Legislative Session

In the first half of this year, the Pennsylvania legislature worked through a slate of gut-wrenching issues, including gambling expansion, tuition vouchers and public funding for stadiums. Don't expect more of the same this fall. As Pennsylvania's 253 lawmakers crowd back into the Capitol tomorrow, ending their summer break, the looming battle for control of the House next year is likely to dissuade Republican leaders from votes on politically sensitive matters, according to legislators and staff members.

A decade of Republican control in the legislature came to a close last night, with legislators working late to deliver votes on last-minute bills and salutes to departing colleagues. On the last session of the 209th legislature, lawmakers grappled with more than 100 bills posted for a vote - with some members admitting they did not have adequate time to review all the bills. The legislature acted on measures that would provide financial help for groups as disparate as some county officers and the families of those killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept.

A decade of Republican control in the legislature came to a close last night, with legislators working late to salute departing colleagues and vote on a blizzard of bills. In the last session of the 209th legislature, lawmakers grappled with more than 100 bills posted for a vote - approving legislation that helps groups as disparate as cigar store owners, county officials, and families of those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Bills that would increase salaries for county clerks, surrogates and sheriffs; provide tuition assistance for families of terrorist victims; and cut taxes on cigars and smokeless-tobacco products from 48 percent to 30 percent all won final legislative approval.

HARRISBURG - Ah, the sounds of the state Capitol during the busy fall legislative session. The lawmakers backslapping, the chorus of schoolchildren on class trips, and the click, click, yeeooow ! of women's heels slip-sliding across historic tile floors. Meet Public Enemy No. 1 for women in the Capitol, particularly lobbyists in stiletto heels: the polished Moravian tiles that blanket 16,000 square feet of the great rotunda and the main halls of the 106-year-old building.

That's not really a cross between Sanskrit and hieroglyphics appearing in full-page newspaper advertisements around the state. It's the latest communication from your state government. Last week, as required by law, the Ridge administration began advertising proposed changes to the state constitution that the General Assembly approved in this legislative session. The ads, which will also appear one day next month and on another in October, cost the state $1 million. Some of the changes being advertised deal, literally, with life's two certainties: death and taxes.

Now that the full Pennsylvania General Assembly has returned to Harrisburg, I would like to take a moment to thank it on behalf of Philadelphia's students. Far too often, members of the General Assembly receive far too little recognition for what was truly a successful legislative session for the School District of Philadelphia - a session that resulted in $51 million in new revenue this year and promises significant investments next year. This recognition and praise must begin with Gov. Rendell.

All it took was one word - tobacco - breathed on the Senate floor yesterday to effectively kill a proposal that would have limited consumers' abilities to collect large damage awards after being injured by products. Nearly two years after a business coalition was established to promote the measure, and seven months after the House passed it, the Senate laid the hotly contested "product liability" issue to rest for the remainder of the two- year legislative session. "If there's any indication that the tobacco industry will be protected, there will not be product liability" legislation, said Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Mellow (D., Lackawanna)

The state House paid tribute yesterday to Rep. Alphonso Deal, a Philadelphia Democrat who is battling cancer. The tribute was not so much through words - few were spoken - but by a deed. In the House chamber, often witness to bitter and sometimes personal conflict and argument, it was a rare and moving moment of tenderness. The day's brief legislative session was completed shortly after noon except for a vote on one bill, which Deal had written. The bill would require a cemetery to correct its error if a body was buried in the wrong plot.

INDIANAPOLIS - Mitch Daniels, the Republican governor of Indiana who last year called for a "truce on the so-called social issues," faces a test of his resolve as he approaches his self-imposed deadline for deciding whether to run for president. In the final days of the state's legislative session, lawmakers approved plans to create the nation's broadest private-school voucher system and make Indiana the first state to cut off all government funding for Planned Parenthood. Daniels has pushed the voucher program, but the Planned Parenthood measure presents a political predicament for him as he nears a decision on a presidential run. He has said it's a decision he will make after lawmakers adjourn for the year, though he told the Indianapolis Star on Thursday that he would not have an announcement this weekend even though the legislative session ends Friday.

HOUSE Speaker John Perzel has dismissed calls for a lobbyist disclosure law because he hasn't heard from any constituents who want one or who are upset that Pennsylvania is the only state without such a law. Hmmm . . . wonder how many constituents have urged a pay raise for state legislators? Even with several critical issues left undone before the end of the legislative session this week (see public transit editorial at left), legislators apparently have found time to plan to raise their own pay over and above the cost-of-living increase they already get. They're being cagey on the numbers (why are we not surprised?

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Fifteen months after taking control of Minnesota's legislature, Republicans have put a gay marriage ban on November's ballot, moved to expand gun rights, and cast dozens of votes to cut state spending. But there's one issue where they failed to get traction: watering down the strength of organized labor with a right-to-work law. The problem isn't so much opposition from Democrats. And it isn't a lack of enthusiasm for the idea, which many conservatives consider essential for creating a business-friendly economic climate.

B E IT RESOLVED: Whereas, members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, a bloated, overperked crowd indeed, apparently do not read or even seem to be aware of items they unanimously adopt, there shall henceforth be an outright ban on silly, meaningless resolutions. And, whereas, such a ban would obviate the need for nonreaders and nonthinkers in the House, let this be the first step in slicing House membership in half, at least.   If you missed the inspiration for the afore-offered resolution, it's born of the unanimous (193-0)

TRENTON - Hours after a veteran lawmaker died in the Statehouse, business turned upside down Tuesday, with the normally celebratory swearing-in of legislators taking a mournful tone and Gov. Christie delivering a eulogy instead of the scheduled State of the State address. Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, 75, the top Assembly Republican and a mentor to Christie, collapsed late Monday, moments after casting the last of about 200 votes on the final, marathon day of the two-year legislative session.

Supporters say the bill would update New Jersey's emergency medical services, providing more qualified personnel, uniform care, and reliable response times. Many doctors, nurses, and medical directors liken the present system to the Wild West, where a group of volunteers can buy an ambulance and start a service without a license or criminal background checks, as required in Pennsylvania and most other states. But opponents of the so-called EMS Redesign Bill, which awaits action by Gov. Christie by the end of the legislative session Monday, say it would increase bureaucracy and red tape.

TRENTON - Sports betting, tanning restrictions, municipal aid restoration, and tiger registration will be on the Legislature's agenda Thursday when the Assembly and Senate hold their final voting sessions of 2011. Lawmakers in both houses are scheduled to vote on dozens of bills before recessing until January. The agendas contain few of the controversial issues over which Republican Gov. Christie and Democratic legislative leaders have sparred. Earlier this year, the governor sought passage of bills by the end of the year to revamp public education and give more choices to inner-city children in failing schools.

HARRISBURG - Ah, the sounds of the state Capitol during the busy fall legislative session. The lawmakers backslapping, the chorus of schoolchildren on class trips, and the click, click, yeeooow ! of women's heels slip-sliding across historic tile floors. Meet Public Enemy No. 1 for women in the Capitol, particularly lobbyists in stiletto heels: the polished Moravian tiles that blanket 16,000 square feet of the great rotunda and the main halls of the 106-year-old building.

With so much attention on budgets - state, city, and Philadelphia School District - other news has gotten lost. But it's worth noting that last week, legislation that would directly affect the School District advanced in Harrisburg. Rep. Michael McGeehan (D., Phila.), a vocal critic of Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman and the district, is the author of two amendments, one to restrict bonus and other "ancillary incentive" payments for superintendents of distressed school districts and one to mandate that the state auditor general audit distressed districts every four years and notify the Department of Education if fiscal irregularities are found.

Though it faces long odds in a Republican-controlled legislature, a group of Philadelphia Democrats hopes to help the city teachers' union by stripping the School Reform Commission of its extraordinary powers. Legislation introduced Monday would take away the SRC's ability to terminate collective-bargaining agreements and lay off without regard to seniority. It comes in response to the SRC's promise to cancel contracts and impose terms on its five unions if they do not agree to $75 million in givebacks to help bridge the Philadelphia School District's massive budget gap. June 30 is the deadline set by the SRC for the givebacks.