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

Following is a listing of executive and legislative action from the week of Aug. 12. Both houses of the General Assembly were in recess at press time. The state House of Representatives was scheduled to return to session Sept. 17, and members of the Pennsylvania Senate were set to come back Sept. 23.

Gun Violence

Gov. Tom Wolf on Aug. 15 announced his plan to issue an executive order to put programs in place “to deter gun violence in Pennsylvania.”

Wolf detailed his plan in a visit to Philadelphia the day after a mass shooting that injured six police officers.

According to a Wolf administration statement, the order would include both preventative and proactive approaches to prevent gun violence by addressing community gun violence and mass shootings.

“It won’t change what happened last night, but it could help prevent something like this from occurring again in the future,” Wolf said on Twitter.

Wolf spoke at Philadelphia City Hall and visited the 39th Police District, where he thanked officers for bringing an end to an eight-hour standoff with no loss of life.

“No criminal should have access to enough weapons and ammunition to hold dozens of police officers at bay for nearly eight hours,” Wolf said. “We must address the many underlying issues that cause gun violence. We must stop people who want to harm themselves or others from accessing guns.”

Another statement said the order, which has been in the works for months, would focus on four priorities:

• New oversight and data sharing.
• Reducing community gun violence.
• Combatting mass shootings.
• Addressing the rising number of gun-related domestic incidents and self-inflicted shootings, including suicides by gun.

According to the statement, in the executive order Wolf will direct his administration to create new state offices focused on violence prevention and reduction, expand programs that promote safety, refocus departments on treating gun violence as a public health crisis, and increase collaboration and data sharing between the public, government agencies and other states.

Lobbyist Charged

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Aug. 13 announced charges against a Pittsburgh lobbyist for stealing more than $100,000 from Pennsylvania small businesses.

The lobbyist, Joseph Kuklis, worked as deputy state director for former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, from 1995 to 2000, and currently operates Wellington Strategies, a government consulting firm.

At press time, Wellington Strategies’ company website was offline and Kuklis’ Twitter account was disabled.

Kuklis also formerly worked at Duane Morris Government Strategies. He left Duane Morris’ lobbying arm in 2015.

According to a statement from the Office of the Attorney General, Kuklis was charged with corrupt organizations, deceptive or fraudulent business practices, forgery, and theft by deception. The scheme allegedly began in early 2017, according to the Office of the Attorney General.

An investigation was opened into the defendant’s practices following a referral from the Office of General Counsel. The attorney generals’ investigators, according to the statement, found that

Kuklis would charge small-business owners a consulting fee with a promise to obtain grant funding for them through the Pennsylvania Department of Economic Development. He allegedly forged documents from DCED to make it appear as if these businesses applied for grant monies and won. But the grants were never awarded, nor were the applications submitted.

“The defendant falsely promised small business owners that he would obtain badly needed grant money for them, but instead he used their money to line his own pockets,” Shapiro said in the statement.

Criminal Records

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale on Aug. 12 asked the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts to take three steps to prevent magisterial district judges from erroneously creating criminal records to persons who are only accused of committing civil violations.

The recommendations came in the wake of an audit of an Erie County Magisterial District Court that uncovered the misfiling of 3,000 civil cases as criminal matters. The county’s president judge on Aug. 5 sealed the cases.

DePasquale recommended that the AOPC immediately conduct a review of district courts in every county to determine if this problem has occurred elsewhere. He also said state court officials should strengthen the training required for magisterial district judges to clarify procedures around the correct handling of civil cases, and revise charging documents to make clear that defendants understand the difference between criminal and civil complaints, and that pleading guilty to a criminal complaint will result in having a criminal record.

“I applaud the court system for its quick response to the miscarriage of justice in Erie County,” DePasquale said. “I want to ensure that similar problems aren’t taking place in the more than 500 other district justice offices across Pennsylvania.”

DePasquale recently released an audit of the Erie County District Court 06-2-04, where a former district justice improperly filed criminal charges for theft of services in cases that should have been classified as civil complaints. The filing of a criminal charge avoided nearly $100 in court filing costs which would have to be paid upfront in a civil action.

“The public should be able to trust that judges are acting fairly and within the bounds of the law,” DePasquale said. “No one should ever wind up with a criminal record because a judge handed out the wrong complaint form.”

Savings Program

Treasurer Joe Torsella on Aug. 12 announced the PA ABLE Savings Program more than doubled its assets in one year. PA ABLE currently has more than $18.4 million in assets, up from $8.6 million in July 2018. The program continues to be one of the fastest-growing members of the National ABLE Alliance, with more than 2,500 PA ABLE accounts opened since the program’s beginning in 2017.

“The fast growth of PA ABLE demonstrated by these numbers shows just how important a program like this is to members of the disability community,” Torsella said in a statement. “PA ABLE allows those with disabilities and their families a way to save without losing access to government benefits they have come to rely on.”

According to a Treasury statement, PA ABLE provides a tax-advantaged way for Pennsylvanians with disabilities and their families to save. Funds saved in PA ABLE accounts can be used to pay for any qualified disability related expenses including housing, education and health care costs.

“Saving for expenses like modified vehicles to get to work, or assistive technology to enhance independence was once considered impossible for many for fear of losing necessary benefits—now with PA ABLE, more things than ever are within reach for those with disabilities in the commonwealth,” Torsella said.

Savings held in PA ABLE accounts also do not affect eligibility for assistance from federal programs, the Treasury statement said.