PSoTD

We may have a weather vane on the tempest which is the Pennsylvania Legislator Pay Raise controversy. State Senator (and Senate President Pro Tempore) Robert Jubelirer has been the subject of two similar polls taken on his approvals this year - one before, one after the pay raise. Guess which poll would have Jubelirer losing a Republican primary?

Good for Pennsylvania Cable Network. This ought to be interesting.

Newscasts across the world are reporting on the possibility of an avian flu pandemic. But what does it all really mean and how can you protect yourself and your family? PCN will devote an edition of the PCN Call-In program to the topic on Thursday, November 3 beginning at 7:00 p.m.

During the show, viewers can call in toll-free at 1- 877-PA6-5001 to speak directly with experts from the PA Department of Health, the PA Department of Agriculture, and the Penn State Hershey Medical Center.

From The Times-Tribune:

Gov. Ed Rendell asked the Legislature this week to appropriate $15 million for LIHEAP, which would increase the fund to $135 million. The $120 million in the fund now would produce average grants of $239 to 330,000 households, an amount that would not even cover the projected increases.

Lawmakers also should approve Mr. Rendell’s request for a state sales tax "holiday" for the purchase of energy-efficient appliance and weatherization materials, in the interest of conservation.

The sales tax holiday idea is an interesting idea, similar to what Governor Ridge did with computer purchases during his term, but it's likely to take more than $15 million from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to make up for the state's share of the federal LIHEAP shortfall. Depending on the federal government to effectively take care of the rest of the funding problem seems too risky as we head into winter.

If Pennsylvania State Senator Jeff Piccola doesn't hire a creative team to work this imagery heavily into his television commercials during the Republican Primary for Governor race, he's missing a golden opportunity.

Pic - Co - La!

I took a tour of the web sites of Pennsylvania's members of the U.S. House of Representatives. If each Representative treats their website as their own personal printing press, we ought to be able to see some of our state's focus... So below is the top news headline for each Representative's site.

Robert A. Brady: Congressman Brady to Award Long Overdue Purple Heart (from May 23, 2005. Good job)

Charlie Dent: Congressman Dent presents Bethlehem with $15 million in highway funds toward expanding Route 412

Mike Doyle: Congressman Doyle Calls for Independent Investigation of Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina

Phil English: English Applauds House Passage of the GAS Act of 2005

Chaka Fattah: CONGRESSMAN FATTAH MOURNS THE PASSING OF A PHILADELPHIA ICON

Michael G. Fitzpatrick: Fitzpatrick Votes to Protect Endangered Wildlife

Jim Gerlach: Gerlach Continues Support of Head Start

Melissa Hart: Hart Votes to Empower FTC to Investigate Gasoline Price Gouging

Tim Holden: Congressman Tim Holden Presents Check to Citizens Fire Co No. 1 of Penbrook

Paul E. Kanjorski: Kanjorski and Frank Call for Fair Fund Hearings, Reforms

Tim Murphy: Murphy and Hart Bill Promotes Cleaner, Healthier Homes

John Murtha: Social Security Privatization

John E. Peterson: House Resources Committee Adopts Peterson Amendment to Lift Ban on Natural Gas Production

Joe Pitts: Joe's statement on Blunt, Delay

Todd Russell Platts: Legislation to Strengthen Whistleblower Protection for Federal Employees Passes House Government Reform Committee

Allyson Schwartz: Representative Schwartz Announces Upcoming Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Information Sessions

Don Sherwood: "Sherwood secures $200,000 to preserve historic structures in Archbald"

Bill Shuster: In Katrina's Wake Congress Addresses Dependence on Foreign Oil, Fiscal Discipline

Curt Weldon: WELDON RAISES AWARNESS ABOUT DANGERS ASSOCIATED WITH CANDLES DURING FIRE PREVENTION WEEK

Pennsylvania State Representative Rep. Bud George gets it about LIHEAP. The Pennsylvania General Assembly needs to figure out the difference.

The Democratic chairman of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee today said a report that the Bush administration has no current plans to seek additional heating assistance funding despite record energy prices means Pennsylvania must either put up or pay the consequences.

"The onus is clearly on Pennsylvania to step to the plate now that the Bush administration has indicated that boosting energy assistance is not a priority," said state Rep. Camille "Bud" George, D-74 of Clearfield County. "Time is running out for the Commonwealth to find a way to help vulnerable businesses and citizens afford heat this winter."

...

"The average LIHEAP grant doesn’t even cover the increased costs Pennsylvanians will pay this winter for heat," Rep. George said. "We don’t have a safety pin cushion, never mind a safety net."

One point: Pennsylvania currently doesn't pay any additional state funds for LIHEAP anyways - which is different than most Northeast states. So... let's not fool ourselves. There's been onus on Pennsylvania for quite a while to supplement the funding. But now, maybe the state legislators will act.

In Pennsylvania, you can expect the following question to be continually debated during the cold weather:

Who has it worst on cost - oil heat consumers, natural gas heat consumers, or electric heat consumers?

For the poor, there's another issue: Who's going to help supplement LIHEAP?

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Last year, Congress provided nearly $2.2 billion for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP helps very poor households, many of whom are elderly, pay their home heating (and cooling) bills. Most of the assistance prevents heat from being turned off in northern states in the dead of winter, but some also keeps air conditioning running during southern heat waves.

...

If these projections prove accurate, the cost of heating the homes of LIHEAP beneficiaries will rise 47.5 percent between last winter and this winter (see Appendix 2 for a description of our calculation). This is the steepest one-year increase in these costs since 1974, before LIHEAP was created. Some analysts have recently suggested that prices may rise more than the Department of Energy projects...

For example, CBPP suggests that the state of Pennsylvania may need up to $200 million more than currently budgeted for LIHEAP beneficiaries in order to hold them harmless to cost increases. This is actually more than double what Pennsylvania is currently budgeted.

Then there's this:

Pennsylvania is the only state in the Northeast that does not supplement federal dollars with state funds for heating assistance programs, said Nick Troutman, a legislative liaison in the Harrisburg office of state Sen. Roger A. Madigan, R-Towanda.

There is going to be a major tug-of-war between states and the Federal Government on who should supplement the LIHEAP higher costs. And it's also part of the discussion of how America - and Pennsylvania - treats and responds the needs of citizens without sufficient financial resources. Pennsylvania's legislators better start thinking about how they can supplement the higher costs, and responding to the needs, or this story is going to dominate the news by February.

A Smoke-Filled Room has more on this, from a week ago.

More and more Pennsylvania state legislators are grudgingly working - or at least promising to work - to get rid of the pay raise:

Lawmaker promises resolutions on pay raise repeals

A leading House critic of the legislative pay raise promises that two bills to repeal the increase will not languish in committee.

The two bills - one to repeal the entire pay raise, another to repeal the midterm pay provision - were assigned last week to the Rules Committee, controlled by the same House leaders who have remained resolute in keeping the publicly unpopular pay increase for lawmakers.

State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe of Butler County, who is emerging as a vocal player in the repeal effort, said at the least, he would file resolutions to discharge the bills from committee if they get stymied there.

From there, each bill would need 25 sponsors to advance to the House floor, where a majority of the Legislative body would need to approve the discharge in order for the bills to be placed on the calendar for consideration. That vote would represent the first litmus test, since the pay raise passed in early July, on whether the House has changed course on the issue.

"I think that's going to be our only option to bring these two up for a vote now," Metcalfe said. "This is a legislative tool given to rank-and-file members if leadership or the (committee) chairman do not believe a bill should move forward out of committee."

Outside of legal efforts, the two bills represent the best chance opponents have to revoke all or part of the 16 to 54 percent legislative pay raise. The raise previously was thought to be between 16 and 34 percent, but those numbers did not take into account the salaries of four new deputy caucus whips.

Move them forward.

So enjoy these Pennsylvania posts, courtesy of Leftyblogs.

Yes! The Harrisburg Patriot-News calls for a Constitutional Convention for Pennsylvania. Among the shopping list of changes suggested:

Dally wants a convention to enact a specific ban against salary increases passed off as unvouchered expenses, but he also would have it look at public education funding, consolidation of local governments, civil justice issues, eminent domain procedures, appointment and qualifications of judges, and the size of the Legislature.

That's an impressive list of meaningful issues, to which we would add our own. For starters: a new right of citizens to have greater control of their government through the power of referendums, initiatives and recall elections.

A convention also should create an independent, nonpartisan commission to carry out legislative redistricting, creating cohesive districts that do not divide communities for purposes of political advantage. It should impose strict rules of lobbyist reporting and establish that lawyers must abide by them like everyone else. It should establish that lawmakers exist to legislate and not to perform the functions of PennDOT and other government agencies, whose services are best provided through the appropriate departments. The advantages of incumbency, such as district offices and staff, newsletters, WAMs and other giveaways should be strictly limited. The acceptance of campaign funds or favors of any sort by incumbents and candidates should be curtailed.

More newspapers need to climb aboard this train.