Pennsylvania Lawmakers Consider Giving Themselves Fewer Perks

HARRISBURG, Pa.—Rep. Brad Roae might be the most optimistic guy in the Pennsylvania Statehouse.

Roae, a Republican from Crawford, Pa., has plans to push a trio of reform measures that would eliminate state cars for lawmakers, strip lawmakers’ cost-of-living increases and end per diem on weekends in some cases.

They’re taxpayer-friendly ideas, but it’s uncertain whether lawmakers who enjoy the perks have the collective appetite for such reform.

Roae knows his proposals are a hard sell, but he thinks the public would back the changes even if fellow lawmakers don’t embrace them.

“Imagine if you went into work and you suggested to your co-workers we should reduce the salary and benefits that we have where we work,” he said. “That probably wouldn’t go over very well.”

It’s still worth trying, said Roae, joining plenty of other lawmakers who seemingly have resolutions to make 2015 a year of improved ethics and accountability for public officials.

Lawmakers already have circulated proposals that legislators go without pay if they don’t complete a budget on time and that the governor disclose campaign contributions from appointees.

State Sen. Lloyd Smucker, a Republican from Lancaster, has announced his intention to pursue gift-ban legislation.

“This measure is essential toward rebuilding public confidence that our laws and policies are shaped through thoughtful deliberation rather than by undue influence on the part of special interests,” Smucker said in a memo.

Legislation in the state Senate also calls for per diem reform by installing a receipt-based reimbursement system. Former Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, a Republican from Chester, publicly backs that idea.

Eric Epstein, coordinator of the good-government group Rock the Capital, equated the reform rhetoric to a “meaningless ritual.”

“The Legislature creates the illusion of reform at the beginning of each session,” he said. “We know they’re not reformers. They’re the gang who couldn’t vote straight.”

Indeed, in the last session, lawmakers failed to pass a ban on cash gifts, despite an embarrassing scandal in Philadelphia that has led to charges against two lawmakers. They also didn’t act on other simple reform ideas, such as a proposal to end campaign fundraising on legislative session days.

Read more at Watchdog.org.