The Pennsylvania State Capitol Building, in downtown Harrisburg.

Following is a listing of executive and legislative action for the week of Jan. 21. Both houses of the General Assembly were in recess at press time, with members of the Pennsylvania Senate and state House of Representatives scheduled to return to session on Jan. 28.

Budget Process

State Rep. Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery, Democratic chairman of the Appropriations Committee in the state House of Representatives, said the new method of “performance-based budgeting” will improve transparency and efficiency in fashioning the state government's spending plan.

“Performance-based budgeting will mean improved transparency and it addresses the common criticism of 'wasteful government spending' or 'excessive budget growth',” Bradford said as lawmakers concluded the first-ever round of performance-based budgeting hearings. The new process came into being in 2017 when Wolf signed the Performance-Based Budgeting and Tax Credit Efficiency Act (Act 48) into law.

Performance-based budgeting plans must be developed for all agencies under Wolf's jurisdiction once every five years.

The Department of Corrections, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, General Services, Banking, and a review of various tax credit programs received the inaugural performance-based budgeting reviews.

Wolf is scheduled to deliver his annual budget address Feb. 5

Pension Forfeiture

Pennsylvania Sen. John DiSanto, R-Dauphin has reintroduced legislation ensuring public officials and employees who commit job-related felonies are stripped of their taxpayer-funded pensions.

According to a statement issued by DiSanto on Jan. 23, Senate Bill 113, would close the loophole used by unscrupulous public officials whereby they plead guilty to non-forfeiture crimes so they can keep a pension. This issue made headlines when the State Employees Retirement System (SERS) voted to restore the more than $245,000 annual public pension of former state Sen. Robert Mellow, a Lackawanna County Democrat who went to jail on federal corruption charges. “While this was an outrageous example, it is one of many in which public officials violate the public trust and go on to collect lifetime benefits from taxpayers,” DiSanto said. “This is a slap in the face to honest and hardworking citizens shouldering the burden of skyrocketing public pension costs.”

The legislation is also aimed at ensuring the Pennsylvania court system reports criminal convictions to state pension boards rather than leaving it up to the public pension systems to learn of pension forfeiture cases through agency websites and newspaper articles.

School Safety

Attorney General Josh Shapiro released information Jan. 23 on the first-week results for the “Safe2Say” anonymous reporting system, a statewide program enabling students, teachers, school administrators and others to detect and report potential threats of violence and other problems before they happen.

In the program's initial week, the reporting system has received 615 tips and calls from across Pennsylvania, according to a statement from the Office of the Attorney General. Crisis center analysts have processed every tip and referred more than several hundred to local law enforcement and school officials to follow up and interact with students.

Established and funded by the Pennsylvania legislature and signed into law last year, Safe2Say is based on strict principles of anonymity and confidentiality to encourage reporting of problems, potential threats of violence, self-harm or other incidents.

“Pennsylvania students deserve a safe place to learn, free from the threat of violence from classmates or other individuals,” Shapiro said. “I'm proud my office was entrusted by the legislature to run this new program focused on school safety. Working together with local law enforcement and school officials, we can make Pennsylvania safer for families, teachers and, most importantly, our students.”

Safe2Say includes more than 3,700 public and private schools in its network. In its first week of operation, the program's staff trained more than 178,000 students in how to use the reporting system. Last week, plans were to complete trainings for an additional 166,000 students.

Minimum Wage

On Jan. 21, state Sen. Art Haywood, D-Montgomery, joined community activists for a Raise the Wage Rally outside a fast-food restaurant to demonstrate the need for an increase in the minimum wage and how the current wage rate has negatively affected hardworking Pennsylvanians.

“Hardworking individuals deserve a working wage, and this year we will support McDonald's employees in their fight to receive livable wages,” Haywood said. Speakers at the rally pointed to Philadelphia's recent ordinance raising the minimum wage for contracted and subcontracted workers to $15 per hour. They said private employers should follow suit.

Special Election

The state Democratic and Republican parties were preparing to hold conventions to select their candidates for a special election set for April 2 in a western Pennsylvania state senatorial district, the Observer-Reporter newspaper has reported.

Both parties scheduled conventions for Jan. 27 to choose nominees to contest for the seat vacated by former Pennsylvania Sen. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Allegheny, who was elected to serve in the U.S. Congress in November 2018. The district covers parts of Allegheny and Washington counties.

Republicans were set to choose from among Allegheny County Republican Committee chairman D. Raja; Devlin Robinson, a South Hills business owner, and North Fayette Supervisor Bob Doddato, the CapitolWire website reported.

Democrats were considering Olivia Benson, the community engagement director at the Women and Girls Foundation; former Navy officer Pam Iovino and emergency physician Bob Solomon, CapitolWire reported. Former state Rep. Martin Schmotzer, D-Allegheny, dropped out of the running and endorsed Benson, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Reschenthaler defeated his Democratic opponent the last time the seat was contested, in 2016, with 61 percent of the vote to 39 percent.