Legislature

In rejecting PSA screening for prostate cancer, an influential federal panel has chipped a cornerstone of preventive medicine, declaring that it's not always best to catch cancer as early as possible. "At best, PSA screening may help only 1 man in 1,000 avoid death from prostate cancer," the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said Monday. "Most prostate cancers found by PSA screening are slow growing, not life threatening, and will not cause a man any harm during his lifetime.

In one instance, it's a case of too late. In the other, it's a case of too little. Nevertheless, voters in Erie and Reading next week will have the opportunity to show government officials how they feel about two key issues in their areas - the worthiness of the state legislature and the fight against drugs - in a pair of notable, but nonbinding, ballot questions. In Erie County, voters on Tuesday will be able to register their objections or support for the middle-of-the-night pay increase the General Assembly gave itself and other state officials last year.

AMENDING the state constitution to enact term limits for the Legislature similar to those already imposed on the governor has supporters and detractors. While there are valid points on both sides, you wouldn't expect a politician who, in the dark of night, voted to raise his own salary to have the audacity to oppose giving the public some form of constitutional protection against politicians who cast votes and exploit the benefits of office in an attempt to remain in power indefinitely.

In the tragedies of Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles, conflicts between human beings were often resolved by the "deus ex machina," the unexpected and inexplicable hand of the Olympian gods. Wednesday, a contemporary calamity was likewise resolved (or, depending on your viewpoint, further complicated) by the hand of the Florida state legislature. A last-minute initiative, which passed both the Senate and the House by comfortable margins, authorized a hospital in Clearwater, Fla., to resume giving fluids to Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman who has become the center of a national debate on the right to die. Schiavo, a Huntingdon Valley native who has been in a persistent vegetative state for over a decade, does not fit neatly into any category.

  State Senate Mark Cimino (R). . . 20,560 Stephen M. Sweeney (D). . . 29,613   State Assembly Electing two. Phil Donohue (R). . . 19,454 Jeffrey Stepler (R). . . 18,864 John Burzichelli (D). . . 29,936 Douglas Fisher (D). . . 29,799   State Senate 99 percent of the vote. Shelly Lovett (R). . . 14,105 Fred Madden (D). . . 20,799   State Assembly Electing two. Patricia Fratticcioli (R). . . 15,397 Patricia Fratticcioli (R)

FIRST SENATORIAL DISTRICT ANNE DICKER HOUSE DISTRICTS 172nd: RICHARD COSTELLO 179th: GUY D. LEWIS 184th: CHRISTIAN DiCICCO 186th: KENYATTA JOHNSON 198th: BYRON DAVIS

With Philadelphia looking for help from the state Legislature to ease its fiscal crisis, the Legislature has adjourned for the year without taking action. But it didn't leave the Capitol without acting on other matters. In its final days, the Legislature passed: A measure to get tough on stuffed-toy makers by hiking fines from $300 to $1,000 for those who fail to meet the quality standards of the Stuffed Toy Manufacturing Act. A "potty parity" bill requiring government buildings and other facilities to have more restrooms for women than men because research shows women use restrooms longer.

HARRISBURG - His face is on the penny. His name is etched on schoolhouses, stadiums, and highways. He's got a holiday, for heaven's sake. Does the Pennsylvania legislature really need to prepare, print, and pass a resolution every year recognizing Abraham Lincoln's birth? Its sponsor has no doubt. A Civil War enthusiast, State Rep. Harry A. Readshaw (D., Allegheny) has fought to preserve monuments at Gettysburg and presides at an annual Civil War ball in the Capitol Rotunda.

HARRISBURG - In recent years, many have pushed for cutting the size of the Pennsylvania legislature: reformers, think tanks, candidates for office. But now the call for shrinking the 203-member House of Representatives comes from an unlikely source: one of those 203 members. And not just any one - the representative who, come January, is expected to become House speaker. Fresh off his party's victories at the polls, House Minority Leader Sam Smith (R., Jefferson) on Wednesday said he would like to see the chamber's ranks trimmed - for the simple reason that he believed it would make it easier to get things done in the Capitol.

Not content to leave Pennsylvania communities with any control over gas drilling within their borders, state legislators have stripped municipalities of their zoning authority under Act 13, choosing energy corporations over the people who elected them. This isn't exactly new ground for the legislature; indeed, taking away communities' authority to govern themselves is a decades-old pastime in Harrisburg, one that has shifted into high gear over the past 20 years. The legislature made logging a guaranteed right in all zoning districts back in 1992, giving in to timber interests and eliminating municipalities' authority to provide for conservation zones.

TRENTON — Before they delved completely into the budget, lawmakers took some time this week to talk about sharks, tigers, and pigs. The Legislature is considering bills to ban the sale of shark fins, require aggressive monitoring of captive tigers, and keep pregnant pigs out of restrictive crates. The shark-fin bill generated the most controversy. It would force New Jersey fishermen to throw away shark fins rather than sell them. Supporters of the bill hope it will help stifle the shark-fin market, which has led to a practice called "finning," in which fishermen cut fins from live sharks and toss the animals back into the ocean to die. Fins are prized for shark-fin soup, a Chinese delicacy served at weddings and celebrations.

HARRISBURG - Though President Obama's view of gay marriage has evolved, few expect his historic Wednesday announcement to move the Pennsylvania legislature to take any historic action of its own on the issue. For years, the state Capitol has been a place where gay-rights victories are measured not by the number of bills that extend benefits to same-sex couples but by how many unfriendly bills have been stopped, if only temporarily, in their legislative tracks. "For Pennsylvania to go from where it is now to gay marriage, it's like going from a tricycle to the space shuttle," said Ted Martin, executive director of Equality Pennsylvania, an advocacy organization for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community.

GREAT NEWS, KIDS, your Legislature's back this week after a nice long break for Easter and the primary, and, boy, it sounds as if lawmakers are really ready to work. High on the list: fiscal responsibility, private-sector job creation and cuts in business taxes. Did you just stand and cheer? Why not? Don't you think if businesses pay lower taxes, they all go out and hire the jobless and underemployed? And just in time, too, because starting Tuesday, the state — in ongoing efforts to cut waste, fraud and abuse — is going after people on food stamps.

The Pennsylvania House's recent vote to decimate its own ranks could be a principled act of collective political hara-kiri. Or it could be a cynical attempt to appear to be doing what's right while harboring every confidence that it ultimately won't. But there's no reason not to hope for the former and congratulate the Republican majority for that unlikeliest of legislative achievements, particularly in Harrisburg: a vote against base self-interest. The measure now before the Senate would trim the state's corpulent legislature, the nation's second-largest, from 253 members to a still-voluptuous 191. However, even if it clears the upper chamber, where it has the support of Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware)

When it comes to the real estate tax, opinion is deeply divided: Half of property owners hate it, and the other half really, really hate it. Dissatisfaction appears to be off the charts in North Dakota. In June, in what is believed to be a first, voters will decide whether to scrap the unpopular levy. "We consider North Dakota to be Lexington and Concord," said Charlene Nelson, a home-schooling mother who is a referendum organizer. Although nothing of that magnitude is unfolding in Pennsylvania, the legislature once again is considering bills to eliminate the property tax, oft-criticized for being unfair, antiquated, and baffling.

HARRISBURG - A bill to reduce the size of the Pennsylvania legislature withstood a battery of criticism to easily clear the state House on Wednesday, the first such vote by lawmakers to trim their own ranks in 45 years. The bill, which passed 140-49, would reduce the House from 203 seats to 153 and the Senate from 50 senators to 38 - thus relieving the state of the dubious distinction of having America's second-biggest state legislature. The proposal now goes to the Senate, where the concept, at least, has the support of Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware)

TALK ABOUT GOOD timing: Temple's Institute for Public Affairs just published the first volume of The Temple Papers on the Pennsylvania General Assembly . Volume I of this scholarly five-volume project addresses the "evolution" of our Legislature (which, in my view, still has knuckle-draggers) and its current size (which you may know is ginormous). The reason the timing's good is that the House this week is to take up a proposal to reduce its size, something I've eagerly advocated most of my adult life.

OKLAHOMA CITY - An Oklahoma judge on Wednesday struck down a state law that required women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound image placed in front of them and to listen to a detailed description of the fetus before the procedure. District Judge Bryan Dixon ruled that the 2010 statute passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature was an unconstitutional special law because it addressed only patients, physicians, and sonographers dealing with abortions and did not address them concerning other medical care.

TRENTON - In the race to be the first state to approve Internet gambling - and dominate a potentially multi-billion-dollar market - New Jersey lawmakers heard what they wanted to hear Monday from a Seton Hall law professor and expert on the state constitution. John Wefing told an Assembly panel that he did not believe voters needed to approve Internet gambling to make it legal in New Jersey. Wefing said current law already gives the Legislature and the governor the power to decide what forms of gambling are appropriate for Atlantic City.