Governor calls for review of tax reform petition
HARRISBURG – They’ve checked the list and checked it twice, but Gov. Mark Schweiker and his staff still can’t decide if a petition calling on him to convene a special legislative session on property tax reform is valid. So, after a couple weeks of review, Schweiker on Friday asked a senior official in his administration to investigative further.
Under the state Constitution, the governor must convene a special session, assuming the petition, signed by a majority of state legislators, is valid. While most of the signatures appear authentic, administration officials have doubts about some.
“There are concerns about some of the signatures. These concerns include entries that have been scribbled over, taped over or changed, or have incorrect district numbers,” said C. Michael Weaver, secretary of the commonwealth.
Weaver will investigate further by contacting the eight to 10 lawmakers whose signatures are in doubt. The verification process should take “no more” than two weeks, said Schweiker spokesman David La Torre.
Administration officials wouldn’t say which lawmakers they planned to contact. There are 203 members of the House, and 102 signed the petition. In the Senate, 27 of the 50 members signed. A number of local lawmakers have signed on.
“It’s pretty clear if it’s validated the governor will call a special session,” La Torre said. He wouldn’t speculate on how soon a special session might start.
Although the governor is not sure what good a special session will do, administration officials said they are not dragging their feet on calling one. They said they must scrutinize the petition, because if a special session is convened and it’s later determined that a signature was invalid, any reforms passed could be challenged in court.
“It is our belief that since this document could trigger a constitutional action by the governor, the first such action initiated by the General Assembly in this Commonwealth’s history, it is imperative that we establish a process for this and possible future special sessions called for,” Weaver said.
Some lawmakers have questioned whether holding a special session will accomplish anything. The session would have to end by Nov. 30, the day the Legislature adjourns its regular session, so lawmakers wouldn’t have much time to tackle the complex issue.
Reforming property taxes has been debated for the past 30 years in the Legislature. Several proposals have been introduced, but lawmakers have never reached any consensus on what to do.
But the state senator who circulated the petition says a special session would allow lawmakers to brainstorm and come up with a solution.
“I know for a fact that all the legislators who signed the petition signed independently, in their own handwriting,” said Sen. Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem).
“I know that and I suspect they know that … I just hope the governor will not delay this special session any longer. I do understand to some extent that they need to set a precedent here, so if this happens again in future they have a procedure in place… but they’ve had several weeks already to look at this petition and I just don’t want to hold off this special session any longer.”