reichley report summer 2011

8/6/2019 Reichley Report Summer 2011

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Reichley Report

Summer 2011

Newsletter for the People of the 134th Legislative District

PRSRT STD

U.S. PoSTage

PAID

HaRRiSbURg, Pa

PeRmiT No. 432

Lehigh County: 1245 Chestnut St., Unit #5, Emmaus, PA 18049 Phone: (610) 965-9933

Berks County: Bally Brook Industrial Park, 20 North Front St., Bally, PA 19503 Phone: (610) 845-1425

Power Point PresentationSchool Property Tax ReformWhen: Tuesday, Aug. 30

Time: 7-8:30 p.m.

Place: 3450 Brookside Road, Lower Macungie Community

Center, Macungie

Space is limited. Call our ofce at

(610) 965-9933 for reservations.

Senior ExpoWhen: Friday, Sept. 30

Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Place: Luther Crest RetirementCommunity, 800 Hausman Road

South Whitehall Township

Kids ExpoFree admission and refreshments.

When: Saturday, Oct. 29

Time: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Place: DaVinci Center, 3145 Hamilton Ave., Allentown

Reichley to Hold Town Hall

Meetings in September Light refreshments will be provided.

Please R.S.V.P. to (610) 965-9933

or (610) 845-1425

Walk ins are welcome

• Saturday, Sept. 179:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Bally Senior Center

425 Chestnut St., Bally

• Wednesday, Sept. 217 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Lehigh Lodge

2100 Route 100 South, Macungie

• Saturday, Sept. 249:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Cetronia Fire Company

18 South Scenic St., Allentown

The General Assembly passed a $27.15 billion General Fund budget by our constitutional deadline of June 30 that cut

spending by more than $1 billion and did not raise taxes. In response to Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed $1 billion cut in education

spending, House Republicans restored almost $300 million to school districts to hold down property taxes and another $300

million to Pennsylvania’s public colleges in order to hold down tuition rates. We provided more education funding through

spending cuts in welfare, corrections and legislative accounts.

Because of the loss of $2.7 billion in federal stimulus money, the Legislature needed to focus on where to trim expenses

to restore as much money to education as possible.

School districts were well aware that the state would not be able to replace the $1 billion in stimulus money they received

AND fund all other agency line items at last scal year’s levels. The basic education subsidy is receiving $5.35 billion in

state General Fund money, more than during any previous scal year.

State system schools such as Kutztown and East Stroudsburg universities are funded at 82 percent of what they were last

year. Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln received 81 percent of their 2010-11 total, as part of the state investment in higher (continued on page 2.)

State Budget

Rep. Reichley explains the state

budget during an April

town hall meeting.

Upcoming Events



education of $1.6 billion.

Some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle decried our spending cuts of more than $1 billion because of anticipated

growth in revenue by $700 million next year. However, to spend that anticipated, but not collected, revenue fails to recognize

outstanding pension obligations, the potential of a court-ordered $700 million repayment to the doctors medical malpractice fund,

$4 billion in unemployment compensation debt to the federal government, not to mention road and bridge repair needs and increases

in long-term state debt. Based on these potential expenses, we believed it was not wise or responsible to risk Pennsylvania’s scal

security on wishful thinking that enough money would be recovered to pay for all programs without cutting any spending levels.

State Funding for School DistrictsAs you can see from the chart below, lawmakers attempted to restore as much of the missing federal stimulus money as

possible given limited revenue available this year.

School Districts in 134th District 2010-11 2010-11 2011-12 Difference

Education ARRA Education

Subsidies Stimulus Subsidies

Boyertown Area SD $17,454,627 $1,680,215 $15,652,182 ($1,802,446)

Brandywine Heights Area SD $4,815,437 $454,619 $4,392,326 ($423,111)

East Penn SD $14,311,900 $1,286,592 $12,441,366 ($1,870,534)

Parkland SD $10,053,062 $795,243 $8,927,582 ($1,125,480)

Salisbury SD $2,937,502 $257,384 $2,680,352 ($257,150)

Upper Perkiomen SD $10,139,657 $994,285 $9,134,047 ($1,005,610)

School Districts in 134th District – 2011-12 Property Tax Relief

Boyertown Area SD $146

Brandywine Heights Area SD $217

East Penn SD $112

Parkland SD $105

Salisbury SD $117

Upper Perkiomen SD $185

School District Property

Tax Exceptions

Removed by Act 25A new law gives citizens more control over

school property tax increases and will require school

districts to more frequently seek voter approval

for property tax increases above the state-set

inationary index.

Act 25 also allows businesses to pay school

district property taxes in installments as homeowners

can do now.

Starting next year, Act 25 will enable residents

to vote on property tax increases above the local

inationary index except under three exceptions:

state reductions in aid for special education

expenditures to school districts, school employee

pension contributions, and previously approved

debt. The proposal would also call on school

districts to meet certain nancial criteria before

gaining approval for the exceptions, which was notoriginally stipulated under Act 1.

Act 25 should result in more back-end referenda

and input by taxpayers when a school district

proposes an increase in the property tax above

the local ination index. Act 1 had a longer list

of 10 exceptions. In the past ve years, more than

200 school districts applied to the Department

of Education for an exception, and each one was

granted. As a result, few back-end referenda have

ever been placed on any local ballot.

The new law makes it more difficult for a

school district to apply for an exception from the

referendum requirement enacted under Act 1 of

2006. As a result, fewer school districts will be

able to increase property tax rates above their

inationary index without getting voter approval.

Clearly more needs to be done, but with

enactment of this new law, I hope to see more

taxpayer participation in school property tax

decisions.

Welfare Reforms Address Cases of

Waste, Fraud and AbuseAs part of the nal $27.15 billion budget, signicant welfare

reform measures were adopted to help control costs.

The reforms include:

• Anti-Benet Shopping. Cash benet levels differ from county

to county. Previously, welfare recipients were able to apply for

benets in counties other than their home county as “temporary”

residents and receive that county’s benet level.

Now, under this new law, residents receiving public assistance

benets will only be eligible for benets based on the levels allowed

in their county of legal residence, regardless of where benet

applications are made in the Commonwealth. This change ensures

that all eligible residents receive the benets, and helps to stop those

who defraud the system by “shopping around” for the highest benet.

• Income Eligibility Verication System. The Department of

Public Welfare (DPW) will now be required to use an electronic

cross-reference system to conduct a 19-point check on applicants’

eligibility and to create a standard fraud detection system.

• Special Allowance Program Changes. This program was

set up to help cover costs for those seeking employment to get off

welfare, but was extensively abused and wasted millions of dollars.The budget requires funding reductions of up to 25 percent and

provides the leeway to eliminate allowances within the program.

These reforms will help ensure the department has the ability to

achieve anticipated savings of more than $470 million.

These estimated savings are based on 4 percent error rate

identied in DPW during audits and are consistent with estimates

during the Rendell and Obama administrations.

RepReichley.com

(continued from page 1.)



Facebook.com/RepReichley

Distracted Driving Update

Controlling Lawsuit Abuse

Will Help Create Jobs,

Retain Medical ProfessionalsAct 17, known as the Fair Share Act, was recently enacted to hold

defendants in civil suits liable only for the share of damages for which

they are responsible. Under this new law, a person or entity found liable

in a lawsuit will be responsible for paying only his or her share of the

damages. Any person or entity found to be more than 60 percent at fault

could be held responsible for 100 percent of the jury award.Previously, a defendant who was only marginally responsible for a

plaintiff’s injuries could be held liable for 100 percent of the damages if

the other defendants were unable to pay. This encouraged plaintiffs to

add deep-pocketed defendants to lawsuits, even if they were not really

responsible for injuries.

Lawsuit abuse reform is about job creation and retention. It encourages

new businesses to locate in Pennsylvania by making the Commonwealth

more business friendly. I am glad to see this new law taking effect.

Unemployment Compensation Reform

Castle Doctrine Now LawA law I co-sponsored would extend a person’s

right to self-defense to include the use of deadly force

in an individual’s home, car or business where he or

she has the right to be. Act 10 of 2011, known as

the Castle Doctrine, claries state law so that legal

protection is afforded to law-abiding citizens who use

lethal force in protecting themselves, their families

and their properties.

A person should not be held liable for taking

action to preserve his or her own life and safety

when faced with a grave threat. The new law

would create the presumption that an intruder in the

process of unlawfully entering a dwelling, business

or occupied vehicle intends to do great bodily harm

to the occupants, justifying the reasonable belief that

the use of deadly force is necessary.

The presumption would not apply if the person

entering a home was another resident of the home; a

law enforcement ofcer; or a parent, grandparent or

other guardian removing a child from the home or

vehicle. In addition, this legislation would not applyif a person was using his or her home or vehicle to

engage in criminal activity.

It is important to emphasize that this legislation

does not endorse unlawful aggression. It merely

provides individuals with the necessary legal

protection to respond to a threat of deadly force

whether a person is in their home or out on the street.

Though the House passed two bills

relating to junior driver’s training and

enhanced distracted driving penalties,

legislation banning texting while driving

or hand-held cell phone use has not

passed the Legislature yet.

Members could not reach a consensus

on whether to restrict the use of hand-

held cell phones to all drivers or just to

junior drivers.

There are sizable enforcement

hurdles about whether to make the

penalty a primary offense, meaning police could pull over drivers they

observe using cell phones or texting

while driving and ne them $75, or a

secondary offense, meaning drivers

could be ned only if they are cited

for another driving violation. There

would also be one point assessed on a

driver’s license. The House and Senate

have passed different versions of this

legislation.

A junior driver bill (House Bill

9) increases behind-the-wheel driver

training requirements from 50 to 65

hours, restricts the number of passengers

under the age of 18 when the driver is

a junior license holder, and makes it

a primary offense if anyone under the

age of 18 is not properly

restrained in a vehicle.

The careless driving bill

(House Bill 896) increases

the fine for distracteddriving. Specically, if a

driver is cited for careless

driving and found to have

been distracted by the use

of any electronic device,

personal grooming device,

food, drink, book or other

printed material, he or

she will be assessed an

additional fine of $50 on top of the

standard ne for the initial violation.

It has been a long process for this

public transportation safety issue, but I

hope the Legislature and the governor

can nd a balance to enact the cell phone

ban once and for all.

The Legislature extended unemployment benets making

several reforms to the unemployment compensation system to

control costs by requiring unemployed persons to engage in

an active job search in order to continue receiving benets, as

every other state does. Back benets will be awarded retroactive

to June 11.

This law also limits severance pay, as 40 other states do.

Under the law, a person can receive a severance of up to $17,853

before unemployment compensation benets are calculated.

These reforms will result in average annual savings to the

Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund of $133 million

per year from 2012-18, with the bulk of the savings in the last

four years. The cumulative savings will be nearly $1 billion.

Pennsylvania currently has borrowed $4 billion in

unemployment compensation funds from the federal

government. This debt will be repaid by all businesses through

higher federal taxes, so we need even more reforms to help

businesses offset their higher taxes.

Rep. Marcia Hahn (R-138), Gov. Tom Corbett and Rep. Reichley at the

bill signing ceremony for Act 17, the Fair Share Act on June 28.



Rep. Reichley spoke at a

press conference as part of

American Heart Association and

American Stroke Association

advocacy day in Harrisburg on

May 3, recognizing American

Stroke Month. He has also

introduced House Bill 1400,

which designates primary stroke

centers in Pennsylvania to ensurethe best possible stroke care

possible.

Sprinkler Mandate

RepealedThe rst law of this session – Act

1 of 2011 – repealed a government

mandate requiring automatic

sprinkler systems to be installed

in newly constructed homes.

The bill stops Pennsylvania fromautomatically adopting the building

code decisions rendered by the

International Code Council (ICC).

Changes adopted by that council

could only apply to Pennsylvania

after a two-thirds vote – instead of

a simple majority – by the state’s

Uniform Construction Code Review

and Advisory Council.

The repeal stems from concerns

voiced by many builders and

prospective homeowners whowere worried not only about the

signicantly higher cost of adding

a sprinkler system to a new single-

family home, but also that frozen

or otherwise damaged pipes in a

sprinkler system can ruin walls,

oors and belongings.

The law makes it optional to

install a sprinkler system in a new

home and puts the decision in the

hands of the new home buyer, whileimproving construction standards to

protect our reghters.

Rep. Reichley joined emergency

medical services (EMS) personnel

from the Cetronia Ambulance Corps

for a ride along on May 19 after

a flag-raising ceremony honoring

EMS workers who died in the line of

duty. Pictured from left to right are:

Reichley; Bill Aull, emergency medical

technician (EMT); Michelle Bluis, EMT; Miguel Rivera, paramedic;

and Larry Wiersch, CEO, Cetronia

Ambulance Corps.

Rep. Reichley met Sheri Peters from the Lehigh Valley

Zoo in the Capitol’s East Wing Rotunda on May 10.

Sheri is holding an Argentine tegu, a reptile similar

to a Gila monster.

Reichley’s There Ought to be a Law Contest Winners

Reichley’s ‘There Ought to be a Law’ contest runner up

Christopher Wainwright and his family visited the Capitol on

May 2. Chris was the second-place winner of Reichley’s ‘There

Ought to be a Law’ contest. His idea was to allow local police

to use radar to make roads safer. Pictured are his father and

mother Geoff and Sue Wainwright; his sister, Emily; Christopher;

and Rep. Reichley.

On May 2, Reichley’s ‘There Ought to be a Law’ contest winner

Sam Morgan and his family came to the House oor to celebrate

his winning entry. Sam’s proposal was that dogs should be

prohibited from riding in the front seat of vehicles because of

the potential distraction they present. Pictured from left are:

Jeff and Tori Morgan, his father and mother; Jillian Morgan,

Sam’s sister; Sam; and Rep. Reichley.

reichley report summer 2011

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