The LuLac Edition #3911, October 24th, 2018

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

Our “Write On Wednesday” logo

This week we look at the impotent State Legislature and what they did or more to the point didn’t do in Harrisburg.
Pennsylvania’s well-paid lawmakers are pretty much done with their duties in Harrisburg until the new year and we assume most are back home relaxing.
If you see your lawmaker, we’d suggest you snap them out of vacation/holiday mode for a moment or two with some pointed questions.
It is our firm belief the Legislature failed its citizens on two critical fronts in the waning days of this session.
First, our fine representatives have finally killed off a well-meaning and taxpayer-friendly proposal that would’ve cut the state’s bloated House membership from 203 legislators to 151.
A vote last week was the final nail in the coffin, but the real dagger came last month in a House Rules Committee vote that added language that would also reduce the state Senate’s ranks from 50 to 38.
It was a shady way of derailing legislation that was almost at the point of passage after a long fight for a referendum that would go to voters on reducing the size of the House.
Now, citizens won’t get that chance. Apparently, some folks we send to Harrisburg don’t think we are worthy of deciding such issues for ourselves — especially issues that would put some of our full-time legislators out of work.
We looked at this topic further since we last wrote about it and found the whole situation stinks even worse than we initially believed.
Allentown’s Morning Call says three Republicans joined all Democrats to add the poison pill to essentially kill the House reduction plan. They included state Rep. Bob Godshall, of Montgomery County, who is retiring and never has to explain this to voters, and Rep. Judy Ward, of western Pennsylvania, who is running for a state Senate seat. The Morning Call says Godshall and Ward previously supported the bill. But they apparently chickened out when it was becoming close to reality.
Locally, state Rep. Mike Carroll, who represents parts of Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, was one of the Democrats on Rules who unanimously supported the amendment they knew would kill House reduction, according to records of roll-call votes.
Bad move, Mike. We firmly believe citizens should’ve had the final say, and it was ignorant and arrogant to prevent them from doing so.
Also, like we’ve pointed out before, Texas has more than double our population but only a 150-member House, so we don’t buy the argument about how fewer lawmakers will be so bad for Pa. (Texas also has a smaller Senate.)
Another issue we failed to get any action on was the effort to create a two-year window for sex-abuse survivors to sue, which was recommended by the grand jury that probed widespread abuse in Roman Catholic dioceses.
Top Senate Republicans are the obstacle. The boss in that chamber, Joe Scarnati of Jefferson County, is done making concessions but he’s willing to listen to counterproposals. The GOP’s Senate leaders believe a retroactive suit window is unconstitutional and could take money from Catholic charities.
We’re not buying that one either.
Since the time to prosecute most of these atrocities has long expired, hitting the Catholic hierarchy in the pocketbook might be the only way remaining to force and maintain real reform.
But Scarnati is right about negotiating. The window doesn’t have to be two years, it could be 18 months or less, which would give attorneys less time to canvass for cases.
Bottom line: We deserve more from our lawmakers on these two issues and many more.
Don’t be afraid to speak up and tell them that.
(Source: Times Leader).