Lawmakers should follow Rendell’s sound agenda
We often criticize the sluggish manner of Pennsylvania’s General Assembly that seems bound in inertia. That is until a lame-duck session comes its way. This is a dangerous period, after the general election and before the new governor and legislature are sworn in. Rarely is good law made in haste when lawmakers pass legislation that in ordinary times would not withstand the scrutiny of debate. We would hope that this does not occur.
Gov.-elect Ed Rendell, a Democrat, has asked lawmakers for three things. One, grant an extension to the state’s prescription-assistance benefits so that 7,200 seniors aren’t in jeopardy of losing coverage before Rendell is sworn in. The governor-elect has said to give him six months to find the money to keep the PACE program solvent.
Second, delay enacting local property tax reform. And third, hold off on legalizing slots at the racetracks.
Rendell’s requests are reasonable and should be granted.
Under the PACE program, the seniors who are in jeopardy of losing their benefits were slated to be dropped when a Social Security cost-of-living increase kicked in January 2001.
That they’ve remained in the program during a moratorium that is set to expire at year’s end proves two things: Keeping them on a little longer won’t bankrupt PACE and the General Assembly previously recognized this was important but failed to act during its regular session.
Rendell is expected to identify ways to stimulate the Pennsylvania Lottery that subsidizes PACE and find other ways of savings. A slight cost-of-living increase in Social Security shouldn’t hurt seniors by cutting them off from a program designed to help them live healthier lives.
As to property-tax reform, lawmakers have diddled with this one for far too long without proposing any true reform. With a Republican-controlled legislature and a lame-duck Republican governor there is a fear that legislation, similar to what failed gubernatorial candidate Mike Fisher proposed, will be pushed through. Allowing local districts to shift from a property-tax to a hike in local income tax fails to solve this complex problem.
One of Rendell’s campaign proposals was to allow slots at the race track and to use that funding toward education. Clearly the voters preferred this, and lawmakers ought to allow Rendell to pursue this goal, unimpeded by premature approval that might target the funds for something other than education.
Now is not the time for lawmakers to act in haste.