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January 22, 2007
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Sen. Dominic Pileggi's Comments to the Pennsylvania Press Club

VIDEO

Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. I appreciate the invitation.

John Micek, president of the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents Association, recently wrote in his blog that I am "famously taciturn." Taciturn, if you don't know, means "temperamentally disinclined to talk." 

Having said that, I am now ready to answer any questions you might have. 

Well, before taking questions it might make sense to give you something to ask questions about. You heard a bit about my background in Alison Hawkes's introduction. I'd like to tell you how my experience and the nature of my district influences my work in the Senate. 

In many ways, the 9th Senatorial District is a composite of the state. 

Representing the city of Chester – a city with a 75 percent African-American population – first as mayor and now as a state senator, representing portions of  southern Chester County with a significant Hispanic population, and representing a Senate district with every type of urban, suburban and rural community, means that I truly understand diversity. 

Having also served on city council in Chester and on the Chester-Upland school board, I know about working in a challenging environment – which is certainly what we face in Harrisburg for the coming session. But I believe our caucus will meet this challenge. 

This year, you'll see the Senate Republican Caucus especially committed to promoting government integrity and doing so in a bipartisan manner. 

The voters delivered a message last year, and we heard it – loud and clear. 

Already, working together with Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and with Senate Democratic Leader Bob Mellow, we've enacted a series of changes to the Senate operating rules – which in the not-too-distant past some would never have believed possible. 

These changes include:

• Senate session times are restricted to between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m., eliminating middle-of-the-night votes.
• All amendments must be posted to the Internet before they can be offered on the Senate floor.
• The Senate must wait at least six hours before voting on an amended bill or a conference committee report. In most cases, this will mean that an amended bill is on the calendar overnight before a final vote.
• Roll call votes from the Senate floor will be posted on the Internet as soon as possible after a vote, and always within 24 hours.
• Committee votes on bills, resolutions and executive nominations must be posted on the Internet within 48 hours.
• The Senate's Legislative Journal – which includes the full text of all floor debates – will be posted on the Internet as soon as possible, but no later than 45 days after the date of the session. These will also be available through the Senate's web site, and most of last session's Journals are available there now.
• We will prepare an updated fiscal note for any bill amended in a way which will have a fiscal impact, before the final vote on the amended bill.
• Private car leases for Senators have been eliminated.
• Members who live within 50 miles of the Capitol can no longer claim full per diems.
• In addition, last year, we implemented a co-pay for health insurance for Senators and staff.

We believe that's an impressive list of legislative reforms, but it's only the beginning. There's more to look forward to:

• By September, we will post video and audio feeds of Senate floor action on the Internet. Once that's in place and working, we'll move to post web feeds of Senate committee action.
• We will post online all official reports made to the Senate by state agencies and departments, such as departmental budget requests and reports from select committees and official task forces. We will better organize those already online – such as reports from the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee and the Joint State Government Commission – making them more useful to the public. We expect to have a formal system in place by September.
• We're working on a system to make it easy for citizens to use the Web to submit comments for all committee meetings and public hearings, as well as to provide comments on specific bills. This will be in operation no later than May 1.
• We will place laptop computers on the floor of the Senate to give members quicker access to information on bills and amendments being debated.

Those are relatively basic steps that will make it easier for the public to see what their senators are doing and to participate in the legislative process. But they are also, and more importantly, signs of the direction and energy level of our caucus.

In addition to the steps I have just outlined, we intend to address more challenging reforms.

I will be sponsoring legislation to include the General Assembly's financial records under the Open Records Law. Additional amendments to the existing law would include:

• Expanding it to cover the judiciary's financial records.
• Clearly covering PHEAA and covering, for the first time, state-related institutions – Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln.
• Cutting the time period for agency responses to requests for information from 10 days to 5 days.
• Detailing the procedure on how to request information under the Open Records Law – and making it more user-friendly.
• Allowing Open Records requests to be submitted by email.
• And establishing an Open Records Clearinghouse in state government to handle appeals when requests for information are denied.

As you just heard, our reform efforts are not limited to the legislative branch of government. We believe that the public wants greater openness and transparency throughout state government. We also believe that Pennsylvanians elected a strong Republican majority in the Senate to be sure that their hard-earned tax dollars are wisely spent and not wasted.

In this area, you'll see our committee chairmen taking a more active oversight role this year as well. That process starts tomorrow when the Senate Law & Justice Committee – chaired by Senator John Rafferty – examines the Liquor Control Board's operations and the process by which a CEO was chosen.

As the gaming industry emerges in Pennsylvania, it's important that we make sure the companies and individuals involved – and the Gaming Control Board – live up to the public's expectations. We have designated the Senate Community and Economic Development Committee – chaired by Senator Jane Earll – to oversee this industry.

Our watchdog role is more important now because the public sent two messages last year. They want government reforms, but they also want controlled spending – and the best way to control spending growth is by providing vigorous oversight of what the state spends now.

We will do that throughout the cabinet confirmation process and our budget hearings, in addition to special public hearings, such as Senator Rafferty's hearing tomorrow.

Regarding the state budget, Senator Scarnati, Senator Armstrong and I, today, wrote to the Governor urging him to take a new approach to the state budget this year – specifically, that he not cut programs which he is counting on the legislature to restore. This has been done in the past by governors of both political parties, but as we build an era of transparency, it should not continue.

There are, of course, many other important issues facing the state, which we will be addressing in the coming months:

• The Governor's health care plan is far-reaching, and we will explore it fully through a series of fair, but thorough, public hearings.
• We must find a way to fund needed improvements for highways, bridges and mass transit.  We should consider all options, but we should not transfer control of our infrastructure to  foreign investors.
• On property tax reform, this May, the people of Pennsylvania will engage in an unprecedented level of public participation when they cast their vote on a possible tax shift at the school district level. Regardless of the voters' choice on the tax exchange in various districts, the voter referendum will become much more a part of the political process in Pennsylvania.
• In the area of campaign finance reform, while the Governor's interest here is ironic given his record of raising more than 32 million dollars last year – and the fact that he still has almost 2 million dollars on hand – we will take a serious look at enacting contribution limits.
• On the subject of campaigns, robo-calls again drove people crazy this past election season. I will sponsor legislation to end political robo-calls by adding them to the Do-Not-Call list.

As we deal with these issues, we know that we need to work with the Governor, the other legislative caucuses, and also – most importantly – the citizens of Pennsylvania.

I also want to let you know that we expect members of the Senate Republican Caucus to be making a series of announcements in the coming weeks and months about their legislative priorities.

Our membership represents the diversity of Pennsylvania, but we are all dedicated to improving Pennsylvania – and while we will have differences with each other, with the other caucuses, and with Governor Rendell, those differences will be based on honest policy disagreements rather than political partisanship.

The people are right to expect results from state government, and we must deliver. Our caucus has the will, the know-how and the capacity to do exactly that.

Now, I really am ready to answer any questions you might have.

Letter to Governor Rendell urging him to take a new approach to the budget (PDF)

Senator Pileggi spoke to the Pennsylvania Press Club.

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