COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA iii jzLafi1ie J nurrnd TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2009 SESSION OF 2009 193RD OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY No. I SENATE sion, and their wills with Your courage. May they work here in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation as they dedicate them- TUESDAY, January 6, 2009 selves to the common good. Help them to avoid any sense of The PRESIDING OFFICER. This is the constitutional day division that can easily become an obstacle to addressing the and hour for the convening of the 193rd Regular Session of the serious challenges and opportunities that are before us. Pennsylvania General Assembly. Above all, Almighty God, You who are the source of all life and goodness, help these, our elected leaders, as well as each of The PRESIDING OFFICER (Senator John C. Rafferty, Jr.) us as citizens, to give the very best of our time and talent each called the Senate to order at 12 m., Eastern Standard Time. day to the protection and the enrichment of the lives of every citizen of this Commonwealth that we call home. May all the STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDING OFFICER good resolved in each of our hearts in this opening moment be brought to completion according to Your holy will. We ask this The PRESIDING OFFICER. Good afternoon, ladies and gen- through Christ, our Lord. Amen. tlemen, and welcome to the special day of the Senate of Pennsyl- vania where we have the opportunity to witness the oath of office The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair thanks Monsignor being administered to our Senators-elect--some new faces are Kaza, who is the guest today and pastor of our President pro joining us this Session in the Senate of Pennsylvania--and a very tempore and Lieutenant Governor, Senator Scarnati. special occasion where, from within our body, we elect a consti- tutional officer, the President pro tempore of the Senate of Penn- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE sylvania. To put us in the right frame of mind, we will begin with a (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by those assembled.) prayer. Before I call on the Monsignor, though, I would like to ask all my colleagues to please remember that there would be The PRESIDING OFFICER. Please remain standing while the two special people with us here today, but that Almighty God Chair now invites Ms. Mackenzie Bart to the rostrum to sing our decided to bring them home. So in our prayers today and in our National Anthem. thoughts, if we could remember the gentleman from Schuylkill (Whereupon, the National Anthem was performed by Ms. County, Senator Jim Rhoades, and our Lieutenant Governor, Mackenzie Bart.) Catherine Baker Knoll. (Applause.) The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair offers a special thank PRAYER you to our soloist, Ms. Mackenzie Bart, for her beautiful and patriotic rendition of our Star-Spangled Banner. The Chaplain, Monsignor CHARLES A. KAZA, Pastor of Saint Tobias Roman Catholic Church, Brockway, offered the PRESENTATION OF ELECTION RETURNS following prayer: The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Ser- Shall we pray. geant-at-Arms. O good and gracious God, as we gather in these opening mo- The SERGEANT-AT-ARMS. Mr. President, I have the honor ments of Your new year of grace and the beginning of a new to present the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Honorable legislative Session, we begin our work in prayer with a sincere Pedro Cortes. and humble word of thanks. Thanks to You, Almighty God, for The PRESIDING OFFICER. Thank you, Sergeant-at-Arms. Your hand of blessing that has been such a constant part of our Welcome, Mr. Secretary. Commonwealth from its beginnings and which we continue to The SECRETARY. Mr. President, as Secretary of the Com- enjoy to this very moment. We thank You for our brothers and monwealth and on behalf of the Pennsylvania Department of sisters who have responded to Your call of service and the voice State, it is my privilege to present to you the official returns of of Your people. We thank You for those who have served in this the general election held November 4, 2008. Chamber in the past, and in a special way today, we ask You to The PRESIDING OFFICER. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, and guide those whom we welcome as they officially accept and be- Happy New Year to you. gin their new roles of service to our people. We ask that You fill The SECRETARY. Happy New Year. Thank you. their minds with Your wisdom, their hearts with Your compas- 2 LEGISLATIVE JOURNAL - SENATE JANUARY 6, ELECTION RETURNS FOR TREASURER, TWENTY-NINTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT AUDITOR GENERAL, AND ATTORNEY Schuylkill James J. Rhoades (Rep) 68,160 Berks Peter PJ Symons, Jr. (Dem) 38,017 GENERAL LAID ON TABLE Dennis Baylor (NOP) 2,354 The PRESIDING OFFICER. The returns for the Treasurer, THIRTY-FIRST SENATORIAL DISTRICT Auditor General, and Attorney General will be laid on the table. Cumberland Patricia H. Vance (Rep) 92,959 Susan Kiskis (Dem) 37,406 ELECTION RETURNS OF SENATORS THIRTY-THIRD SENATORIAL DISTRICT The PRESIDING OFFICER. The returns of the Senators will Franklin Richard Alloway II (Rep) 80,259 be read by the Clerk. Adams Bruce Tushingham (Dem) 36,804 The Clerk read the election returns as follows: THIRTY-FIFTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT Cambria John N. Wozniak (Dem) 65,281 FIRST SENATORIAL DISTRICT Joseph W. Veranese (Rep) 33,959 Philadelphia Lawrence M. Farnese, Jr. (Dem) 95,727 Jack Morley (Rep) 22,698 THIRTY-SEVENTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT Allegheny John Pippy (Rep) 88,770 THIRD SENATORIAL DISTRICT Amy Jude Schmotzer (Dem) 46,152 Philadelphia Shirley M. Kitchen (Dem) 96,328 Robert S. Nix (Rep) 12,647 THIRTY-NINTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT Westmoreland Kim Ward (Rep) 60,740 FIFTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT Tony Bompiani (Dem) 51,571 Philadelphia Mike Stack (Dem) 71,141 John Farley (Rep) 27,702 FORTY-FIRST SENATORIAL DISTRICT Indiana Don White (Rep/Dem) 97,625 SEVENTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT Philadelphia Vincent J. Hughes (Dem) 101,996 FORTY-THIRD SENATORIAL DISTRICT Montgomery Marc Perry (Rep) 17,344 Allegheny Jay Costa, Jr. (Dem) 101,482 NINTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT FORTY-SEVENTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT Delaware Dominic Pileggi (Rep) 77,440 Beaver Elder Vogel, Jr. (Rep) 60,047 John Linder (Dem) 55,730 Jason M. Petrella (Dem) 45,857 ELEVENTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT FORTY-NINTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT Berks Michael A. O'Pake (Dem) 76,885 Erie Jane M. Earll (Rep) 62,934 Stephen P. Fuhs (Rep) 30,991 Cindy Purvis (Dem) 45,480 THIRTEENTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT *Party Designation - (Dem) Democrat, (Ind) Independent, (Lib) Liber- Lancaster Lloyd K. Smucker (Rep) 66,632 tarian, (NOP) No Party, (Rep) Republican Jose E. Urdaneta (Dem) 50,488 Whereupon, the following named persons were declared duly FIFTEENTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT elected Senators in the General Assembly of the Commonwealth Dauphin Jeff Piccola (Rep) 64,166 Judy Hirsh (Dem) . 59,432 of Pennsylvania: SEVENTEENTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT First District-Lawrence M. Farnese, Jr. Montgomery Daylin Leach (Dem) 79,114 Third District-Shirley M. Kitchen Lance Rogers (Rep) 49,643 Fifth District-Mike Stack NINETEENTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT Seventh District-Vincent J. Hughes Chester Andrew E. Dinniman (Dem) 84,846 Ninth District-Dominic Pileggi Steve Kantrowitz (Rep) 62,026 Eleventh District-Michael A. O'Pake Thirteenth District-Lloyd K. Smucker TWENTY-FIRST SENATORIAL DISTRICT Venango Mary Jo White (Rep) 76,699 Fifteenth District-Jeffrey Piccola Clarion Mary Lea Lucas (Lib) 13,987 Seventeenth District-Daylin Leach Nineteenth District-Andrew E. Dinniman TWENTY-THIRD SENATORIAL DISTRICT Twenty-first District-Mary Jo White Lycoming Gene Yaw (Rep) 61,430 Union Louis Trey Casimir (Dem) 29,612 Twenty-third District-Gene Yaw Lycoming Michael A. Dincher (Ind) 10,965 Twenty-fifth District-Joseph B. Scarnati III Twenty-seventh District-John R. Gordner TWENTY-FIFTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT Twenty-ninth District-James J. Rhoades Jefferson Joseph B. Scarnati III (Rep) 64,103 Donald L. Hilliard (Dem) 31,979 Thirty-first District-Patricia H. Vance Thirty-third District-Richard Alloway II TWENTY-SEVENTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT Thirty-fifth District-John N. Wozniak Columbia John R. Gordner (Rep) 79,985 Thirty-seventh District-John Pippy Thirty-ninth District-Kim Ward 2009 LEGISLATIVE JOURNAL - SENATE 3 Forty-first District—Don White ADMINISTRATION OF OATH OF OFFICE Forty-third District—Jay Costa, Jr. TO DEMOCRATIC SENATORS-ELECT Forty-seventh District—Elder Vogel, Jr. Forty-ninth District—Jane M. Earil The PRESIDING OFFICER. The next order of business will be the administration of the oath of office to the Democratic Sen- STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDING OFFICER ators-elect. It is again an honor and a personal privilege for me to have the opportunity to introduce to the Senate of Pennsylva- The PRESIDING OFFICER. For the record, the Chair has nia and our guests the Honorable Seamus P. McCaffery from the been informed by Secretary Cortes, the Secretary of the Com- Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Justice McCaffery, a personal monwealth, that all the Senators-elect have filed in his office the friend, has kindly consented to be here today to administer the accounts and affidavits as required by the election laws of this Commonwealth. oath of office to our Democratic Senators-elect in accordance with Article VI, Section 3, of the Constitution of Pennsylvania. Before proceeding to the administration of the oaths of office, Will all the Democratic Senators-elect present themselves in the Chair would like to request the cooperation of the news pho- front of the rostrum, and please bring with you the Bibles which tographers and all others who would like to take pictures or vid- have been placed on your desks. eotape so that during each of the actual ceremonies, there will be Everyone please stand. no picture taking. Those Senators who are sworn in are asked to, I have the honor of presenting Justice McCaffery, who will please, at the conclusion of the actual administration of the oath administer the oath of office to the Democratic Senators-elect.