providers, and senior citizens while fostering more
2 government dependence.
3 Just some of these misdirected spending
4 priorities include, but are not limited to, cutting
5 investment in the state's leading job creation and
6 retention programs, slashing the operating budget of
7 the Department of Aging, reducing the state police
8 funding and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency,
9 and decreasing agriculture assistance programs.
10 With specific regard to agriculture and
11 economic development, several of my constituents
12 raised concerns over the Governor's decision to cut
13 funding for black fly spraying. Recently, a spokesman
14 from the DEP justified this cut by arguing that the
15 Black Fly Program is a quality of life issue and not
16 necessarily essential to protect human health or the
17 environment.
18 Based on the amount of economic activity and
19 tourism that the Route 6 corridor, Allegheny National
20 Forest, and other designated Pennsylvania wild regions
21 generate from my district, I will raise the common
22 free market argument that prosperity and economic
23 protection are not mutually exclusive.
24 In short, tourists will not plan their
25 vacation around or spend money at many regional events
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1 and attractions, such as the state fishing tournament
2 in Tionesta, the national canoe tournament in Warren,
3 or the sugar grove underground railroad convention if
4 the biggest source of outdoor recreation becomes
5 swatting flies.
6 Perhaps the best way I can bring this issue
7 home to members of the committee is to read the
8 comments from an e-mail sent to me by a concerned
9 resident. If the black fly spraying is not continued,
10 it will be too miserable to go outside for
11 any pleasurable activity. I know more than one
12 tourist that won't come here if they have to deal with
13 the flies. Please urge for this budget cut to be
14 restored.
15 I've also heard concerns from many of my
16 local farmers on the programs that they see being cut
17 from the budget. They depend on many of these
18 programs. I ask that these programs be closely looked
19 at, not just to preserve farmland, but to preserve the
20 family farm.
21 I look forward to working with the members of
22 the committee and the rest of the state government to
23 find creative and cost-effective solutions to maintain
24 the difficult balance between fiscal responsibility
25 and adequately funding essential government programs.
26
1 Thank you.
2 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
3 Rapp.
4 Our next member to present testimony will be
5 Representative Sean Ramaley.
6 REPRESENTATIVE RAMALEY: Thank you,
7 Mr. Chairman.
8 Chairman Feese, Chairman Evans, and members
9 of the Appropriations Committee, good morning. Thank
10 you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
11 Over the next few weeks, you will hear testimony from
12 many individuals and organizations and then begin the
13 lengthy process of negotiations on the Governor's
14 comprehensive budget proposal.
15 I'm here today on behalf of the people of
16 Beaver and Allegheny Counties in the 16th Legislative
17 District simply to reassert the Governor's proposals
18 for education and economic development.
19 While these proposed programs deserve ample
20 individual consideration, I believe the future success
21 of communities like those I represent and communities
22 throughout Pennsylvania hinge on a comprehensive
23 strategy of education and providing opportunity to our
24 workforce.
25 During a recent local government forum,
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1 someone asked me how we can keep our young people
2 here. My response was simple: If we provide them
3 with a quality education, one that is responsive to
4 the needs of employers, and be willing to offer job
5 retraining to keep our people working, then
6 Pennsylvanians will be able to pursue their American
7 dreams in our Commonwealth, from their early years
8 through their golden years.
9 I believe we must look at money for education
10 as an investment rather than an expenditure. From
11 Head Start to smaller class sizes to funding for our
12 libraries, we need to ensure Pennsylvania's youth have
13 the access to the tools they need to succeed.
14 Moreover, we have some of the best colleges
15 and universities in the world here in Pennsylvania. I
16 am pleased to see the Governor's proposal includes an
17 increase in funding for our state-owned institutions,
18 an increase for our four state-related schools, a 10
19 percent increase for community colleges, and a 19
20 percent increase in combined money between the state
21 and PHEAA for college aid. These increases
22 demonstrate a commitment to higher education, which I
23 believe is essential to giving Pennsylvanians
24 world-class educational opportunities right here at
25 home.
28
1 An educated population is more likely to
2 succeed and is more likely to attract a wide array of
3 economic development opportunities. Programs like Job
4 Ready Pennsylvania recognize the need to provide
5 employers with a workforce educated and skilled to
6 fill the needs of the business community.
7 This budget proposal also reflects an
8 understanding that education does not end with our
9 teen years. In my district, we have never fully
10 recovered from the loss of the steel mills roughly 20
11 years ago. As we try to revitalize our communities,
12 U.S. Airways is making substantial cutbacks, which is
13 seriously impacting our local and regional economies.
14 Institutions like the community colleges of
15 Beaver and Allegheny Counties have already been
16 effective at providing job retraining for our workers.
17 The increased funding for such programs and the
18 greater access to grants for adult students will be
19 essential to ensuring that we keep Pennsylvanians
20 working as the job market changes.
21 Over the next few months, as you entertain
22 all of the various budgetary requests, I ask you to
23 keep education and economic development a top
24 priority. With the proper investment in our people
25 and maximizing our efforts to prepare our workforce
29
1 for the jobs of today and tomorrow, we will create an
2 environment of economic stability and prosperity for
3 the people of Pennsylvania.
4 Thank you.
5 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you very much,
6 Representative Ramaley.
7 Our next testifier will be Representative Sue
8 Cornell.
9 REPRESENTATIVE CORNELL: Thank you,
10 Mr. Chairman and members of the Appropriations
11 Committee. I thank you for allowing me this time to
12 present one of my budget priorities for this session.
13 I recently introduced legislation, House Bill
14 100, that would increase the state reimbursements to
15 school districts that provide school lunches by two
16 cents and school breakfasts by one cent. The
17 reimbursement for these school meals has been set at
18 ten cents since the 2000/2001 fiscal year.
19 The food service providers in our school
20 districts have done an outstanding job of working
21 within their budgets. Daily they provide nutritious
22 and well-balanced meals to our children.
23 Since now we are examining the 2005/2006
24 budget. It's been about half a decade since the
25 reimbursement has been increased by the state.
30
1 Unfortunately, the number of hungry children in our
2 schools has not decreased. The Commonwealth currently
3 provides more than $27 million annually to schools for
4 school lunches and breakfasts.
5 My request for an increase in the school
6 breakfast and lunch program would amount to an
7 estimated $4.2 million in the 2005/2006 fiscal year.
8 This increase addresses the needs of our children and
9 our Commonwealth that need our help the most.
10 Children from families with incomes at or below 130
11 percent of the poverty level are eligible for free
12 meals. Children from families that earn between 130
13 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level are
14 eligible for reduced price meals.
15 In many cases, a school breakfast or lunch
16 can be the most nutritious or, in some cases, the only
17 meal of the day for these children. Food and
18 nutrition are linked in a very crucial and important
19 way to learning. It's been proven that kids who
20 arrive in school hungry and who do not eat nutritious
21 meals during the day suffer in terms of academic
22 performance compared to others who have eaten a good
23 breakfast or lunch.
24 According to a study published in the Journal
25 of Pediatrics, hungry children are likely to get sick
31
1 and miss school and more likely to experience anxiety
2 and depression. They also have more disciplinary
3 problems. Children who eat nourishing meals have the
4 best chance to succeed in school and go on to be
5 productive citizens.
6 Each budget year, education is at the top of
7 the list in terms of investments of state funding.
8 Providing nutritious meals is a key to our students'
9 good health and a key to learning. We, as
10 legislators, need to take a look at the funding for
11 school lunch and breakfast programs to give all of our
12 students the best chance at success. That's why I'm
13 here today, to advocate additional state funding for
14 the school lunch and breakfast program.
15 Thank you for your time.
16 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Our next member to testify
17 will be Representative Tom Tigue.
18 REPRESENTATIVE TIGUE: Good morning.
19 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you
20 for providing me this opportunity.
21 This morning I would like to talk about three
22 items. The first is the state share for reimbursement
23 for school construction. It's been more than 17 years
24 since the state has increased their share of the
25 construction cost. In this time, the people who are
32
1 most adversely affected by this obviously are the
2 growth districts; but also probably every district,
3 whether they have growth or not, have had some type of
4 construction or modification to existing buildings
5 within the last 17 years. And this falls back again,
6 once more, on the property tax owners because if the
7 state does not keep up with the cost of inflation and
8 the construction, obviously the local share increases.
9 And that's what's occurred. So I would ask that this
10 committee, as well as the Governor and all of us,
11 consider passing legislation to increase the formula
12 and the subsidy for construction reimbursement.
13 Secondly, for almost a decade now -- and
14 Representative Turzai mentioned this earlier, and I
15 believe Representative Grucella and perhaps some
16 others will mention it later -- we've provided
17 additional funding for growth districts. Some of it
18 has been fairly substantial. Most of it has not.
19 As Representative Turzai mentioned earlier,
20 one of the problems we've run into with growth
21 districts -- and they run the gamut from being wealthy
22 districts to poor districts -- is we, in fact, do not
23 have a formula. When we did away with the ESBE
24 formula in the early '90s, in 1991, the factor which
25 included the average daily membership, in other words,
33
1 the student population, is no longer provided as a
2 relative factor in the new money that we keep adding
3 on each year.
4 As a result of this, we have some school
5 districts who in actual dollars -- not for inflation
6 or anything else, actual dollars -- are receiving less
7 per students today than they did in 1991. This is
8 absurd.
9 So I think two things have to happen. One is
10 we have to look at how we're going to fund growing
11 districts. But more importantly, I think, as
12 Representative Turzai mentioned earlier, we have to
13 change. We have to look at a formula. I think we
14 have to adopt an education funding formula which will
15 give our school districts a predictable funding idea
16 in the future. ESBE was probably the best thing that
17 we've had. We did away with it. I think we should
18 take a look at going back to that and perhaps making
19 some adjustments.
20 And third, I would like to mention that
21 Pennsylvania historically has been subjected,
22 unfortunately on an annual basis, with natural
23 disasters, where there have been floods, tornadoes,
24 other things. We have a system in Pennsylvania which
25 I think is totally inadequate. We have relied on
34
1 federal assistance. And if you meet the guidelines of
2 FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, then we
3 wait for them to bring funds in.
4 Recently, there was an event which occurred
5 in Northeastern Pennsylvania referred to as a Pocono
6 ice storm, which was a substantial disaster and crisis
7 for not only municipalities -- it has destroyed their
8 budgets -- but municipalities as well as businesses.
9 Business owners and private owners and property owners
10 have substantial damage.
11 Unfortunately, at this point, we do not
12 qualify -- they do not qualify -- for federal
13 assistance. Pennsylvania Power & Light, which is only
14 one of the many utilities in that area, has already
15 notified the PUC that they have incurred twenty to
16 twenty-five million dollars in cost. So you can
17 imagine what occurred to the townships and the
18 boroughs which incurred costs.
19 So as a result of that, I think we have to
20 look at -- it's not a new idea. Representative Daley,
21 amongst others, has proposed over the years a small
22 disaster assistance fund. And I think it's time that
23 Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth step up to the plate
24 and say to the municipalities and to our citizens and
25 our residents that we are not going to leave you high
35
1 and dry if there is a disaster because you don't
2 qualify for federal aid. We have a Rainy Day Fund.
3 And it's ironic we have a Rainy Day Fund for a fiscal
4 crisis but we don't have some type of fund to help
5 those people who are in need, through no fault of
6 their own, because of a natural disaster.
7 Thank you for your time and your
8 consideration. I appreciate that.
9 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
10 Tigue.
11 Our next testifier will be Representative
12 Bernie O'Neill.
13 REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Thank you.
14 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, good
15 morning. Top of the morning to you all.
16 I thank you for allowing me to have the
17 opportunity to speak before you today. Today I appear
18 before you as a former volunteer firefighter and
19 former captain and head training officer of one of the
20 largest volunteer fire companies in Bucks County. I
21 have been proud to serve with this company and all its
22 volunteers for more than 20 years, and I know
23 firsthand the hardships that our volunteers across the
24 Commonwealth face on a daily basis.
25 We, as all volunteer departments, struggle to
36
1 make ends meet through various fund-raising
2 activities. However, much of this time spent
3 fund-raising could be better spent training for
4 emergencies, including, but not limited to,
5 weather-related disasters or Homeland Security.
6 Please remember, if a security disaster occurs, it is
7 our volunteers who are the first responders.
8 And these volunteers perform this service by
9 responding at all hours of the day, even at 3 a.m.,
10 regardless of the seriousness of the situation and/or
11 its emergency.
12 And please let us not forget that they put
13 their lives on the line for us. Just this past year,
14 17 Pennsylvania firefighters died in the line of duty
15 in the year 2004, a figure released by Federal
16 Emergency Management Agency. We must show that we
17 appreciate their efforts.
18 Since September 11th, 2001, we have
19 redirected many of our efforts to help these first
20 responders, and rightfully so. However, as Homeland
21 Security efforts rise, we have reached out and asked
22 our volunteers to do more. But allow me to put out
23 that we have asked them to do more with less.
24 As state officials, we need to make sure that
25 our volunteer firefighters and ambulance service
37
1 personnel have the tools they need to adequately
2 respond to any type of disaster or terrorist attack.
3 As a member of the Veterans Affairs and
4 Emergency Preparedness Committee and the House Fire
5 Caucus, I am a firm believer of supporting our first
6 responders in whatever way we can. That is why I was
7 pleased and proud to support Act 17 of 2003, the
8 Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services Grant Program.
9 Twenty-five million dollars was set aside in
10 the General Fund to help pay for training, equipment,
11 construction, and debt service for these all-volunteer
12 companies. Unfortunately, this doesn't even begin to
13 cover the costs, but it is a start.
14 In my district alone, more than $70,000 was
15 awarded to six fire companies and one ambulance
16 department.
17 I was very disappointed to learn last week
18 that our Governor removed this valuable grant program
19 from the General Fund so that it could now be funded
20 with gaming proceeds. Whether we agree or not, this
21 was the intent when the gaming expansion law was
22 passed. However, I believe few truly realized this.
23 Now our fire companies and ambulance squads
24 may have to wait years until a gaming license starts
25 to produce revenue. It is save to say that if a
38
1 gaming license is not sold by this time next year, the
2 Fire-EMS Grant Program will be left unfunded, leaving
3 the hundreds of volunteer fire and EMS companies in
4 our Commonwealth out in the cold.
5 Yet if there is an emergency at one of these
6 new gaming facilities, whom will they call? Our first
7 responders, our volunteers. These volunteers
8 selflessly give of their time and their families' time
9 and put their lives on the line each time they respond
10 to a personal, community, or medical emergency.
11 The sad part is, most people take their
12 volunteers and emergency response units for granted,
13 of course, until they need them. They deserve our
14 appreciation every day. And during your deliberations
15 on this year's budget, I urge you to make sure that
16 the Volunteer Firefighter and Emergency Services Grant
17 program is put back into the 2005/2006 General Fund.
18 This morning, I also speak to you today as an
19 educator. During my 25-plus years service as a
20 special education teacher in Bucks County, I can
21 attest that state support for special education is
22 critical for thousands of children in need.
23 Because of the many facets of special
24 education, I am concerned that a 2.5 percent increase
25 is not enough to meet the educational needs of these
39
1 special children. Even during the tight budget year
2 of 2003/2004, we still allocated a 3.46 percent
3 increase.
4 In one of my school districts alone, special
5 education costs rose $650,000 just last year due to
6 unfunded mandates. Who picked up the tab? The local
7 taxpayer did.
8 Costs of everything are rising. And I fear
9 that without adequate support, these children are at
10 risk for being left behind. Our constitution mandates
11 that we provide an education for all children, and
12 these students deserve the best education we can
13 provide them.
14 I ask that during your budget deliberations,
15 you also look into the special education line item and
16 see if any additional funds can be redirected to help
17 our schools meet the increasing needs of special
18 education.
19 I also ask you to look at the 10 percent
20 boost for community colleges. Although I applaud the
21 Governor for his continued commitment to education, I
22 am worried that there may be too many strings attached
23 to this funding increase and that the increase will be
24 earmarked solely for new workforce development
25 programs instead of helping with tuition assistance.
40
1 I believe that using this money for operating
2 costs will go a long way to help with workforce
3 development. If tuition is made even more affordable
4 for people who are in need of further training or
5 learning skills for the workforce, that money has been
6 put to good use.
7 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I
8 thank you for your time and wish you all a safe day.
9 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
10 O'Neill.
11 Our next testifier will be Representative
12 Grucela.
13 REPRESENTATIVE GRUCELA: Thank you, Chairman
14 Feese, and good morning, members of the committee.
15 Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you
16 this morning.
17 Like all of us in the House, we can speak on
18 all aspects of the budget. I know we'll get that
19 opportunity later on the Floor.
20 I would like to take my time to address two
21 issues. The first one is the adult basic program. We
22 are underfunded in this area. And it's my
23 understanding that there's a long waiting list for
24 this program because we have not funded it properly as
25 far as the insurance program is concerned. This
41
1 touches me a little bit personally.
2 I have a former student who wasn't born with
3 all of the necessary advantages that we have in life.
4 He was a good kid. Later on he experienced
5 homelessness but worked his way out of that and he got
6 a job. Unfortunately, the job that he has doesn't
7 have health insurance. Now he is facing a serious and
8 critical illness. In fact, he didn't call me because
9 he was too proud to do that. I received calls from a
10 former colleague and peers who were his classmates to
11 help him out.
12 My understanding is the adult basic program
13 is underfunded. There's a long waiting list. I don't
14 think it's fair or honest for us to have constituents
15 come to our office and we pass out pamphlets that have
16 this program but no money to support them. We need to
17 be a lot more honorable in that particular program.
18 My former high school has almost doubled
19 since I left six years ago. They had a blistering
20 school board meeting on Monday night about the
21 overcrowding in the halls causing fights. Kids in the
22 cafeteria are not having enough time to eat. They
23 can't find seats. We need to do something with that
24 formula. I'm proud to be part of that.
25 The bipartisan caucus is looking at it. I
42
1 hope that we will be able to come up with some
2 recommendations, as Representative Tigue had alluded
3 to, to make this a little bit more fair to our
4 districts. In fact, I got a call last night from a
5 PTA person who asked for a 25 percent increase in the
6 supplement. Now, you and I both know that that's just
7 not there. But I think we can work on something that
8 will help these districts that are growing.
9 The new developments are not paying for the
10 per-pupil cost. The taxes on the new homes don't
11 cover the per-pupil costs. And that's being spread
12 around for the rest of the school district. And I
13 have several school districts that have a lot of
14 senior citizens who are absorbing that higher cost
15 because of this.
16 I think we need to do something. I think we
17 need to look at that formula. And again, I hope that
18 our Bipartisan Committee will come up with something
19 that we can give to the members of the House so that
20 we can adjust the formula adequately for these growth
21 districts.
22 Again, Mr. Chairman and members of the
23 committee, I thank you.
24 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
25 Grucela.
43
1 Our next member to testify will be
2 Representative Ron Marsico.
3 REPRESENTATIVE MARSICO: Good morning,
4 Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. Thank you for
5 giving me the opportunity to testify this morning.
6 Our public safety is at risk. More than 200
7 days after the Governor signed a budget in which the
8 will of the General Assembly to hire additional state
9 troopers was clear, the people of Pennsylvania are
10 still waiting for those troopers, those guardians of
11 public safety, to be hired, trained, and equipped to
12 patrol our highways and communities.
13 Public safety is at risk despite our reaching
14 an agreement with the Governor to hire 90 new state
15 troopers this year and again in each of the next few
16 years. And make no mistake, the Governor's Office was
17 a part of that agreement despite his change of tune
18 immediately upon signing the budget.
19 Public safety is at risk despite our
20 including enough money in the 2004/2005 budget to not
21 only hire those 90 officers but also to purchase
22 additional patrol cars for those new hires to use.
23 Public safety is definitely at risk, but if you've
24 heard the administration's take on this issue, you
25 might think the state police is in fine shape. I am
44
1 here to tell you that their claims are misleading, at
2 best.
3 First of all, the so-called record number of
4 troopers, 4,338, budgeted for 2005/2006 represents an
5 increase of just 13 over last year. And those 13
6 troopers are all assigned to the Delaware River joint
7 Toll Bridge Commission. The record number also
8 includes 235 members assigned to the Turnpike, plus 50
9 officers not yet hired to handle gambling-related law
10 enforcement tasks.
11 That leaves just 4,040 to handle all the rest
12 of the highway patrol duties on more than 72,000 miles
13 of roadway as well as criminal and drug law
14 enforcement, crime prevention, emergency assistance,
15 Liquor Control Enforcement, Homeland Security, and
16 more in 67 counties and nearly 1,800 municipalities. I
17 should note that the 4,040 number is 270 officers shy
18 of the legislative field complement we approved in
19 2001.
20 Add to this the fact that there are 97
21 vacancies in the field complement, not to mention the
22 number of officers on disability, limited duty, or
23 military leave, and you can see why I am so concerned
24 about the status of our state police force.
25 And now there's word the Governor is ready to
45
1 enter into an agreement with his beloved Philadelphia
2 to send some of our precious few state police
3 resources there to patrol state highways in the city.
4 The state police are constantly being asked to do more
5 with less. And in this day and age, I believe that is
6 not only foolish but dangerous.
7 Public safety is at risk, and the Governor
8 simply does not seem to understand the gravity of the
9 situation. While money may be tight, it is worth
10 noting that other similar-sized states are finding
11 ways to increase their state police ranks. Just in
12 the past several months, New York approved the hiring
13 of 150 officers; California, 270 officers; and New
14 Jersey, 100 officers. As one New Jersey lawmaker
15 said, "It should not be a question of whether the
16 state can afford to invest in the state police. The
17 real question is whether we can afford not to."
18 I urge the committee to fund the hiring of
19 all 270 officers in 2005/2006. The people of
20 Pennsylvania simply cannot wait any longer for us to
21 answer the call and provide the funding the state
22 police need to keep us all safe.
23 Thank you.
24 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
25 Marsico.
46
1 Our next testifier will be Representative
2 David Millard.
3 REPRESENTATIVE MILLARD: Good morning,
4 Chairman Feese, Chairman Evans, and members of the
5 committee. Thank you for the opportunity to present
6 my remarks for your consideration.
7 I'm here today to address a few issues
8 directly affecting the present and future quality of
9 life for all Pennsylvanians and to advocate on behalf
10 of the citizens of the 109th Legislative District in
11 Columbia County.
12 First, I urge the committee to strongly
13 consider appropriating funding in support of
14 Pennsylvania's fairs. As you may know from personal
15 experience, many Pennsylvanians think of fun and food
16 when they attend a local fair. While those ideas are
17 correct, fairs also mean farming and typically serve
18 as incredible showcases for Pennsylvania's
19 agricultural industry. There simply may be no more
20 effective way to promote agriculture to the masses
21 than to help ensure success, growth, and viability for
22 our local fairs.
23 Many fairs can barely cover operating
24 expenses from income generated by fair patrons.
25 Pennsylvania fairs now have a more permanent position
47
1 in our community landscapes. Funding appropriated in
2 this year's budget for capital expenses associated
3 with Pennsylvania fairs is not meant to be a one-shot
4 boost. Instead, it's meant to be an investment in the
5 future and viability of our much-loved fairs for years
6 to come.
7 Also, in the agricultural realm, I urge you
8 to appropriate funding in support of a very important
9 industry to the vast majority of Pennsylvania
10 families, Christmas tree growers. Pennsylvania ranks
11 number one in the amount of Christmas tree growers in
12 the United States, number three for acreage allotted
13 to the production of Christmas trees, and number four
14 in revenue, this being between sixty and eighty
15 million dollars.
16 Even in light of our national prominence in
17 the industry, in the last five years, the Pennsylvania
18 Department of Agriculture has only provided grant
19 monies to Penn State University on three occasions to
20 support this industry's future.
21 There are many important problems and issues
22 facing the Christmas tree industry in Pennsylvania:
23 pest infestation, a rise of new tree diseases, and new
24 immunity to pesticides. These problems are creating
25 new and unforeseen dilemmas for the state's more than
48
1 2,000 Christmas tree growers.
2 I specifically ask you to support matching
3 funding from investments made by the Pennsylvania
4 Christmas Tree Growers Association and Penn State
5 University. These matching funds will support
6 statewide field trials that will be crucial for the
7 industry to develop improvements.
8 Third, I ask for your strong consideration in
9 including appropriations for the continuance of
10 cleanup for Pennsylvania's largest scrap tire pile.
11 In 2004, the citizens of Columbia County heard the
12 great news that work would truly be started in the
13 cleanup of the Starr tire pile. Now that we're in
14 process, it's necessary for DEP to receive funding to
15 continue the work. I ask for your consideration in
16 renewing these funds.
17 Finally, I ask for your restoration of funds
18 for the popular and effective Science in Motion
19 educational program. This program is a partnership
20 between higher education facilities and over 200
21 school districts all across the state. Mobile science
22 classrooms transport technologically advanced
23 equipment and trained instructors to high schools for
24 special programs.
25 Clearly, most schools could never afford the
49
1 amazing benefits that the Science in Motion program
2 brings to their front doors. Funding for this program
3 ensures that our students continue to reap the shot in
4 the arm that this program gives to accentuate their
5 science programs.
6 Thank you for your time and consideration of
7 these requests. I ask that you find funding for these
8 important needs. You would not add dollars to the
9 budget, but instead allow these to be prioritized in
10 the dollars already designated.
11 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
12 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
13 Millard.
14 Our next testifier will be Representative
15 Daryl Metcalfe.
16 REPRESENTATIVE METCALFE: Good morning,
17 Chairman Feese, Chairman Evans, and members of the
18 committee. I appreciate the opportunity to provide
19 testimony regarding this year's proposed budget.
20 First of all, the Governor is proposing to
21 increase state spending an additional $815 million and
22 to impose an additional $150 million of new fees on
23 the taxpayers of Pennsylvania through his Growing
24 Greener proposal. This year's budget proposed by the
25 Governor from Philadelphia also contains massive
50
1 increases in welfare spending, over $600 million more
2 than last year. The Governor even proposes that
3 Pennsylvanians pay for more of their neighbor's
4 children to have government-subsidized child care.
5 Some of the most concerning cuts in the
6 budget relate to public safety. The Governor began
7 his budget address last week by recognizing the
8 sacrifices that our military personnel from
9 Pennsylvania have made in our nation's war on
10 terrorism. As I reviewed the Governor's proposed
11 budget, I was angered as a veteran. Our men and women
12 in uniform deserve more than lip service as a show of
13 our appreciation.
14 The Governor has shown his lack of commitment
15 to our war on terror by proposing to reduce the
16 Pennsylvania State Police budget by 17.44 percent and
17 the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency budget by
18 65.7 percent. Then he leaves the volunteer
19 firefighters across the state hanging as they wait for
20 the yet-to-be-seen gambling revenues to generate their
21 25 million grant dollars.
22 The Governor also attempted to speak to us
23 about freedom. However, the Governor must define
24 freedom differently than most other Americans do,
25 based on his proposing to continue to take away
51
1 Pennsylvanians' economic freedom through increased
2 government spending, increased government debt, and
3 increased taxes.
4 On January 4, 2005, we each took an oath to
5 uphold and defend the constitutions of our state and
6 nation. We are responsible for raising and
7 appropriating those funds necessary to meet our
8 government's constitutional responsibilities. Our
9 constitutions require us to work to establish justice
10 in our society, to ensure that laws are passed which
11 protect an individual's life, liberty, and property.
12 It is not the state's responsibility or, for
13 that matter, right to take from one citizen to give to
14 another, to redistribute wealth. When government
15 takes from one to pay for another's bus fare, child
16 care, healthcare, or personal welfare, the government
17 is practicing legalized plunder.
18 A current report ranking states for their
19 economic freedom ranked Pennsylvania as 45th in the
20 nation. Some of the criteria evaluated in the
21 analysis were income redistribution, right to work
22 laws, tort laws, environmental regulations, and tax
23 rates.
24 Our goal for this budget process should be to
25 restore the economic freedoms that have been lost
52
1 through the past failed state policies of excessive
2 spending, excessive borrowing, and an excessive tax
3 burden.
4 The expenditure side of our problem should be
5 addressed by immediately implementing a zero-based
6 budgeting process for this year. A zero-based
7 budgeting process would enable the Legislature to
8 prioritize legitimate government functions and
9 eliminate those government programs that have crept
10 into the budget over the last several decades because
11 of the continuous whining of special interests.
12 A zero-based budget would also give the
13 Legislature the leverage needed to restore and
14 evaluate proper funding levels to perform our
15 constitutional government responsibilities, including
16 the assurance that our men and women in uniform
17 serving in law enforcement, fire safety, and the
18 National Guard receive the resources they need to
19 protect our citizens.
20 One of the main objectives of our budget
21 should be to reduce state spending. The reductions
22 should be used to eliminate the capital stock and
23 franchise tax in an expedited manner, reduce the
24 corporate net income tax rate, and eliminate the
25 inheritance tax.
53
1 We should also pass into law the rest of the
2 legislative package that I am pleased to cosponsor,
3 known as the Keystone Manufacturing Initiative, to
4 help create an atmosphere conducive to job creation in
5 Pennsylvania. A missing component in the Keystone
6 Manufacturing Initiative that is vital to our
7 economy's recovery and expansion is the Pennsylvania
8 Open Workforce Initiative, a legislative package which
9 would establish the freedom of right to work in the
10 Commonwealth.
11 The final issue I would like to address is
12 the failed facade passed last session related to
13 property tax relief. It is time for real property tax
14 reform. I propose that we eliminate property taxes
15 through the passage of House Bill 25 and establish
16 voter referendum for future local tax increases.
17 Voter referendum would empower voters with the power
18 to say no to excessive spending by their school
19 districts and local governments.
20 My fellow public servants, the people of
21 Pennsylvania have a right to their economic freedom.
22 During this budget, I ask that you join me in working
23 to reduce state spending, reduce the state debt, and
24 reduce the state taxes that are taxing people right
25 out of our great state.
54
1 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
2 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
3 Metcalfe.
4 Our next House member to testify will be
5 Representative Jackie Crahalla.
6 REPRESENTATIVE CRAHALLA: Thank you,
7 Mr. Chairman.
8 I'm here to discuss the amount of funding
9 allotted in this year's budget for the Alzheimer's
10 Association. Although $145,000 is included in this
11 year's budget, it is understood through the Department
12 of Aging that only $100,000 will be passed on to be
13 shared by the Delaware Valley and Greater Pennsylvania
14 chapters.
15 Now, please understand that the Alzheimer's
16 Association is most grateful for last year's
17 appropriation that allowed them to meet the federal
18 match. Unfortunately, though, this year's net
19 appropriation of $100,000 will compromise their
20 efforts in continuing outreach and many support
21 services for victims and caregivers alike.
22 I am suggesting that the $145,000
23 appropriation be increased to at least the 1999 to
24 2002 levels of $250,000. At that time, they netted
25 $200,000. And that was provided to the Greater
55
1 Pennsylvania and Delaware Valley chapters.
2 The Alzheimer's Association client base is
3 ever expanding as our population ages, especially in
4 our Commonwealth. They need our full support so they
5 may continue their important work in our community.
6 And always keep in mind that we are in competition
7 with West Virginia for having the second largest
8 elderly population in the United States.
9 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
10 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
11 Crahalla.
12 The committee will stand in recess while we
13 wait for the next member to testify.
14 (Recess.)
15 CHAIRMAN FEESE: The committee will come to
16 order.
17 Our next member to testify will be
18 Representative Dennis O'Brien.
19 REPRESENTATIVE O'BRIEN: Thank you,
20 Mr. Chairman.
21 I would just like to take this opportunity to
22 speak before the Appropriations Committee about a
23 verify unique undertaking, specifically the Autism
24 Task Force.
25 The way this came about was the leadership of
56
1 Estelle Richman in putting together 275 people across
2 this Commonwealth; 50 percent were parents. And a lot
3 of those parents had very specific expertise in either
4 education, the medical field, or the programmatic
5 issues or diagnoses.
6 This task force is not the typical task force
7 that we hear about where you put a feel-good committee
8 together that goes out and listens to all the concerns
9 and compiles a response. This is cutting-edge stuff.
10 We have at least 12 committees where we had
11 facilitators within those subcommittees and delineated
12 the services and came up with a road map that provides
13 success for the families with autism in Pennsylvania.
14 It's important for everyone to understand
15 that we have an MH/MR system in Pennsylvania and these
16 kids with autism don't fit. They're like a square peg
17 in a round hole. This report identifies the reasons
18 that that doesn't work. There are also services that
19 are similar for MH/MR kids and for autistic kids but
20 they have to be delivered in different types of
21 modalities.
22 Very simply stated, we have, through this
23 report, had an unprecedented level of cooperation
24 between the Department of Welfare and the Department
25 of Education. Services for these kids are spread out
57
1 over so many different departments that in and of
2 itself attaches a barrier to these families.
3 If you could picture maybe four streams of
4 services that these families have to choose from, if
5 they have a choice between A through D and they choose
6 A, then they are mutually excluded from any of the
7 services delineated in the other three funding
8 streams. That's wrong.
9 What we want to do, very simply stated,
10 Mr. Chairman -- and I know I only have five minutes --
11 is we have an executive summary that's some 20 pages.
12 And if you're really interested in looking at the
13 details of the report, there's a CD in the back that
14 you can pop into your computer and it will give you
15 the 1,100 pages that comprise this report.
16 Very simply stated, on page 8, there are five
17 recommendations. The first three can be done very
18 simply within the discretion of the Commonwealth of
19 Pennsylvania. And that is to create an office of
20 disability within the Department of Welfare that adds
21 a bureau division for the autism sector and related
22 orders.
23 The second is to create a consumer-led
24 organization like they have in New Jersey and Maine so
25 the families can talk to each other so they can help
58
1 families get around the curve, around the hurt, become
2 an effective advocate and believe in the mainstream of
3 services that will have developmental possibilities
4 for their children.
5 The third is to create an autism-specific
6 waiver. Traditionally, over the last decade or so, we
7 have submitted waivers to the Federal Government that
8 are boutique waivers. And those waivers were really
9 exclusionary waivers to keep people out of service
10 rather than provide a more comprehensive service.
11 I believe that if we concentrate on a waiver
12 that embraces these children post-21, then we will
13 have a more effective delivery system for the autistic
14 population.
15 There's another important issue here. By
16 providing services to the autistic population, in no
17 way should anyone in this Commonwealth think that
18 we're putting another mouth at the table to take a
19 bigger bite out of the MH/MR plate. And I'll explain
20 the reason that that's not true in a moment.
21 We want to set up maybe three regional sites
22 in Pennsylvania. Those will become diagnostic tools
23 and coordinating tools for all the comprehensive
24 ingredients that are part of this report. I envision
25 starting out with perhaps the University of Pittsburgh
59
1 where we have the world-leading researcher in autism
2 who is also a co-chair of this task force, Nancy
3 Minshew. She has an international reputation. And
4 they have done a great job in coordinating services in
5 the western part of the state.
6 I would also like to look at Hershey and
7 Penn/CHOP in the southeast because they already have
8 people in place that can approach this in a very
9 significant way.
10 When we have this comprehensive model for
11 diagnostics, which becomes a road map for success,
12 then we can have a trainer's component because it will
13 be a medical and non-medical model that will provide
14 a road map for greater fiscal efficiency as well.
15 And that brings us to the fifth component.
16 In order to make this really work and accomplish the
17 goals for the families and also for the policymakers
18 who are looking at budget challenges every year, year
19 in and year out, and especially this year, we have on
20 the task force Nina Cote, who is a master's qualified
21 behavioral specialist and a parent, and we also have
22 David Mandel. David Mandel's expertise is looking at
23 databases and also looking at funding streams.
24 What we would like to do is aggregate maybe
25 $500,000 so that we can look at the federal and state
60
1 regulations and in essence look at the other
2 ingredients of this report, collapse those funding
3 streams and wrap them around a new definition of
4 service that makes sense.
5 I'll just give you one specific example.
6 When you have a TSS worker or you have an educator --
7 and this is just one. There are more profound
8 examples that I can give you. We have regulations
9 that say, you teach the child this part of the
10 shoe-tying exercise and this person will take over the
11 other part. That is minutiae that stands in the way
12 of success.
13 And very simply stated, the Federal
14 Government has now created an inner-agency
15 coordination council. We have met. Our co-chairs
16 went down and met with the health side. That's NIH,
17 HCD, CMS, a whole host of other agencies. We want to
18 meet with the services side because they are now
19 trying to do exactly what we did here over the last 18
20 months. And that is get the agencies to talk to each
21 other and come up with programmatic research and
22 diagnostic tools that cross all spectrums, cross age
23 categories, and cross departments. And that's really
24 what we're doing.
25 There is one other specific recommendation,
61
1 if I can ask the committee. This task force has
2 identified several areas where we can experience
3 significant cost savings. And one is there are
4 approximately 30 kids with autism or MH/MR placements
5 outside of the state. The average cost is about
6 $350,000 per individual.
7 Number 1, it is wrong that we have to send
8 our children out of state. It is absolutely, flat out
9 wrong. If your child had a physical disability, you'd
10 want that child near you. And it's no different if
11 you have a cognitive deficit or if you have a child
12 with a disability.
13 Having said that, the incentive for the
14 policymakers, aside from that human issue, is to very
15 simply look at that. There's a federal Medicaid match
16 of 40 percent. And if we just do the calculations,
17 that's $4 million we can bring back. And what we're
18 doing right now is identifying the protocols and
19 support mechanisms these children need to come home
20 and we'll save a ton of money.
21 These kinds of approaches are identified in
22 this report. And I would welcome the opportunity to
23 back the co-chairs and facilitators, and I would
24 welcome the opportunity to bring the co-chairs from
25 the different subcommittees to discuss that with the
62
1 Appropriations Committee so we can educate the
2 policymakers of the administration and of this House
3 as to where we can save monies, rearrange those
4 dollars so it provides a more comprehensive safety net
5 for the families involved and we'll build success for
6 these children.
7 Thank you.
8 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
9 O'Brien.
10 Our next member to testify will be
11 Representative Curt Sonney.
12 REPRESENTATIVE SONNEY: Good morning and
13 thank you, Mr. Chairman, for giving me this
14 opportunity to speak to the Appropriations Committee
15 about some very important projects to the 4th
16 Legislative District and the Erie region.
17 I realize this committee has been charged
18 with the daunting task of prioritizing funding and
19 tackling a very difficult budget year. On behalf of
20 my constituents and all Pennsylvanians, I ask you to
21 remember the priorities of our agenda for progress
22 while you are making those important decisions:
23 Fighting for no tax increase, promoting good
24 government, making college more affordable, creating
25 and attracting good jobs, reducing taxes on our
63
1 businesses, providing access to quality healthcare,
2 funding adequate public safety, and protecting the
3 environment.
4 I also ask that you consider the unique needs
5 of Northwest Pennsylvania while making these decisions
6 as well.
7 During the 1990s, the Erie area was the
8 hardest hit in terms of economic shifts, unemployment,
9 the decline in population of young adults, as well as
10 being the slowest-growing metropolitan area in the
11 state, according to a study conducted by the Brookings
12 Institution on urban and metropolitan policy.
13 Long-term economic shifts have hit Erie
14 County hard. Between 1970 and 2000, the region lost
15 almost 21 percent of its manufacturing jobs. And
16 unfortunately, the 21st Century has not brought about
17 much improvement. Erie continues to remain behind the
18 rest of the state in economic recovery. In 2004, the
19 statewide employment rate was 5.1 percent; while in
20 Erie County, the rate was 6.2 percent.
21 In order to reverse these trends and create a
22 successful climate for economic development and
23 growth, we must have the vision to identify and fund
24 projects that have long-term promise and not just
25 provide a quick fix. We need to invest in our
64
1 communities and not bureaucracies, as it is the
2 private sector that creates jobs, not government.
3 Northwest Pennsylvania, with all its economic
4 obstacles, also has some very valuable and unique
5 assets, assets that until now have gone untapped in
6 addressing these problems.
7 With this in mind, Erie County's Civic
8 Coordinating Committee, a coalition of top elected
9 officials, economic development experts, business and
10 community leaders, have come together to focus on
11 plans that will spotlight the development of our
12 areas' greatest resource, Lake Erie. We have placed
13 special emphasis on bayfront development and are
14 moving forward with the construction of a new bayfront
15 convention center.
16 Additionally, the pending plans for Erie
17 International Airport's runway extension project and
18 the International Trade Center at the airport will
19 make access to the area easier and more attractive to
20 new businesses.
21 Another project that I strongly believe shows
22 great promise and will boost the local economy and
23 attract new business is the completion of the Shade's
24 Beach Offshore Improvement Project located in
25 Harborcreek Township, which is in my district.
65
1 Fishing is a major asset to Northwest
2 Pennsylvania's economy. A study conducted by the
3 Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission between October
4 2003 through April 2004 suggested that anglers
5 attracted to the Erie County stream and shoreline
6 spent nearly $9.5 million on trip-related expenditures
7 in 2003. This activity generated $5.71 million in new
8 value-added activity in Erie County, supporting 219
9 jobs through direct and indirect effects.
10 The Shade's Beach Project proposes much
11 needed restoration to eroded beach areas, creates
12 improved access roads and parking areas, as well as
13 develops a premier recreational facility.
14 The construction of breakwalls, the
15 establishment of a beach, the reconstruction of the
16 boat launch area, and the construction of pedestrian
17 and vehicle access to parking will enhance this
18 aesthetically attractive area and generate increased
19 fishing and tourism interest as well as encourage new
20 business opportunities.
21 Another benefit of this project is that it is
22 ready and waiting to go. In anticipation of moving
23 ahead, half of the money needed, $1 million, is being
24 raised and the township has recently made significant
25 improvements to the park's existing picnic,
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1 playground, and parking facilities. The only
2 component missing now is another $1 million in capital
3 budget funds.
4 As the Brookings Institution report states,
5 Greater Erie, like Pennsylvania's other regions, has
6 the potential to build a very different future if the
7 state helps it focus its efforts. I urge you to help
8 us focus our efforts and build a very different future
9 for the Greater Erie area by funding these important
10 projects. Strategic investment in our communities
11 leads to better jobs and a better quality of life and
12 future for us all.
13 Thank you for your time.
14 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
15 Sonney.
16 Our next member to testify will be
17 Representative W. Curtis Thomas.
18 REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS: Good morning,
19 Mr. Chairman, Democratic Chairman, and esteemed
20 members of the Pennsylvania House Appropriations
21 Committee. Please accept my sincere thanks and
22 appreciation for this unique and necessary
23 opportunity. I look forward to continuing our efforts
24 to make Pennsylvania first in job creation, education,
25 and first in the way we care for our people through
67
1 Health and Human Services.
2 The district in which I currently represent
3 as a result of redistricting presents a myriad of
4 challenges for the city of Philadelphia and the
5 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The district is
6 extremely diverse in its population, Ukrainian, Irish,
7 Italian, Hispanic, Indian, and African-American
8 populations.
9 In income, the average income ranges from
10 about three to twelve thousand dollars a year.
11 Housing patterns, 65 percent of the district is
12 renter-occupied.
13 And in terms of education, we have the
14 largest composition of public, parochial, private, and
15 charter schools.
16 Unemployment in parts of the district is
17 higher than the state, city, and national average.
18 Socially, we have the highest statistics for
19 people on welfare, without health insurance, with
20 HIV/AIDS infected, and people who are victimized by
21 crime and violence.
22 If we can find a way to reverse the cycle of
23 poverty, violence, blight, poor education, and
24 unemployment in the 181st Legislative District, then
25 we will have a successful model for the rest of the
68
1 state. I am confident that the challenges can be met
2 with your help and this awesome process. We did it
3 for the former 181st Legislative District. Today,
4 there is new housing development, job creation,
5 schools with 21st Century libraries, teachers,
6 administrators, new businesses, less crime, violence,
7 and a sense of hope. I thank you for your help and
8 support.
9 Now I need to take what we did in the former
10 district and move it to the new district.
11 To this end, I would like to focus on three
12 areas for consideration in the '05/'06 proposed
13 budget. First, the area of greatest concern is jobs
14 and training. Create an Office of Employment Services
15 within the Department of Labor & Industry. All
16 federal appropriations to the employment services line
17 item of the proposed budget should come under this
18 office. The focus of this office will be to identify,
19 develop, implement, and evaluate successful
20 employment/training programs for the underemployed in
21 the areas of technology, manufacturing, and the
22 building trades.
23 The above-referenced areas provide the
24 greatest opportunity for meaningful long-term job
25 creation. Three initiatives in Philadelphia County
69
1 can be used as a model. The three initiatives are:
2 One, the Philadelphia Building Trades
3 Diversity Apprenticeship Program.
4 Two, Fatherhood Initiative.
5 Three, New Millennium Public/Private
6 Partnership Jobs Program.
7 Through the above efforts, the underemployed
8 are being trained and placed into long-term meaningful
9 employment opportunities.
10 I am requesting a total of $2 million from
11 the training activities line item of the Labor &
12 Industry budget. This will reduce the proposed amount
13 to $15,025. The $2 million will be used to support
14 the continuation of the above-referenced initiatives
15 while the Department of Labor & Industry is developing
16 the Office of Employment Services.
17 Additionally, I would encourage this
18 committee to find a way to link at least 65 percent of
19 our public investments in Mass Transit, community
20 economic development, Green PA, and housing to job
21 creation. The gap between public investments and job
22 retention/creation is too wide. There is a disconnect
23 that we must find a way to connect.
24 My second area of concern is education.
25 Linking employment/career development to what and how
70
1 we learn is imperative. The quality of our education
2 is the foundation upon which we are able to transition
3 to the world of work and career. Accordingly, I am
4 recommending that we reduce the vocational education
5 line item of the proposed budget by $5 million. The
6 $5 million should be used to revisit the successful
7 School to Work and Tech Prep initiatives of the Ridge
8 Administration.
9 The School to Work program must be supported
10 by public/private partnerships which guarantee young
11 people employment and/or career options at the end of
12 their exposure. Partnerships in the areas of health
13 care, technology, IT, robotics, manufacturing,
14 criminal justice, and math/science education has
15 demonstrated overwhelming success. The New Millennium
16 Foundation can point to a number of young people who
17 are graduating from Howard University, Lincoln
18 University, St. Joseph's University in healthcare
19 careers as a result of their successful healthcare
20 School to Work partnership at William Penn High
21 School. Similarly, the organization can claim success
22 with the number of young people who are now working in
23 the healthcare arena as a result of the partnership.
24 At least two of the five million should be
25 dedicated to the Tech Prep Program. This model would
71
1 allow our 14 state-related universities and/or
2 community colleges to enter into the 13th and 14th
3 year agreements with our high schools for extended
4 training in the areas of technology and education,
5 paraprofessional training in education. The New
6 Millennium Foundation model can be used as an example
7 and included in the appropriation.
8 Finally, I am requesting a $2 million
9 appropriation from the Department of Public Welfare.
10 The appropriation will be used to provide
11 respite/hospice care for children with
12 life-threatening conditions. To date, Pennsylvania
13 does not have such a model, even though there is a
14 growing population of children with life-threatening
15 conditions. Life-threatening conditions can range
16 from a chronic organ disease to HIV/AIDS. In
17 Pennsylvania, these children are cared for by
18 hospitals. A community-based Hospice/Respite Program
19 will reduce costs and provide for a more family and
20 friendly environment of care.
21 Cherubim's Village is a model program in
22 Pennsylvania that is in a position to address this
23 issue. Also, Pennsylvania is one of a few states that
24 do not maintain a central registry of children who are
25 uninsured and struggling with life-threatening
72
1 conditions. These are the least of us who we must
2 help.
3 Also, I encourage you to find a way to deal
4 with Mass Transit. Funding, fiscal prudence, and
5 financial accountability must be a part of any
6 equation.
7 Thank you.
8 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
9 Thomas.
10 Our next testifier will be Representative
11 Jess Stairs.
12 REPRESENTATIVE STAIRS: Thank you,
13 Representative Feese and members of the Appropriations
14 Committee.
15 When we speak of education, I prepared two
16 remarks, two speeches, the long and the short. But I
17 think to be a welcomed speaker, I'll give you the
18 short version today.
19 I want to let you know, be forewarned that in
20 the education part of the budget, there's a lot to
21 talk about. We'll do that another day. Let me give
22 you the shorter version today. It's really a pleasure
23 to be here and have you listen intently, which I
24 appreciate very much.
25 A couple comments that I noted. The
73
1 community colleges certainly welcome news of the $21
2 million for workforce development. That's great news
3 for Pennsylvania. My only concern is -- and I can
4 speak to you, Representative Feese, and also
5 Representative Forcier on this -- not every part of
6 Pennsylvania has community colleges. Probably
7 two-thirds of the Commonwealth is underserviced by
8 community colleges. Pennsylvania College of
9 Technology in Williamsport does a great job. We have
10 to find ways to help them. It's something for us to
11 work on as we do the budget.
12 There's no details on this money. I hope
13 that when the details come forth on the workforce
14 development that we're able to not reinvent the wheel
15 again but to complement what the community colleges
16 and other institutions are doing to train our workers
17 and get the most for our bucks on this issue. There's
18 only a slight increase for community colleges. We
19 have to maintain this one-third funding source from
20 the state. Unfortunately, the local school districts
21 are not meeting that one-third so we have a problem
22 shifting that cost to the students.
23 Another item I want to mention is House Bill
24 8, which I'm introducing. It really serves as an
25 advocate for the community colleges to let them have
74
1 one voice at budget time and also guarantees an
2 increase in their funding formula. I hope we can
3 support that as part of the budget, too.
4 Special ed, good news, certainly, a 2.5
5 percent increase. I think we're all aware, as we go
6 back to our school districts, of the critical need in
7 special ed. Particularly in a lot of our poor
8 districts, the actual costs are really almost
9 insurmountable. So we have to do better for special
10 ed.
11 Another initiative, obesity. Healthy kids
12 can do much better on No Child Left Behind and do
13 better on testing and academically. I have an
14 initiative to address health and nutrition, phys-ed
15 activity, and so forth and what food is served in the
16 school districts.
17 An item that's been omitted in the budget,
18 Science in Motion, this has been really a great
19 program for rural Pennsylvania and can work for urban
20 Pennsylvania, too. Being chairman of a task force on
21 rural education, we saw firsthand the need for this
22 innovative teaching of science in our schools. And
23 not only do I want to see this put back in the budget
24 but there's a school in my area, St. Vincent College,
25 that wants to expand into Southwestern Pennsylvania.
75
1 So that's a high priority for me.
2 One very positive thing in the budget that's
3 continuing from innovation last year is the block
4 grants. The school districts really applauded this
5 way of letting them make decisions on how we are going
6 to better educate our students, particularly in early
7 education.
8 So there's a lot of pluses in the Governor's
9 remarks. But there's a few things we have to work on
10 the edges to make sure that education is going to meet
11 the needs of the citizens of our Commonwealth.
12 Again, I appreciate you hearing me out. As
13 we successfully endeavor to address these, we have a
14 few other things we can work on then, too.
15 Thank you very much.
16 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
17 Stairs.
18 Our next testifier will be Representative
19 Glen Grell.
20 REPRESENTATIVE GRELL: Good morning, Chairman
21 Feese and members of the Appropriations Committee.
22 Thank you for this opportunity.
23 I come before you today to ask for the
24 restoration of funding for black fly spraying programs
25 to the fiscal budget, as it has been included since
76
1 1983. As you know, black fly spraying is integral to
2 comfortable outdoor activity during Pennsylvania
3 summers.
4 While this may seem superficial to some,
5 including our present administration, it is important
6 to the people of this Commonwealth to enjoy the
7 freedom of a summer's day without being chased inside
8 by the pesky black fly. This is more than a
9 quality-of-life issue, however, as I will explain.
10 This is also a health issue for
11 Pennsylvania's children. In this age of cable
12 television, computers, and video games, it is already
13 difficult to get children to venture outdoors to get a
14 healthy dose of sunshine and much-needed exercise.
15 Obesity is one of the greatest threats to
16 youth in the United States. The health community,
17 children advocates, and state and federal governments
18 are spending millions of dollars each year to promote
19 a healthy lifestyle, of which outdoor activity is key.
20 When children complain about the painful
21 bites of the black fly, what choice will parents have
22 but to keep their children indoors, safe and free from
23 the blood-sucking menace. While these descriptions
24 may sound more like the script from a bad 1950s horror
25 movie, I do think people have forgotten just how nasty
77
1 these little insects can be.
2 I remember, as a child growing up in
3 Cumberland County, the swarms of gnats, as we called
4 them, that would be a constant irritant to the most
5 simple of activities. No matter how hard or how many
6 times we swatted these bugs, they would just keep
7 coming. It was either them or us, for we knew if one
8 of these gnats landed and were able to connect with
9 our skin, their bites would leave itchy, swollen, and
10 irritated lesions on our skin. Sometimes, the black
11 fly bites would continue to bleed long after the
12 initial bite.
13 Children are the most susceptible to the
14 black fly. In fact, black flies have been known to
15 swarm onto a child and leave many nasty bites even
16 while adults in the same area are not aware due to the
17 black fly's tiny body at only one-eighth of an inch
18 long. In addition to the danger black flies pose for
19 children, these pests are also bad for Pennsylvania
20 businesses.
21 Public places like golf courses, ball fields,
22 camping sites, and parks make ample feeding grounds
23 for the black fly. In areas where black fly spraying
24 is withheld, people are discouraged from staying long
25 at public places that typically throng with people on
78
1 sunny summer days.
2 I cannot understand the rationale of this
3 Governor's Administration that seeks more funding to
4 attract visitors to our pristine outdoor features yet
5 will allow swarms of black flies to drive these very
6 same visitors back to the comfort of their homes.
7 Why would anyone want to visit Pennsylvania
8 when they could be attacked by swarms of these bugs
9 that irritate one's nostrils, ears, arms, hands, and
10 any other area of exposed skin?
11 Black flies have even been known to kill
12 livestock by swarming inside their nostrils and
13 blocking air passageways. While the incidence of this
14 happening is small, Pennsylvania farmers have a tough
15 enough time keeping their farms operational without
16 any additional and undue problems.
17 As the members of this committee can see,
18 black fly spraying is so much more than a
19 quality-of-life issue, as a spokesman for the Rendell
20 Administration has purported. The black fly is bad
21 for business. The black fly is bad for our children.
22 The black fly is bad for Pennsylvania.
23 Russian playwright Anton Chekhov once wrote,
24 "People don't notice whether it's winter or summer
25 when they're happy." I know that Pennsylvanians will
79
1 definitely know it's summer and will not be happy if
2 we do not include funding for black fly spraying in
3 this budget. Without spraying, summer will once again
4 be a time of discomfort instead of a celebration of
5 the season.
6 With these words in mind, I respectfully ask
7 the members of this committee to restore the funding
8 for black fly spraying programs. Thank you for your
9 consideration of this important matter to all
10 Pennsylvanians.
11 CHAIRMAN FEESE: All those in favor say, aye.
12 Our next member to testify will be
13 Representative Pat Browne.
14 REPRESENTATIVE BROWNE: Mr. Chairman, members
15 of the committee, first, as you all talked about, is
16 prevention. Because it's so close to lunch, in order
17 to prevent you from being mad at me, I will be brief.
18 Prevention activities is something that in
19 tight fiscal times is difficult to focus on because,
20 as our budgets tend to work, they have to go budget to
21 budget. But it's something we have to continue to
22 focus on because not only does it have tremendous
23 benefits for our kids, it also has tremendous macro
24 benefits across the different parts in our budget.
25 When we talk about programs such as the Head
80
1 Start Program, which the Governor -- I applaud him for
2 doing -- has increased funding by 100 percent, we're
3 talking about savings in the criminal justice budget,
4 welfare budget, the education budget, the economic DCD
5 budget. When it comes to job training, it has
6 tremendous benefits. We have to continue to focus as
7 we try to balance things year to year.
8 One program that I have been focusing on
9 along with leadership Representative Mundy, who is on
10 this committee, is the program of nurse home visiting.
11 And what that allows is grant awards from public and
12 private sources towards research-based programs that
13 provide volunteering interventions into the homes of
14 first-time mothers. And with the supports for
15 nutrition, for education, and for healthcare, we see
16 children who make tremendous gains in terms of their
17 performance, not only in their infant years but also
18 in school.
19 The current budget has an investment of $9.7
20 million for this in various line items. I'm hoping
21 that the leadership of this committee can maintain
22 that money and hopefully look to invest additional
23 amounts. Our programs have been known actually
24 throughout the country to be leaders in the area of
25 this. And we're seeing tremendous gains for our
81
1 children.
2 The next issue, which has already been
3 mentioned, is alternative education. We made some
4 significant investments in this, both through the
5 Ridge Administration and the Rendell Administration.
6 But as tends to happen in these programs, we have
7 additional children that participate in them. It has
8 been important in order to promote an environment for
9 learning in our schools that's productive towards
10 learning. Our funding tends to lag behind. So what
11 we've committed per student in prior years is a lot
12 less than what we're committing now. And because of
13 programs like those in Allentown, those in
14 Philadelphia, we're not getting the resources they
15 need.
16 So I think, like we're doing in community
17 colleges, in terms of the per-student amount, we
18 should look to increase that and also maybe even
19 consider doing this funding based on aid ratio because
20 schools and districts that tend to need these programs
21 tend to be urban centers that have higher aid ratios.
22 So I'd recommend that.
23 Lastly, I'd just like to divert for a couple
24 seconds on the Governor's tax plan. Being on the
25 Finance Committee and working in this area, I applaud
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1 the Governor for his efforts in trying to make our
2 state more competitive. Some of his recommendations
3 in the Commission Report are tremendous. The
4 reduction of C&I rate, corporate and income tax rate,
5 is something that is long overdue. And the
6 elimination of the cap on the net operating loss
7 carry-forward is really important.
8 There's two areas, though, that I do have
9 concerns about. And that is areas that have been
10 recommended as a way to present tax fairness to make
11 sure that net incomes earned by a business are
12 properly reported in Pennsylvania. And that's the
13 unitary filing and the throw-back rule that's been
14 recommended by the Governor.
15 Tax fairness is a tremendous goal. But in
16 terms of modernizing our taxes, we have to keep in
17 mind that we shouldn't be promoting policies that in
18 the end are the most significant to discouraging
19 capital investment. I just wanted to alert the
20 committee to the most recent study on this that was
21 performed and published in the Journal of American
22 Taxation, something that tax guys like me tend to find
23 interesting. If you need to stay up one night, this
24 is good stuff, the effect of state income tax
25 apportionment and tax incentives on new capital
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1 expenditures.
2 I just want to read a couple of sentences
3 that are in the conclusion. Although our study
4 provides evidence that firms tend to locate property
5 in states where they are subject to lower income tax
6 burdens, our results suggest that on a relative basis,
7 the advantages of regimes that are non-unitary and do
8 not employ the throw-back rule may will offset the
9 effects of any differential tax rates or general
10 investment tax incentives.
11 So in the end, when we try to reduce taxes by
12 adopting these other measures that present tax
13 fairness, we're making our state less competitive for
14 capital investment. So I just wanted to alert you to
15 these findings. Maybe we should consider these in
16 analyzing the tax reform.
17 Thank you very much.
18 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
19 Browne.
20 Our left member to testify before our recess
21 will be Representative Reichley.
22 REPRESENTATIVE REICHLEY: Good morning,
23 Chairman Feese. Thank you to all the members of the
24 Appropriations Committee for offering me this
25 opportunity to appear before you this morning. As
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1 Representative Browne mentioned, I am not going to
2 have the courage to stand between the committee and
3 lunch for very long. So I'm going to try to get
4 through the remarks as quickly as possible.
5 In reviewing the Governor's budget, I do
6 commend the Governor for appropriating certain extra
7 sums for education workforce development. But I would
8 like to focus on three areas, which, while affecting
9 certainly the 134th District, I think, as all members
10 are also concerned with their regions, affect the
11 Lehigh Valley in general.
12 To touch upon some remarks from
13 Representative Stairs, I am supportive of a piece of
14 legislation he is about to introduce which would seek
15 to provide more funding in the area of special
16 education for all school districts.
17 Some of the most heart-wrenching and
18 contentious situations that have been brought to my
19 office by constituents are from parents of children
20 who have special needs. And because of the lack of
21 adequate funding for special education, school
22 districts, I think, are placed in an unenviable
23 position of fighting with these parents on the level
24 of services to be provided.
25 I think if we would make efforts to provide
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1 more money along this line, we can cut down on this
2 degree of antagonism and really assist the districts
3 in meeting the needs of some children who, while not
4 being able to be mainstreamed, are certainly deserving
5 of the best education possible.
6 I also believe the Governor neglected certain
7 programs which have a proven track record of being
8 worthwhile and profitable to the Commonwealth.
9 Directly, I would focus upon the Governor's failure to
10 provide more funding for the schools of excellence.
11 This is a program that has been in effect for some
12 time. And Lehigh University in particular has offered
13 a program for local entrepreneurship, which attracts
14 not only high school-aged children from Pennsylvania
15 but from throughout the world.
16 I was privileged to be able to offer the
17 opening remarks at the commencement of this school
18 this past summer and was really quite taken by the
19 fact that children from Eastern Europe, Israel, and
20 Asia have applied to come to this program. And
21 through that situation, we're able to offer them
22 insights into the economic opportunities that are
23 available not only in Pennsylvania but throughout the
24 United States.
25 In addition, I think the Governor has been
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1 negligent in cutting funding, complete funding, for
2 the New Choices/New Options Program, which operates
3 out of Northampton Community College and in my area
4 has been able to demonstrate proven success in
5 assisting women who are single mothers many times who
6 have not been able to have the adequate opportunities
7 for education and training and assist them to get back
8 as a productive member of the workforce.
9 The manufacturing line item was eliminated
10 again, $750,000, as the Governor did last year. This
11 was a program which functions through Lehigh
12 University and takes advantage of the intellect and
13 the dedication of students in being able to offer
14 cost-saving measures to both industry and the state
15 government. In fact, we've done so with PennDOT. The
16 Ben Franklin partnership again was cut. The funding
17 this time was cut by $2.8 million.
18 In my area, we've had thousands of people,
19 literally thousands, laid off from companies. These
20 are people in their middle-aged years, highly trained
21 engineers and managers, who now need assistance in
22 being able to start up new companies, which are the
23 economic drivers of our state's economy.
24 I think that if we can continue the funding
25 for Ben Franklin to assist the development of new
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1 technologies and new start-up companies that will
2 enhance our overall economic climate.
3 Contrary to what might happen in some
4 situations where people come to you only asking for
5 more money, in reviewing the budget, I found some
6 areas where cuts could take place. The operations
7 line item for DCED went up by $1.5 million. Marketing
8 to attract businesses went up by $1.5 million. And I
9 think these are programs which, if the funding was
10 better utilized, could be placed back into the
11 programs I mentioned before.
12 I am concerned that the Governor has seen to
13 have a large increase for teacher professional
14 development, which I felt was one of the funding
15 formats under the accountability grants, which the
16 Governor only kept the funding level this year. And
17 the high school reform package of $4.7 million extra
18 is a new concept but I'm worried that in conjunction
19 with this other maneuver on workforce development will
20 really not be the best utilization of money.
21 Representative Stairs, as I heard before,
22 talked about the need to provide increased funding to
23 community colleges. And a major component of this
24 workforce development package, I think community
25 colleges will not only need more program funding but
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1 facility funding. If we're going to be asking them to
2 take on more of the share of the work for workforce
3 development, we have to be cognizant of the fact that
4 that's going to require more facilities and more
5 classroom space needed by the community colleges. And
6 we can't just neglect that concern and obviate from
7 our responsibility to provide more funding along those
8 levels.
9 The last area I would like to touch upon is
10 in healthcare. This is an area which is of primary
11 concern. Lehigh Valley Hospital is the largest
12 private employer in my county. On two levels, though,
13 I think the Governor has not done enough to focus on
14 the true needs for healthcare accessibility and
15 affordability.
16 First off, I would like to encourage the
17 members to consider, when questioning the Department
18 of Health, to appropriate funding for school
19 district's health services for mobile dental clinic
20 vans. I put in an amendment to that effect last year
21 when we considered the budget and the amount was
22 increased to the department by $800,000, exactly the
23 amount that would cover the cost for providing five
24 mobile dental clinic vans to treat children from every
25 economic level, both those in the urban poor areas but
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1 also the rural poor areas.
2 I think this is a worthwhile pilot project to
3 explore and would really assist in being able to treat
4 what is becoming an epidemic situation of poor dental
5 hygiene and dental health, which therefore affects not
6 only people's ability to obviously have a pleasant
7 facial appearance but really does detract from their
8 ability to pursue effective job training and has other
9 consequential health problems as well.
10 Obesity awareness funding, I think, was
11 omitted that was in this budget. In a few weeks we're
12 going to be having a presentation to the House
13 Education and Health Committees which will talk about
14 an obesity awareness curriculum being offered by a
15 facility in Lehigh County. Obesity is not just a
16 matter of physical fitness but also has various mental
17 and emotional components that are involved. And
18 frankly, every class during the school day can have
19 aspects that deal with this issue.
20 Lastly, while commending the Governor for
21 pumping more money into the adult basic programs by
22 utilizing shifts in the funding allocations from the
23 tobacco settlement, I'm concerned that by essentially
24 creating a bigger safety net, we have detracted from
25 providing incentives to private employers to maintain
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1 healthcare coverage for employees and independents.
2 I think that certainly the utilization of
3 more money for health insurance companies here in
4 Pennsylvania is to be applauded. I am worried that
5 without utilizing money such as for management tax
6 credits or health savings accounts we're missing the
7 boat and we're going to unintentionally create a tidal
8 wave of people that small businesses are going to cast
9 off into this adult basic program.
10 If you're operating a small business on a
11 very slim margin of profitability, you may be tempted
12 now to figure, well, adult basic is going to be there
13 for these people. I'm going to cut my employees'
14 healthcare, eliminate the insurance, and, therefore,
15 put these people in a program. But that's really
16 going to create a bigger problem for us at the state
17 level.
18 If the Governor has seen fit to propose
19 reallocation of the tobacco settlement funding, I
20 think it's also worthwhile to discuss utilizing some
21 of that money for tax credits for health saving
22 accounts and for the disease management tax credit
23 which I introduced last session and will be
24 introducing again in just a few weeks.
25 Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for your
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1 consideration of these issues. And thank you to the
2 fellow committee members.
3 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
4 Reichley.
5 This committee will stand in recess until
6 1 o'clock.
7 (Recess.)
8 CHAIRMAN FEESE: I would like to call the
9 meeting of the House Appropriations Committee to
10 order. We will continue with our testimony from the
11 members of the House of Representatives on items which
12 are important to them, the state of Pennsylvania, and
13 their district budget.
14 Our first member to testify this afternoon
15 will be Representative Tim Solobay. Welcome,
16 Representative.
17 REPRESENTATIVE SOLOBAY: Thank you,
18 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Thank you
19 for the opportunity to share with you and talk about a
20 few of the items in the budget that I have an interest
21 in. Prior to getting to those details, I would just
22 like to thank you for important work that's going to
23 be done in the next few weeks and months. Again, with
24 a difficult budget year and tough decisions we have
25 ahead of us, I am very confident with the ability of
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1 all of us to work together to achieve a final budget
2 that invests in Pennsylvania.
3 First and foremost, I would like to talk
4 about the state's Volunteer Fire Department Grant
5 Program. And as you know, I've been involved in that
6 type of service myself for over 27 years back home
7 where I serve as the assistant chief. And I think we
8 all know the importance of Pennsylvania's volunteers
9 and first responders to our community and to the
10 state. They respond in a moment's notice and put
11 their lives on the line each and every day to save
12 lives and property. Each year they save Pennsylvania
13 taxpayers the estimate of over $6 billion a year.
14 A few years ago, we established a $25 million
15 grant program to help these fire companies obtain
16 equipment and firefighting vehicles for the work that
17 they do so that their job is much more safely and
18 efficiently done. The grant funds can also be used
19 for building costs and for training.
20 In recent years, the grant program was funded
21 through a line item under PEMA. With enactment last
22 year of Act 71, the program is now to be funded
23 through a transfer from the Gaming Control Board.
24 My charge to the committee and to all of us
25 in the General Assembly is to ensure that this
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1 successful grant program continues. I would ask that
2 the committee take a close look at the dedicated
3 funding stream and determine that if a transfer from
4 the Gaming Board expected to fund this grant program
5 for the next year is not available that we look at
6 some other type of means to make sure that it's
7 funded. I hope we can act not only quickly but also
8 expeditiously to preserve this annual grant
9 opportunity for our volunteer fire departments and
10 ambulance companies.
11 Secondly, I would like to see if we can
12 restore the full funding from last year's
13 appropriation to the Civil Air Patrol. The Civil Air
14 Patrol is a division of the U.S. Air Force and helps
15 our Commonwealth with search and rescue operations,
16 aerial reconnaissance for Homeland Security, disaster
17 relief, aerial damage assessment, and the
18 transportation of blood and tissue to critical care
19 sites.
20 The Civil Air Patrol provides a vital service
21 to the Commonwealth. Perhaps more importantly, it's a
22 non-profit organization made up almost entirely of
23 unpaid volunteers who defend our nation. I would
24 encourage the Legislature to restore funding for these
25 vital services.
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1 Finally, I would like also to see a $500,000
2 appropriation dedicated to research and care for those
3 folks in Pennsylvania with lupus. More Pennsylvanians
4 are affected by lupus than several other ailments that
5 we already appropriate to, for example, sickle cell
6 and cystic fibrosis combined; yet these particular
7 ailments seem to receive a much larger state
8 appropriation.
9 Lupus is a widespread and chronic lifelong
10 autoimmune disease that, for unknown reasons, causes
11 the immune system to attack the body's own tissues,
12 organs, including joints, kidneys, heart, lungs,
13 brain, blood, and/or skin.
14 The Lupus Foundation of America estimates
15 that 1.5 million Americans have some form of this
16 disease. Despite the fact that lupus can affect both
17 men and woman of all ages, it seems to occur 10 to 15
18 times more frequently among adult females than adult
19 males.
20 Increased professional awareness and improved
21 diagnostic techniques and evaluation methods are
22 contributing to early diagnosis and treatment of
23 lupus. With current methods of therapy, 80 to 90
24 percent of the people with lupus can look forward to
25 normal life spans. But that can't happen without the
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1 financial commitment that we have to make here at the
2 state.
3 While lupus is a widespread disease,
4 awareness of the disease lags behind many other
5 illnesses. In a nationwide poll of 1,000 adults, 38
6 percent of those adults said they were somewhat
7 familiar or aware of lupus, while 39 percent said
8 they've only heard of the name of the disease and 22
9 percent of the folks have heard nothing about it at
10 all.
11 I feel that it is our responsibility to
12 ensure that both the awareness is increased and
13 research programs are available. And hopefully by
14 pooling the state's resources more effectively, we
15 would be able to adequately help finance lupus
16 programs.
17 Again, Mr. Chairman and the committee, I
18 thank you for the opportunity to make these comments.
19 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
20 Solobay.
21 Our next member to testify will be
22 Representative Frank Pistella.
23 REPRESENTATIVE PISTELLA: Good afternoon,
24 Mr. Chairman. First of all, I would like to thank you
25 and Chairman Evans for the opportunity to testify here
96
1 today.
2 I would like to speak to you and the members
3 of the committee regarding a proposal contained within
4 the Governor's budget that would provide a 2 percent
5 cost-of-living adjustment for direct-care workers.
6 This is an issue that I'm also attempting to address
7 in another fashion, but I thought what I would do is
8 talk a little bit about some of the background which
9 has led me to testify here on the necessity of trying
10 to provide assistance to those men and woman that care
11 directly for our most vulnerable population here in
12 Commonwealth.
13 Because of staff shortages mainly
14 attributable to poor pay for workers, the community
15 mental health and mental retardation systems are close
16 to breaking. Caregiver pay is at or near federal
17 poverty levels.
18 Surveys and reports by our own legislative
19 Budget and Finance Committee and by other agencies
20 show shocking lags behind the amounts both private and
21 public sector jobs pay. Community providers limited
22 by the current level of state appropriations cannot
23 compete in a labor market.
24 In 2004, the average hourly wage for state
25 workers in centers for the mentally retarded and
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1 hospitals for the mentally ill was about $17 an hour.
2 Community provider employees averaged about $9.50 per
3 hour, a gap of $7.50. In 2004, the Pennsylvania
4 all-occupation average was about $17 per hour.
5 Relief consisting of catch-up or partial
6 catch-up won't come until government appropriations
7 are sufficient to temporarily finance annual community
8 provider wage increases of 10 percent or more.
9 In 2004, I introduced House Resolution 787
10 calling for a task force which would recommend
11 standards for parity or partial parity with state
12 wages for comparable work, which would be achievable
13 over a multiple-year period. It was calculated that
14 meaningful remedial increases would have to be in the
15 range of $1 per hour until parity or satisfactory
16 partial parity would be reached.
17 It was calculated that such a $1 per hour
18 increase would cost $38 million in community mental
19 health and $85 million in mental retardation. These
20 estimates were based on various sources, assuming that
21 17,000 mental health employees and 38,000 mental
22 retardation employees were in our current system.
23 Actually, these totals will increase as the consumer
24 population grows through closings of state hospitals
25 and centers and in the reduction of waiting lists.
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1 I must emphasize that my employee counts are
2 all-inclusive and are not limited to just what we
3 would refer to generically as direct care workers or
4 other non-inclusive groups. The circumstance that an
5 employee is not a direct caregiver, even though they
6 may be serving as an essential member of a care-giving
7 apparatus or team, should not adversely affect their
8 compensation. To limit the benefited occupations
9 ignores ripple effect and compression.
10 Now, as I was saying to you earlier, I was
11 laying out a little bit of the background. And, of
12 course, there is an issue that I'm working on with
13 various advocacy groups and provider groups from the
14 western part of the state to propose some remedial
15 situation trying to ease this burden. However, the
16 Governor in his proposed budget does provide a 2
17 percent cost-of-living adjustment for direct care
18 workers in community MH for $5,819,000 and in MR for
19 $13,750,000. On a $9.50 average hourly wage, this
20 presumably may mean about as little as 20 cents. This
21 is, of course, a welcome initiative but it's not even
22 a start to close the gap, for the $17-per-hour state
23 wage worker, just through time and grade, their salary
24 will, in fact, grow.
25 By limiting the benefit to direct care, the
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1 plan will inevitably lead to some distortions and
2 perhaps some inequities. On the basis of a
3 legislative Budget and Finance Committee definition,
4 it appears about 20 percent of the workforce is
5 excluded. That goes back to what I said earlier about
6 our presumption of direct care worker meaning one
7 thing. However, the services that are provided
8 oftentimes are provided in a team fashion.
9 As a practical matter, implementation of the
10 2 percent raise increase will require ingenious
11 financial management. Because the proposed fiscal
12 2006 budget, unlike this year's, provides no COLA for
13 providers' general operations, they will be struggling
14 with increased costs such as healthcare insurance and
15 the demands of new consumers coming from state
16 facilities and from waiting lists.
17 And, of course, there is also the issue of
18 the President's proposed changes in medical assistance
19 which could adversely affect the federal match that we
20 receive in Pennsylvania in subsequent reimbursement.
21 Therefore, my message to the members of the
22 committee, by all means, please support and include in
23 this year's budget the Governor's 2 percent
24 cost-of-living adjustment as he has requested.
25 I would certainly be more than happy and
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1 willing to work with the members of this committee
2 once I have fleshed out and brought to fruition some
3 of the proposals that I have been exploring. I
4 realize that what I'm attempting to do may be more
5 appropriately defined as a long-term solution to this
6 problem. But nevertheless, I did want to emphasize
7 for the benefit of the committee the importance of
8 maintaining the 2 percent request or perhaps
9 increasing it, if at all possible, that the Governor
10 suggested.
11 Mr. Chairman, I would be more than happy to
12 attempt to answer any questions that you or the
13 members may have, if not now, at some time in the
14 future.
15 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
16 Pistella. There are no questions from the committee.
17 REPRESENTATIVE PISTELLA: Thank you very
18 much, Mr. Chairman.
19 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Our next testifier will be
20 Representative Brian Ellis.
21 REPRESENTATIVE ELLIS: Thank you,
22 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
23 I appreciate the opportunity to testify today
24 before the House Appropriations Committee. As a newly
25 elected state representative from Butler County, I
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1 look forward to sharing our priorities and concerns
2 for the upcoming state budget.
3 In preparing for this testimony, I met with
4 local leaders and officials throughout the district,
5 including the city of Butler, Buffalo Township,
6 Winfield Township, and East Butler Borough. And
7 through these conversations and my personal experience
8 as a small business owner, I've identified three key
9 funding priorities for Butler County, including
10 infrastructure, education, and business tax relief.
11 To begin with, Mr. Chairman, the Governor's
12 proposal to gut the grant programs for the volunteer
13 fire department companies would represent a serious
14 setback for municipalities across Butler County and
15 across the Commonwealth. Volunteer fire departments
16 are incredibly important to the rural communities and
17 small towns like Butler.
18 With most departments entirely dependent on
19 the small fund-raisers and government grants, the
20 Governor's proposal to slash this funding would be
21 disastrous. We need to encourage a continuation of
22 dedicated funding for companies like the South Butler
23 Volunteer Fire Department or Meridian Volunteer Fire
24 Department or the others in my district as well as
25 across the state.
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1 Also, I strongly encourage the inclusion of a
2 spending line item to fund the completion of Sullivan
3 Run Project in Butler. This project would help
4 hundreds of homeowners avoid severe flood damage and
5 would also prevent pollution in the Connoquenessing
6 Creek. Now, this project has been on the back burner
7 for nearly a decade. And I believe that 2005 is the
8 year that we need to complete this project.
9 Secondly, Mr. Chairman, the communities like
10 Butler that have community colleges really need to
11 find a way to make them more a part of the community.
12 And I think on a state level we can improve the
13 funding for our colleges. This becomes a prerequisite
14 for job growth.
15 Butler Community College, in particular, has
16 been an engine for job growth in Butler County for
17 many, many years. But moreover and more generally,
18 the two-year career-specific schools are becoming a
19 vital part for our economy and the education of our
20 young people. Spending priorities should be adjusted
21 to reflect this new reality of education in
22 Pennsylvania.
23 And finally, today I believe that Priority
24 No. 1 for this year's budget should be some meaningful
25 tax reform for individuals and businesses alike. In
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1 order to jump-start Pennsylvania's economy, we need
2 action in the following categories: we need real,
3 lasting reduction of the CNI; we need to look at
4 property tax reform that actually puts money back into
5 the homeowners' pockets; and, lastly, we have to
6 consider a rollback of the PIT from the previous 2.8
7 percent. With the projected revenue surpluses that we
8 expect, it's only right to return the money to the
9 people who have earned it.
10 Thank you, Mr. Chairman and the committee,
11 for your time today and the opportunity to testify.
12 And thank you for consideration of Butler County's
13 priorities.
14 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
15 Ellis.
16 Our next member to testify will be
17 Representative Vitali.
18 REPRESENTATIVE VITALI: Thank you,
19 Mr. Chairman and members of the Appropriations
20 Committee, for this opportunity to speak.
21 Today I'm suggesting that the state budget
22 include an appropriation of approximately $200,000 in
23 the Department of Environmental Protection's budget
24 specifically earmarked for the preparation of a
25 greenhouse gas inventory and a greenhouse gas
104
1 reduction strategy. The overwhelming majority of the
2 world's atmospheric scientists state and believe that
3 global warming is an extremely serious problem and
4 caused by man-made forces.
5 It's difficult to open a paper on any given
6 day or week without seeing further evidence to
7 buttress the fact that climate change will have
8 serious consequences.
9 Yesterday, February 15th, marked the
10 effective date of the Kyoto protocols, Russia having
11 signed on 60 days beforehand. It went into effect
12 yesterday. Unfortunately, the United States was not a
13 signatory to that contract. And I think that
14 underscores the fact that since the United States is
15 not taking needed action in this area, individual
16 states should.
17 In fact, many other states have done exactly
18 what we're suggesting, develop greenhouse gas action
19 plans. It's particularly important for Pennsylvania
20 because we, as a state, produce a full 1 percent of
21 the world's greenhouse gases. Pennsylvania alone
22 produces 1 percent of the world's greenhouse gases.
23 What I'm suggesting is basically contained in
24 legislation I introduced yesterday, which was House
25 Bill 500, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act. And I'm
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1 happy to say that bill was signed or cosponsored by a
2 full 49 House members, 8 of which were Republican. My
3 hope is that there's an increasing awareness of this
4 problem.
5 What that bill would do and what this
6 appropriation would fund are essentially one in the
7 same thing, which would be basically four different
8 elements. The first would be annual inventory of
9 greenhouse gases, in other words, assessing where
10 Pennsylvania's greenhouse gases are coming from --
11 there are six, but the two major ones are carbon
12 dioxide and methane -- where they are coming from by
13 sector. In other words, you have the transportation
14 sector, you have the utility sector, you have the
15 commercial sector, the agricultural sector, and so
16 forth. So a year-by-year analysis of where they're
17 coming from.
18 We've done it as recently as 2000, but we
19 don't have follow-ups. We need to do this every year
20 because we need to know where we are and where we're
21 going and how things we do each year affect each
22 sector. We have to know what we're doing and whether
23 what we're doing is working. So Point 1 is the annual
24 inventory.
25 The second is the preparation by the DEP of
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1 an economic impact statement; in other words, a report
2 analyzing what are the impacts of global warming on
3 Pennsylvania as far as agricultural, commercial, and
4 so forth. So the second is an environmental impact
5 statement.
6 The third is the creation of a stakeholder
7 group that the DEP would select, people from the
8 private sector, public interest, scientific community,
9 business, a stakeholder group to advise the DEP on the
10 act.
11 And the fourth element is the Greenhouse Gas
12 Action Plan. This plan, this road map, as it were,
13 where we set goals, what's our reduction going to be?
14 What percent reduction do we want? How many years is
15 it going to take to get us there? And what steps do
16 we have to take to get us there? Sort of a plan to do
17 this. This is a good first step.
18 I estimate the inventory itself is going to
19 cost about $85,000 per year. Basically, it will be
20 funding one position, one expert who will devote
21 himself to the preparation of an inventory. And the
22 inventory is essentially just a paper transaction.
23 It's just sort of an analysis. It's just an analysis
24 of the fuel basically consumed by the state in a given
25 year and how that fuel converts into greenhouse gas
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1 reductions.
2 So that position, funding that one position
3 to the DEP, would be about $85,000 a year. And the
4 action plan itself, which we are suggesting occur
5 every three years, would be about $250,000 to $300,000
6 every three years. So rounding it off to about
7 $200,000 a year is what I think we ought to be
8 appropriating.
9 This is a relatively benign measure I'm
10 suggesting. And this appropriation would fund
11 relatively benign things. But I think it lays the
12 necessary groundwork for the really important serious
13 steps we need to take to avoid the catastrophic things
14 that are coming, whether we choose to acknowledge that
15 or not. But we need to start addressing these
16 problems if we want to be a responsible Legislature.
17 Thank you for your time.
18 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
19 Vitali.
20 Our next member will be Representative Mark
21 Keller.
22 REPRESENTATIVE KELLER: Thank you,
23 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for giving
24 me and my colleagues the opportunity to testify before
25 you today.
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1 I know we bring many important issues to your
2 attention in what promises to be a challenging budget
3 year. Historically, Pennsylvania has often been
4 recognized for its mining, steel, and manufacturing
5 industries. However, as pointed out by the
6 Pennsylvania Museum and Historical Commission,
7 Pennsylvania has always been a leader in agriculture.
8 Today's agriculture is Pennsylvania's number
9 one industry. According to the 2000 United States
10 census, 2 million Pennsylvanians were directly
11 employed in farm work in 1999. In addition to
12 production agriculture, the industry also raises
13 revenue and supplies jobs through support services,
14 such as food processing, marketing, transportation,
15 and farm equipment.
16 Pennsylvania's 59,000 farm families are the
17 stewards of more than 7.7 million acres of farmland.
18 With $4 billion in cash receipts annually from
19 production agriculture, farmers and agribusinesses are
20 the leading agricultural producers in the northeast
21 U.S.
22 We have heard a great deal already this
23 session about suburban sprawl. Homes of rich
24 farmlands, Perry County, just for instance, 18 miles
25 to the north of us, has long been a bedroom community
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1 for Harrisburg.
2 Farming has always been a difficult
3 occupation and I'm certain the temptation to sell to
4 developers becomes more attractive as agriculture
5 becomes less financially rewarding.
6 Recognizing the importance of farming in
7 Pennsylvania, many legislators, including myself, are
8 very disappointed in how the Governor chose to treat
9 agriculture in his new budget proposal. Most programs
10 are proposed to receive, at best, level funding; many
11 have drastic cuts in funding or are not funded at all.
12 The crop insurance program, one of the most
13 successful incentives in recent years and one that is
14 even right now being promoted by the Department of
15 Agriculture advertisements in farm papers and letters
16 that are going to the farm industry, is proposed to
17 receive no funding in the next fiscal year. Crop
18 insurance can help producers withstand crop disasters
19 and return to profitability.
20 The Animal Health and Diagnostic Commission,
21 which is critical to the vitality of all animal
22 agriculture sectors and agency legislators, has worked
23 hard to get modest increases in funding in recent
24 years and is cut to a funding level below that of
25 several years ago. Veterinary diagnostic support is
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1 the linchpin of any network of veterinary epidemic
2 intelligence vital to the maintenance and well-being
3 of the modern animal industry. Many diseases have
4 potential serious consequences for animal and human
5 health.
6 The Department of Agriculture's support for
7 local conservation districts is critical to provide
8 technical assistance necessary to assisting farmers
9 comply with the ever-increasing burden of
10 environmental regulations. Yet, this program is cut
11 more than 25 percent.
12 Other particular programs such as support for
13 local agricultural fairs -- take the Perry County Fair
14 from its concept to today; it's an outgoing and
15 vibrant fair that receives a lot of support from the
16 Department of Agriculture -- receive severe cuts from
17 the Governor's proposed budget.
18 I would hope, Mr. Chairman and members of the
19 committee, that you have taken the opportunity to
20 visit a county or community fair or the Pennsylvania
21 Farm Show, as I have just recently. If you did, I'm
22 sure you had a great time but, most importantly, you
23 have become aware of the importance of agriculture to
24 this great Commonwealth.
25 As a former county commissioner, I realize
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1 there is no such thing as an easy budget year, and you
2 have some very difficult decisions to make in the
3 coming weeks. I do hope you will fully consider the
4 implications that the proposed cuts to agriculture
5 programs will have.
6 Thank you.
7 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
8 Keller.
9 Our next member to testify will be
10 Representative Mark Mustio.
11 REPRESENTATIVE MUSTIO: Thank you,
12 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for the
13 opportunity to speak today. You have been at this for
14 hours. And out of respect for that, I am going to
15 submit my testimony for the record without really
16 getting into much detail here. My testimony speaks to
17 the impact that investment in infrastructure in our
18 ports will have on significantly increasing the jobs
19 in our state and conversely the significant negative
20 impact that the Governor's cuts to infrastructure in
21 our ports in Pennsylvania will have on these same
22 jobs.
23 Thank you.
24 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
25 Mustio. Your remarks and your written testimony will
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1 be made part of the record.
2 REPRESENTATIVE MUSTIO: Thank you.
3 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Our next member to testify
4 will be Representative John Evans.
5 REPRESENTATIVE JOHN EVANS: Mr. Chairman and
6 members of the committee, good afternoon.
7 43today I would like to bring to your
8 attention two issues which I will feel strongly about,
9 workforce development and education.
10 As you know, Pennsylvania has been hit hard
11 in recent years with the loss of thousands of
12 manufacturing jobs. In our role as state lawmakers,
13 it's our job to help make Pennsylvania more attractive
14 to business and to the industry. But that cannot be
15 done without providing the necessary training and
16 education to reeducate the hardworking people of
17 Pennsylvania.
18 That's why I was encouraged last week when
19 Governor Rendell announced a 10 percent increase in
20 state funding for the sole purpose of improving
21 workforce development programs.
22 However, I was disappointed that the
23 workforce development funding is earmarked for
24 community colleges only. The 14 community colleges
25 around the state are all very worthy recipients of
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1 additional state funding. But without a community
2 college in the entire northwestern corner of the
3 state, our residents lose out.
4 People living in my district, in Erie and
5 Crawford Counties, would be forced to travel southward
6 at least a two-hour drive to either Butler, Beaver, or
7 Allegheny Counties to benefit from this additional
8 workforce development funding. Why travel two-plus
9 hours when we have successful workforce development
10 programs right in our own backyards?
11 The State System of Higher Education, places
12 such as Edinboro University in my legislative
13 district, as well as branches of both Penn State and
14 the University of Pittsburgh, and a number of highly
15 regarded private colleges and universities located in
16 the northwestern part of the state, already provide
17 much needed workforce development and skills to help
18 people find jobs. As such, I believe they are also
19 very deserving of state money to provide workforce
20 development programs.
21 As an example, Edinboro University provides a
22 number of workforce and professional development
23 training courses, including basic training for
24 supervisors as well as several management classes, all
25 designed to help improve our state's and our region's
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1 workforce.
2 In addition, members of the state system have
3 partnered with the Precision Manufacturing Institute
4 in Meadville in Crawford County in workforce
5 development programs.
6 Credits earned at PMI may be transferred to
7 either Edinboro University's manufacturing engineering
8 technology associate degree or to nearby Clarion
9 University's associate of applied science in
10 industrial technology degree. PMI also has
11 articulation agreements with local high schools so
12 that those students can receive a jump-start on their
13 education.
14 It's this type of public/private partnership
15 that will help promote workforce development, and
16 ideally, this cooperation should be encouraged and
17 replicated. To make that happen, I believe that this
18 additional money for workforce development would best
19 be suited to also supplement the State System of
20 Higher Education and state-related colleges, like
21 Pitt, Penn State, Lincoln, and Temple, and
22 universities that feature technical education
23 components.
24 For example, Penn State offers a number of
25 associate degrees in at least 15 fields dealing with
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1 specific technology for architectural engineering,
2 biomedical engineering, electrical engineering,
3 manufacturing, materials engineering, and
4 telecommunications, among others. These associate
5 degrees are important steppingstones in preparing our
6 workforce for the demands of the 21st Century.
7 According to an economic impact study
8 released by Penn State just in November, the
9 university's branch campus system has a total impact
10 of $693 million on state business volume. Most
11 importantly, the campuses strive to be responsive to
12 local economic and workforce development needs.
13 I ask that as your committee delves into the
14 2005/2006 budget to take a close look at workforce
15 development funds and make sure that they are
16 allocated in the very best possible manner.
17 That is why I also believe that we need to
18 think beyond the traditional manufacturing companies
19 and explore cutting-edge technologies, like biotech
20 firms, in our region. Another asset with this type of
21 technology base is the closeness of health systems in
22 our region such as St. Vincent health systems and
23 excellent medical facilities with a number of
24 resources available to expand healthcare services and
25 healthcare research.
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1 Attracting good, family-sustaining jobs to
2 Pennsylvania, and particularly in my corner of the
3 state -- I guess I'm a little biased here -- cannot be
4 possible without lowering the business taxes.
5 I am optimistic that the Governor's proposed
6 cuts in the corporate net income tax and the continued
7 phase-out of the capital stock and franchise tax will
8 go a long way toward encouraging businesses and
9 industries to relocate or to expand in Pennsylvania.
10 Currently, our business taxes are among the highest in
11 the nation and are negatively hurting any efforts for
12 economic development.
13 However, I am concerned that if additional
14 fees are placed upon businesses, namely, the tipping
15 fee for waste disposal, it will translate into a tax
16 shift where some businesses may receive a tax cut,
17 others will have a tax increase. That greatly
18 concerns me.
19 I also ask that as you examine the budget
20 proposal, that you take a look at the business tax
21 area and help fight any perceived tax shifts for
22 businesses.
23 That concludes my remarks to the committee.
24 Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, again,
25 thank you very much for your time today.
117
1 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
2 Evans.
3 Our next member to testify will be
4 Representative Steve Samuelson.
5 REPRESENTATIVE SAMUELSON: I'm going to speak
6 about library funding so I brought some books that I
7 got out of my public library.
8 CHAIRMAN FEESE: I just thought you were
9 shopping at the Gap with that bag.
10 REPRESENTATIVE SAMUELSON: No. But there is
11 a gap in library, which I'll talk about.
12 I appreciate the opportunity to testify today
13 before the Appropriations Committee.
14 I want to talk about public library funding,
15 which even though it's increasing in this budget by
16 $1.4 million, it's still about $15 million short
17 compared to where library funding in Pennsylvania was
18 three years ago.
19 I believe that libraries -- public libraries
20 in Pennsylvania are centers of hope and opportunity
21 for every community and every citizen of this
22 Commonwealth. And I have a couple of notable
23 Pennsylvanians to quote in this regard.
24 One is Ed Bradley, who we know as a
25 correspondent for 60 Minutes. He also grew up in
118
1 Philadelphia. And this is what Ed Bradley said about
2 public libraries: "As a child, I loved to read books.
3 The library was a window to the world, a pathway to
4 worlds and people far from my neighborhood in
5 Philadelphia."
6 If you go a little bit further north to Bucks
7 County, let me quote Bucks County's own James
8 Michener. James Michener, who -- in my public
9 library, you can borrow 105 things, books, and tapes
10 that are associated with James Michener. But James
11 Michener said, "Public libraries have been a mainstay
12 of my life. They represent an individual's rights to
13 acquire knowledge; they are the sinews that bind
14 civilized societies the world over. Without
15 libraries, I would be a pauper, intellectually and
16 spiritually."
17 If I move to the western part of the state,
18 Pittsburgh, birthplace of David McCullough, David
19 McCullough, who has several books, including one about
20 the Johnstown flood, one about Harry Truman, the
21 recent John Adams book, David McCullough said, "We
22 must not think of learning as only what happens in
23 schools. It is an extended part of life. The most
24 readily available resource for all of life is our
25 public library system." And I know that John Adams
119
1 used to say facts are stubborn things. The facts with
2 regard to library funding, even though the library
3 funding is proposed to go up $1.4 million in this
4 budget, that only brings us up to about 79 percent of
5 where we were just three years ago.
6 If you compare the budgets of 2002 to the one
7 that's proposed here in 2005, we all know that in
8 March of 2003, library funding was cut 50 percent.
9 After that six-month budget struggle that we all went
10 through, library funding was increased by $10 million
11 but still only up to the 63 percent level.
12 Last year in the budget, the House of
13 Representatives approved an amendment that I offered
14 to restore full library funding. Unfortunately, the
15 amendment was taken out over in the Senate. The good
16 news is that library funding went up another $10
17 million, but still to only 77 percent of the full
18 funding level. And as I said before, with this
19 increase proposed in this budget, we're only going up
20 to 79 percent. We need that last $15 million to
21 restore our commitment to public libraries.
22 There are many line items we can look at in
23 this budget, dozens that we could offer cuts to
24 restore the library funding.
25 Over that same three-year period, I noticed
120
1 that the line item for inmate medical care has gone up
2 $30 million. The line item for education and training
3 for inmates has gone up $3 million. The special
4 leadership accounts within the House of
5 Representatives has gone up $2 million over the same
6 three-year timespan.
7 So just those three line items by themselves
8 could -- if we held the line there, we could save $35
9 million, more than enough to restore that $15 million
10 shortfall in public libraries.
11 I finally want to quote from someone who I
12 can't claim to be a Pennsylvania citizen, Arthur
13 Schlesinger, who was in the Kennedy White House and
14 then, of course, won a Pulitzer Prize for his book, A
15 Thousand Days.
16 Well, Arthur Schlesinger said, "The public
17 library has been historically a vital instrument of
18 democracy and opportunity in the United States. Our
19 history has been greatly shaped by people who read
20 their way to opportunity and achievements in public
21 libraries." Schlesinger's book was A Thousand Days.
22 It's only been 715 days since the library funding was
23 cut. If we wait another year, it sure will be a
24 thousand days.
25 I believe we should take action this year.
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1 Somewhere this week in Pennsylvania, a young
2 Pennsylvania citizen is going to their public library,
3 perhaps after school today, perhaps on Saturday for
4 those libraries that do have Saturday hours, and maybe
5 the next Jonas Salk is seeking to go to a public
6 library. Maybe the next David McCullough or James
7 Michener is seeking to go to a public library.
8 We do not want to answer that curiosity and
9 that intellect by closing libraries' doors or reducing
10 hours or cutting back on book budgets.
11 I believe that here in the state of
12 Pennsylvania, home to the very first public library in
13 America when Ben Franklin founded that public library
14 in 1731, here in Pennsylvania, we should build on Ben
15 Franklin's legacy. We should renew and restore our
16 commitment to public libraries.
17 We should find an amendment and pass an
18 amendment to add that final $15 million to get library
19 funding back to the full funding level and to restore
20 our commitment to those centers of hope and
21 opportunity for all of our citizens.
22 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
23 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
24 Samuelson.
25 Our next member to present testimony will be
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1 Representative Mark Cohen.
2 REPRESENTATIVE COHEN: Chairman Feese,
3 members of the House Appropriations Committee, I
4 deeply appreciate the continuation of the recent
5 tradition of allowing members to testify. This is an
6 excellent way to gain a sense of member priorities. I
7 would make various recommendations.
8 First, there should be a dramatic expansion
9 of legislative district office staffing. Since
10 legislative district offices were established 25 years
11 ago, there has been a dramatic escalation of their
12 scope and effectiveness. People have developed
13 legitimate expectations of excellent service, and we
14 should do everything we can to meet these
15 expectations.
16 I would suggest that a goal be established of
17 $150,000 in staff compensation for each legislative
18 district office. This would enable us to more fully
19 meet the needs of our constituents.
20 Second, Pennsylvania's public library funding
21 should be restored to its peak under the Ridge
22 Administration. Public libraries are not only
23 repositories of books, magazines, VHSs, and DVDs, but
24 they are vital community centers where people of all
25 generations and social classes come together.
123
1 Our continued low funding of public libraries
2 sends the wrong message to parents of school-age
3 children who are considering whether or not to stay in
4 Pennsylvania. It perpetuates negative stereotypes of
5 our state. Because public library spending affects
6 the people who want to stay in Pennsylvania, it is a
7 matter of economic development vital for
8 Pennsylvania's future.
9 Third, Pennsylvania must increase mass
10 transit funding. Although our population has
11 increased only modestly as time has gone on, the
12 number of cars on the road has increased dramatically.
13 Traffic congestion is a major cost to our citizens.
14 They pay for traffic congestion in terms of lost hours
15 at work, higher costs for parking, greater costs for
16 road repair, and higher amounts of gas consumed.
17 We need a mass transit system that not only
18 retains its current riders but is reliable enough and
19 convenient enough that it gets people out of the cars
20 and into buses and trains. A person who will never in
21 his or her life use mass transit again will benefit
22 enormously from expanded mass transit.
23 Fourth, as we move to increase community
24 college funding, we should be dealing with the urgent
25 need to create more full-time community college
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1 teaching positions. Relying too heavily on part-time
2 college faculty inevitably lowers the quality of
3 educational instruction our ever-growing number of
4 community college students receive.
5 While there are many dedicated professionals
6 who welcome the chance to teach an occasional course,
7 they should be the cream of the crop and not the
8 fundamental base on which many community colleges
9 increasingly rely. Knowledge of teaching methods is
10 as important as knowledge of subject matter and I
11 believe that students will learn far more at the
12 community college level if the vast bulk of their
13 courses are taught by full-time professional
14 educators.
15 Fifth, I would urge that serious efforts be
16 made not to cut Medicaid funding. Pennsylvania's
17 various welfare reform efforts have already
18 dramatically cut the amount of healthcare available to
19 our low-income citizens. Cutting money for healthcare
20 affects far more than the people who are denied
21 healthcare services.
22 Diseases that go untreated are often
23 contagious and spread to other people. Hospitals and
24 other medical health providers that do not get
25 reimbursed for their services often reduce their
125
1 services or go out of business. Failure to be able to
2 afford medical services is the cause for about half of
3 all personal bankruptcies. While Governor Rendell is
4 to be commended for his efforts to cut Medicaid
5 services in the way that will do the least harm, the
6 cuts he recommends will still do considerable harm.
7 We should seek to avoid those cuts.
8 Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this
9 opportunity.
10 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
11 Cohen.
12 Our next testifier will be James Roebuck.
13 REPRESENTATIVE ROEBUCK: Good afternoon.
14 I want to thank the House Appropriations
15 Committee for providing me with the opportunity to
16 provide testimony today concerning the Governor's
17 proposed budget for 2005/2006.
18 In general, I am pleased with the Governor's
19 proposed budget, particularly in the new Job Ready
20 Pennsylvania Initiative that will invest $101 million
21 in our workforce development and education systems so
22 that our present and future workforce will have the
23 education and training to be successful in the 21st
24 Century.
25 I am particularly heartened that part of this
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1 Job Ready Initiative includes a 10 percent increase,
2 $22.8 million, for community colleges to create a more
3 predictable funding stream and to improve alignment
4 with our workforce development needs. And I might
5 insert here that I do serve on the board of the
6 community college of Philadelphia and, in fact, am
7 vice chairman of that board.
8 Community colleges in the Commonwealth play
9 an integral part in the educational and economic lives
10 of our residents. Community colleges educate over
11 350,000 students annually. Ninety-nine percent of
12 community college students in the Commonwealth are
13 Pennsylvania residents, so these institutions directly
14 serve the Commonwealth's population. These
15 institutions collectively are also the Commonwealth's
16 fourth largest employer with over 14,000 full- and
17 part-time faculty and staff.
18 Workforce development and training
19 initiatives to keep our residents and businesses
20 competitive happen at community colleges. Education
21 and workforce training for all individuals of any age
22 is a priority of community colleges. Accessibility
23 and affordability are the prime benefits that
24 community colleges offer not only to individuals but
25 to the Commonwealth as well.
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1 I hope that in future budgets we can change
2 the current formula for funding community colleges
3 that places less of a financial burden on local
4 sponsors of those colleges and students.
5 I am also very supportive of that part of the
6 Job Ready Pennsylvania Initiative that will double
7 funding for needed tutoring to $76 million for the
8 education support services programs, with much of the
9 new funding going for tutoring of middle school and
10 high school students so that they meet state academic
11 requirements and succeed in school and in life.
12 The increased funding for tutoring and other
13 important parts of the Job Ready Initiative will begin
14 to build a bridge between last session's efforts to
15 invest in proven early childhood education strategies
16 through the $200 million Accountability Block Grant
17 Program and the $20 million investment in Head Start
18 and the new effort to invest in proven strategies to
19 improve our middle, secondary, and higher education in
20 Pennsylvania that will benefit all our students and
21 future workforce. We need to ensure that these
22 crucial investments in our children's future are
23 sustained and increased in future budgets.
24 Finally, I would like to highlight one
25 specific program in this year's budget that I believe
128
1 deserves increased state funding; that is, the Higher
2 Education Equal Opportunity Program, commonly known as
3 Act 101. This program increases postsecondary success
4 for undergraduate students whose economic,
5 educational, and cultural backgrounds might limit
6 their ability to achieve their career and life goals.
7 Since 1971, more than 300,000 Pennsylvania citizens at
8 77 Pennsylvania higher education institutions have
9 been assisted by Act 101.
10 Unfortunately, state funding for Act 101,
11 $9.32 million, has not increased since the 2001/2002
12 fiscal year, resulting in a decrease in the number of
13 undergraduate students being provided with those
14 counseling, tutoring, and cultural enrichment
15 activities that can provide the difference in whether
16 these students graduate from college and reach their
17 full career potential.
18 I believe there needs to be an increase of at
19 least $500,000 in the higher education for
20 disadvantaged line item in the state budget that funds
21 Act 101 to increase the number of undergraduate
22 students receiving these important services. I hope
23 that the Appropriations Committee and other members of
24 the General Assembly would join with me in
25 strengthening Pennsylvania's commitment to higher
129
1 education success for all of the state students by
2 supporting increased funding for Act 101 in the
3 2005/2006 budget.
4 I once again want to thank the House
5 Appropriations Committee for the opportunity to
6 testify today. I look forward to a final budget that
7 serves the educational needs of all of our citizens
8 and especially the needs of our children.
9 Thank you.
10 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
11 Roebuck.
12 Our next member to testify will be
13 Representative Shapiro.
14 REPRESENTATIVE SHAPIRO: Thank you, Chairman
15 Feese. Good afternoon, fellow committee members.
16 I am very proud to serve as a new member of
17 the House and as a new member of this distinguished
18 Appropriations Committee.
19 Because I have the unique opportunity to sit
20 with you, I can appreciate the very difficult
21 budgetary circumstances that we are facing today.
22 Notwithstanding these tough times, largely due to
23 shrinking federal subsidies, the Governor laid out a
24 fiscally responsible budget with no tax increases, a
25 very important priority of mine.
130
1 While our dollars may be shrinking because of
2 decreased federal subsidies and increased healthcare
3 costs, we should not shrink from the need to fund
4 early childhood education, specifically funding for
5 optional full-day kindergarten for every child in our
6 Commonwealth.
7 From my perspective as a father of a young
8 daughter and as a new legislator, one of the most
9 important line items in this year's budget is the $200
10 million Accountability Block Grant Program for
11 education.
12 According to the Department of Education's
13 Accountability Block Grant mid-year report, most of
14 Pennsylvania's 501 school districts have made
15 extraordinary use of these block grants by investing
16 in proven early childhood education programs, such as
17 full-day kindergarten.
18 In fact, districts chose to invest two out of
19 every three block grant dollars in early childhood
20 programs, quality pre-K, full-day K, and class size
21 reduction in the early elementary grades. And of the
22 early childhood investments, nearly 75 percent went to
23 full-day kindergarten.
24 The Accountability Block Grant allows 17,500
25 more children in 149 school districts to attend
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1 full-day kindergarten. In total, more than 50,000
2 children are attending full-day kindergarten across
3 our great Commonwealth thanks in large part to these
4 block grants. Let me be clear, Mr. Chairman. This
5 investment in early childhood is a priority in red
6 counties and in blue counties. It is something we all
7 can agree on.
8 One of my two local school districts,
9 Abington School District, can only offer full-day
10 kindergarten to special needs students, and the other,
11 Upper Dublin School District, hopes to be able to
12 offer it to most students in the next academic year.
13 In Abington, the program serves just a third of the
14 kindergarten-age children. But the consensus in my
15 district, the broad consensus in my district, is that
16 we should expand it to every family that wants it.
17 According to the two superintendents in my
18 district, Dr. Amy Sichel and Dr. Michael Pladus, the
19 major reason -- in fact, the primary reason the
20 districts have not been able to expand their programs
21 to date is because of a lack of state dollars. The
22 block grant that is available to them falls well short
23 of the cost to offer full-day kindergarten to all of
24 our children.
25 I believe an additional investment in
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1 full-day kindergarten through an expansion of the
2 Accountability Block Grant Program will give thousands
3 of our children the foundation they need for future
4 success. Study after study has shown a direct
5 correlation between strong early childhood education
6 and later success. Indeed, our communities' futures
7 depend, I believe, on the development of our youth.
8 Again, I recognize that our committee must do
9 its work in the face of a tough budget year. But I
10 look forward to working together in a bipartisan
11 manner in order to control our spending in the budget
12 so that we do not have to raise taxes and make
13 full-day kindergarten available to all of our
14 children.
15 Mr. Chairman, fellow committee members, thank
16 you for your consideration.
17 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
18 Shapiro.
19 Our next member to testify will be John
20 Payne.
21 REPRESENTATIVE PAYNE: Good afternoon,
22 Chairman Feese and members of the committee. Thank
23 you for allowing me to testify this afternoon.
24 I come before the committee today to express
25 my concerns about the recent cuts and elimination of
133
1 the black fly spraying program. While this would save
2 $4.4 million in the state budget, I want to tell you a
3 little bit about the quality of life in central
4 Pennsylvania before this program.
5 I understand Pennsylvania is facing a
6 challenging fiscal situation. And I understand that
7 hard choices have to be made. I also understand that
8 this is not an issue for life and emergency services.
9 But it is an issue for the quality of life to the
10 residents in central Pennsylvania.
11 I respectfully ask the committee to consider
12 the value of the black fly spraying program and
13 explore ways to restore it to the budget.
14 In my district that I represent throughout
15 the mid-state, minimizing the nuisance of the black
16 fly is a legitimate quality-of-life issue. The
17 abundance of the waterways of central Pennsylvania
18 creates a breeding ground for the gnats and the black
19 fly problem. Not spraying for these black flies and
20 gnats along the waterways leads to an influx of these
21 pests that distract from the countless summertime
22 outings and activities that we all enjoy.
23 The black fly spraying program is a
24 cost-effective program because participating counties
25 contribute matching funds to this program. It's not
134
1 solely subsidized by the state.
2 And while eliminating this program does not
3 pose the risk that I mentioned, it will adversely
4 affect the quality of life for the citizens and it
5 will affect many mid-state businesses, from
6 Hersheypark to golf courses to ice cream parlors to
7 the bike paths and walking paths to swimming pools to
8 just having a picnic outside.
9 For those of you who don't live here, we used
10 to have a saying that the Pennsylvania greeting was
11 not a hello or a handshake, it was a continually
12 swatting back and forth when you came to central
13 Pennsylvania. This program is critical to the people
14 that I represent.
15 Chairman Feese, members of the committee, I
16 urge you to examine this issue and do everything
17 possible to see that the black fly spraying program
18 continues to be funded.
19 Thank you very much for your time this
20 afternoon.
21 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
22 Payne.
23 Our last presenter for today's hearing will
24 be Representative Paul Clymer.
25 REPRESENTATIVE CLYMER: Thank you,
135
1 Mr. Chairman. And good afternoon, members of the
2 Appropriations Committee.
3 In his budget address, Governor Ed Rendell
4 reminded the General Assembly that families are our
5 greatest asset. No one would dispute that. Building
6 stronger families should be a priority for all our
7 public officials. In a true bipartisan effort, we can
8 put up a vote for Pennsylvania families.
9 Fathers and mothers have an important role to
10 play within the family structure, not only their
11 relationship to each other, but a father/son and a
12 mother/daughter relationship are invaluable in the
13 bonding and in the training of a child. It is through
14 this training process that traditional family values
15 such as honesty, integrity, hard work, respect for
16 others, and family histories are conveyed from one
17 generation to the next.
18 While we applaud those individual who come
19 from a dysfunctional family and are able to succeed in
20 society, it is a family unit, intact, sharing and
21 growing together, that provide the strong, tough glue
22 that holds together our society, that makes our
23 neighborhoods safe and friendly.
24 So why this assessment of the family at this
25 particular time? Well, within the coming weeks, the
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1 Appropriations Committee will be besieged with
2 requests for funding from state agencies for various
3 goods and services. And those efforts, I'm sure, will
4 be very demanding at times.
5 But I ask you to pause to give thought to the
6 financial needs of some of these agencies that in many
7 instances can be traced back to a dysfunctional
8 family, such as the need to build more prisons, the
9 need to expand funding for drug and alcohol abuse,
10 increases in medical assistance, increases in cash
11 assistance programs, disruptive students in the
12 classroom, increases for funding for law enforcement,
13 and so the list goes on.
14 As members of the Appropriations Committee,
15 there will be social costs due to some of our public
16 policy issues. And the one public policy issue that
17 I'm bringing to your attention this afternoon deals
18 with the advent of 14 casinos coming to Pennsylvania
19 with 61,000 slot machines.
20 That, indeed, will have a negative impact on
21 our families and on our citizens. And I just
22 mentioned, just gave you a listing as to some of the
23 reasons why families are so important and what they
24 contribute to our society. So I guess I'm forewarning
25 you that as you deal with the issue, the social costs
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1 that will certainly come if indeed the state is to
2 have these slot machines and these casinos.
3 I don't know how you're going to put it
4 together since there's probably not enough information
5 available at the present time. But that is one of the
6 issues that I think that we need to look at so that we
7 don't have a deficit in our budget at the end of the
8 fiscal year.
9 This is a public policy issue that I feel
10 that we kind of did not really structure properly,
11 that is, the approval and the legalization of casinos
12 with their slot machines in Pennsylvania. Perhaps in
13 the future when such public policy issues come to the
14 forefront of the General Assembly, that we will be
15 wiser, that we will understand that, indeed, as
16 Governor Rendell had rightly said, families are our
17 most important and precious assets.
18 Thank you, Chairman Feese, for this
19 opportunity to make these remarks.
20 CHAIRMAN FEESE: Thank you, Representative
21 Clymer.
22 That concludes the hearing of the
23 Appropriations Committee. I thank all the members of
24 the House for participating and presenting their
25 testimony. It will be a great assistance to us during
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1 our deliberations.
2 Thank you.
3 (The hearing concluded at 2:15 p.m.)
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1 I hereby certify that the proceedings
2 and evidence are contained fully and accurately in the
3 notes taken by me on the within proceedings and that
4 this is a correct transcript of the same.
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8 ______Jean M. Davis, Reporter 9 Notary Public
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