Pennsylvania State Capitol building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Photo: Shutterstock

Following is a listing of legislative, judicial, executive and political activity for the period beginning Jan. 26. Both houses of the General Assembly were in recess at press time and scheduled to return to session Feb. 4.

Medical Malpractice

Republican leaders in the state House of Representatives rallied Jan. 30 to warn of a potential crisis in health care depending on the outcome of a rulemaking proposal before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, called for public hearings into the impact if the high court abandons the rule requiring medical malpractice lawsuits to be brought in the county where treatment was provided.

The rule stopped a practice whereby many medical malpractice claims were filed in Philadelphia—seen as a more plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction–even when no treatment had been rendered there. According to a statement from the state House Republican caucus, medical malpractice filings in Philadelphia have dropped by two-thirds since 2003, when the rule was adopted.

Turzai was a member of the interbranch commission that recommended the venue rule, which the high court later promulgated.

“Those reforms have been a success and saved our health care system. Now the court's rules committee is looking to repeal that rule out of the blue, yet has cited zero evidence, empirical or anecdotal, suggesting the venue rule creates any problems,” Turzai said.

GOP Policy Chairwoman Donna Oberlander, R-Clarion argued the impact would be more keenly felt in rural and underserved areas of the state.

“Pennsylvanians' access to quality health care is in jeopardy,” Oberlander said. “The court is looking to reverse all the progress that has been made over the past 16 years to ensure critical access to health care–and that has the potential to cripple Pennsylvania's health care industry and break the valued bond between patients and their doctors.”

Comments are being taken by the high court's Civil Procedural Rules Committee through Feb. 22.

Pension Forfeiture

A bill that would ensure that public employees who commit job-related felonies are stripped of their taxpayer-funded pension was approved on Jan. 29 by the Pennsylvania Senate Finance Committee in a unanimous, bipartisan vote. The bill now moves to consideration by the entire Senate.

Senate Bill 113, whose prime sponsor is Sen. John DiSanto, R-Perry, is aimed at closing a loophole that currently allows persons who plead guilty to non-forfeiture crimes in order to keep their pension rights. DiSanto has said in statements that the legislation was spurred by the case of former Sen. Robert Mellow, D-Lackawanna, who retained his pension rights after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and filing a false income tax return.

“At a time when public pensions are wreaking havoc on state and school district budgets, it's especially egregious that taxpayers are continuing to fund the pensions of public employees who commit felonies on the job,” DiSanto said, applauding the committee vote.

DiSanto's bill would also require courts to notify the state pension systems of all criminal cases where pension forfeiture may be imposed.

Probation Reform

Sens. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington, and Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia Jan. 28 appeared a press conference to announce they have joined forces to introduce a bill that would overhaul Pennsylvania's probation system.

Senate Bill 14 is aimed at reducing “the amount of time and resources devoted to probationers who have completed sentences for past crimes while allowing them to fully re-integrate back into society,” according to memorandum circulated by Bartolotta and Williams to colleagues.

“It is time Pennsylvania joins the 30 other states that have responsibly put a cap on probation sentences to ensure minor probation violations do not result in new sentences not matching the crime,” Bartolotta said.

Williams said Pennsylvania ranks first in the nation for the number of adults under supervision, “a dubious honor which prevents families from thriving, businesses from growing, and society from moving forward.”

SB 14 would set time parameters on probation and parole periods, minimize punishment for technical offenses and give judges the discretion to terminate probation when ex-offenders have shown good behavior.

The measure has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Education Savings

Pennsylvania Treasurer Joe Torsella on Jan. 28 announced that the Pennsylvania 529 College and Career Savings Program (PA 529) recorded the best year in its 25-year history for contributions during calendar year 2018.

“Now, more than ever, it is encouraging to see such growth in the PA 529 College and Career Savings Program. For two consecutive years, Pennsylvania's graduates have started their careers with the highest student debt load in the nation,” said Torsella. “By saving today, families are taking proactive steps in their own homes to alleviate the costs of higher education for Pennsylvania's future workforce.”

In 2018, Pennsylvania families saved more than $585 million to use toward future education expenses—the highest amount of annual contributions in the history of the program, according to a statement from Treasury.

The PA 529 College and Career Savings Program sponsors two plans – the PA 529 Guaranteed Savings Plan (GSP), which lets families save for tomorrow's post-secondary education expenses at today's plan rates, and the PA 529 Investment Plan (IP), which allows account holders to choose how contributions are invested from a list of 16 options. PA 529 IP returns are based on financial market performance, whereas PA 529 GSP returns are based on post-secondary tuition increases.

Since its inception, the PA 529 College and Career Savings Program has paid over $3.5 billion in education related expenses to 2,567 technical and career schools, colleges, and universities on behalf of more than 115,773 students.

Special Election

Allegheny County Republican Committee chairman D. Raja and former Navy officer Pam Iovino, a Democrat, were nominated to run for a Pennsylvania Senate seat in a special election called for April 2, The Associated Press reported.

Both major parties held meetings Jan. 26 to select candidates for the 37th Senate District, which covers parts of Allegheny and Washington Counties, to succeed former state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Allegheny, who was elected to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2018.

Raja is the founder and owner of Computer Enterprises Inc., a Pittsburgh-based technology company, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. He has served since 2013 on the board of directors of the Port Authority of Allegheny County. Iovino is a 23-year Navy veteran, retiring with the rank of captain, the Post-Gazette reported. She also served as an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in George W. Bush's administration.

Reschenthaler easily won the last election for the seat, in 2016, with 61 percent of the vote. But both parties indicated they would invest heavily in the largely suburban-based district. Democrats held the seat as recently as 2015.