July 07 Senate Journals

Once again I apologize for being so tardy in writing up the Senate Journals, especially as they actually release them in a timely fashion (yes, House, I am looking at you here).

A little over a year ago state workers were furloughed. This will give you some idea how much (or how little) time the State Senate spent talking about the budget. Most of those pages indicated for discussion were actually long speeches. There is very little actual interaction. The conversations must take place somewhere but it isn't on the floor. Let's hope things go better this year.

July 3 (9 p.) p. 2-9 budget
July 5 (13 p), p. 5-12 budget & energy
July 6 (21 p), p. 6-20 budget – Sen. Tomlinson mentions rumors that he is not working and wants to state that he is at work. Sen. Wonderling is growing a “budget beard” and his wife will not kiss him.
July 7 (5 p.) p 3-4 budget
July 8 (3 p.)
July 9 (19 p.) p. 3-18 budget, family vacations of Pennsylvanians interrupted or ruined. Scouts sent home from camp. Those few who watch on PCN want a budget passed.
July 10 (8 p.)
July 11 (4 p.)
July 12 (14 p.)
July 13 (5 p.)
July 14 (8 p.)
July 15 (8 p.)
July 16 (32 p.), p. 2-7 budget, p. 29-21 transportation
July 17 (2 p.)
July 19 (7 p.)

June 2007 Senate Journals

The storm this evening has played havoc with Internet access which has made researching and writing difficult.

So I am dipping into the vault of canned posts and taking you down memory lane. The House is notoriously slow about posting their daily Journal, running about 6 months behind. The Senate is much more punctual but I've been tardy about posting my notes. This is a brief list of session days and any meaty discussions in the Journal. Unfortunately most days are taken up with passing bills without discussion, introducing guests, and so on. If these issues look familiar it is because many of the are still being discussed.

Here are the highlights:

The State Senate was in full session several days this month.

June 4 19 p.
June 5 10 p. (p. 5 brief discussion on the selection of jurors, p. 7-8 digitizing health care records)
June 6 9 p. (p. 4-7, should judges serve on juries?, p. 7, a group from the Ivory Coast visits)
June 11 13 p.
June 12 12 p. (p.11, Sen. Fumo on the Vietnam War)
June 13 13 p. (p. 4-6 EMS)
June 18 53 p. (45-6 museum funding)
June 19 43 p.
June 20 12 p. (p. 4-6 introduction of budget)
June 25 33 p. (p. 12-26, clean air / smoking)
June 26 22 p. (p. 6-8 hazardous sites cleanup, p. 8-9 landowner liability, p. 9-14 smoking)
June 27 17 p. (p. 8-12 Port Authority, Allegheny Co., p. 14-15 HIV testing)
June 28 10 p. (p. 9-10 Sen. Fumo on Iraq)
June 29 17 p. (p. 2-4 eliminating lame duck sessions, p.8-9 lost or stolen firearms)
June 30 26 p. (p. 11-14 HB 112 insurance, p. 16-25 update on state budget)

May Senate Journals

The Pennsylvania State Senate is ahead of the House in posting their legislative Journals but they don't have all of June up yet so this is the most recent month available. Most issues of the Senate Journal are taken up withs lists of bills voted on or sent off to committee, resolutions, introducing guests, etc. I only take note of substantive discussion; well, Sen. Fumo's diatribes on Iraq also.

May 01 (15 p.)
May 02 (12 p.)
May 07 (16 p.)
May 08 (39 p.)
May 21 (24 p)
May 22 (24 p.)

May 01, p. 10-11, nurses overtime, p. 11-12, Sen. Fumo on Iraq (again), pp. 12-14, Pittsburgh named the most livable city.

May 02, pp. 4-5 public school employees retirement board, p.9, SERS

May 08, p. 13-38 are primarily concerned with Kate McGinty and Michael DeBernardis being reappointed to their positions at the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

May 22, p. 9-16, discussion of HB 112, insurance merger, pp. 22-23, Sen. Fumo on Iraq (again).

April Senate Journals

The Pennsylvania State Senate Journals are posted on the senate's website, though they tend to run behind. Here are some notes from the April Senate Journals. Most of the Journal is taken up with lists of bills, introduction of guests, celebratory resolutions and so on. I only take note of substantive discussion on pending legislation.

April 16 (51 p.)
April 17 (18 p.)
April 18 (11 p.)
April 23 (14 p.)
April 24 (16 p.)
April 25 (14 p.)
April 30 (16 p.)

April 17, pp. 3-4, pay for county District Attorneys

April 23, pp. 12-14, Sen. Fumo on Iraq (again).

April 25, p. 14, Sen. Hughes reacts to yesterday’s sign in the Rotunda saying Rep. Angel Cruz should be hung from the tree of liberty

March Senate Journals

Sorry I am behind on these. Here are my notes from the March Legislative Journals of the Pennsylvania State Senate. On most days the only items in the Journal are appointments to boards or lists of bills introduced or shuffled off to committee, introductions of guests, remarks on non-controversial resolutions, and so on. I only take note of substantive debate or conversation among the senators, of which there is very little.

March 12 (43 p.)
March 13 (16 p.)
March 14 (12 p.)
March 19 (14 p.)
March 20 (11 p.)
March 21 (12 p.)
March 26 (14 p.)
March 27 (15 p.)
March 28 (14 p.)

March 13, pp. 14-15 Sen. Fumo on Iraq (again).

March 26, p. 12-13, interesting discussion on autism, pp. 13-14 Sen. Fumo on Iraq (again).

March 27, pp. 5-8, discussion PEMA and the 2/14 snow storm on I-80.

March 28, p. 6-7, ticket resales, pp. 8-9 insurance merger

February Senate Journals

Not much happened in the Pennsylvania State Senate in February. The entire senate met on five days and the journals for those days were not particularly lengthy. Here are the dates and number of pages:

Feb. 5 (9 p.)
Feb. 6 (5 p.)
Feb. 7 (8 p.)
Feb. 12 (17 p.)
Feb. 13 (12 p.)

On the 5th Sen. Vince Fumo stepped aside as chair of the Appropriations Committee while his legal status is straightened out.

On the 7th four bills were introduced that all concerned nursing babies. Since this was a topic of discussion on this and other local blogs in the recent past I will make a point of looking at those bills more closely. (If you want a head start see SB 34 - SB 38).

On the 12th Sen. Fumo did another one of his reverse Carthago delenda est talks on the Iraq War.

Leaves

On the 5th the following senators requested leaves of one kind or another: Punt, M J White, Sout Armstrong

On the 6th Senators Piccola (returns) and Fumo

On the 12th, McIlhenny (returns), Piccola

On the 13th, D White, Ferlo, Robbins, and M J White

January Pennsylvania Senate Journals

Pennsylvania State Senate Journals for January 2007

The Senate was in session for 9 days. The Senate Journal issues for January are now available on the web and I’ve skimmed through them for interesting comments or events. Here are the dates and the number of pages for those journal issues:

Jan 2 (35 p)
Jan 16 (10 p)
Jan 17 (7 p)
Jan 22 (8 p)
Jan 23 (3 p)
Jan 24 (5 p)
Jan 29 (8 p)
Jan 30 (10 p)
Jan 31 (5 p)

So, as you can see, not a whole lot happened in the Senate in January. The committees may have been very busy but when the Senate was in session together not a lot was going on. Most of the January Senate Journal issues were long introductions of guest, resolutions being passed, and so forth. The January 2nd issue is comprised mostly of election results. On January 16th Lt. Gov. Knoll gives a speech, in the issue for the 17th there is a list of Senate committees. Not a lot of discussion. There were, however, a few points of interest.

In case you were wondering, January 2nd is Senator Joe Scarnati’s birthday and everyone sang to him. Sen. Robert Mellow commented (p. 4) on what a “very young, attractive, energetic candidate Sen. Scarnati is.” Can we all agree to use another word for attractive? Personable, charismatic, vital, appealing – any of these would suffice. One person calling another attractive in a work setting is maybe not such a good idea.

The same issue notes that there is a committee to escort the President Pro Tempore elect to the rostrum. Are they worried he’ll be mugged along the way and needs protection? If there is a budget assigned to this committee I’d suggest we do away with the whole thing.

On the 29th Sen. Vince Fumo makes another long impassioned speech about the war in Iraq (p. 5)

On January 30th Sen. Andrew Dinniman brought along his friend the Ambassador from Kenya who addressed the Senate (p. 5). Given Pennsylvania ’s place in the world economy this sort of exchange should, in my view, be encouraged.

Leaves.

On the 16th Senators Pileggi, Tomlinson, Ferlo, Tartaglione and Fumo requested leaves for legislative or personal reasons

On the 17th Senators D. White, Greenleaf, Tartaglione, Waugh (returned), and Tomlinson requested leaves.

On the 22nd Senators Mary Jo White, Washington and Punt requested leaves.

On the 23rd Senators Punt and Greenleaf (returns) requested leaves.

On the 24th Senators Punt, Greenleaf, Gordner, Armstrong and Fumo requested leaves.

On the 31st Senators Earll and Armstrong requested leaves.

October Senate Journals

The Pennsylvania State Senate met in full session for five days in October. Journals are available for Oct 3 (18 p.), Oct 4 (12 p.), Oct 16 (30 p.), Oct 17 (18 p.), and Oct. 18 (21 p.). The Journal for the 18th indicated that the senate would return on Oct. 23rd but no journal has been released for that day, although the journal for Jan. 2, 2007 has been released so either they are going out of order or the senate did not meet again between Oct 18th and Jan 2nd. If other Oct issues are released I will write an addendum.

In reviewing the senate journals I look in particular for discussion of issues and also note senators who are away on legislative leave or have been granted a leave of absence. My apologies for any errors or misrepresentations. Page numbers refer to the page of the pdf files available on the state senate’s website.

Oct 3, legislative leave for Sen. Armstrong (returns later) and Sen. Conti
Part of the journal is devoted to memorials to the late Mayor O’Connor of Pittsburgh. Later Sen. Fumo gives a statement on Iraq. Sen. Hughes, perhaps inspired by Sen. Fumo, presents a brief life history of a young man murdered in Philadelphia.

Oct 4, legislative leave for Sen. Fumo, a leave of absence for Sen. Conti. The leaves for Sens. Armstrong and Conti are canceled. Try as I might I could not find a leave granted to Sen. Armstrong
Sen. Hughes presents a brief life history of another young man murdered.

Oct. 16, leave of absence for Sen. Rhoads. Legislative leave for Sens. Punt, Washington, Wozniak (returns), O’Pake and Musto.
Sen. Hughes again presents a brief life history a young woman murdered

Oct. 17 Legislative leave for Sens. Rhoades (returns), Hughes, Washington and Tartaglione
Sen. Fumo gives another speech on Iraq

Oct. 18 Legislative leaves for Sen. Madigan (returns), Washingon, D. White, Tomlinson, Lemmond, and Punt
On pages 14 and 15 there is a discussion on a bill that calls for charging a booking fee for someone convicted of a crime, as a way of financing centralized booking systems.

September Senate Journals

For the month of September the Pennsylvania State Senate met in full session for five days, the 19th, 20th, 25th, 26th, and 27th. As promised, when the fall journals were made available I am starting to note when senators were on legislative or other types of leave. If it becomes too much trouble I’ll stop. It will also probably take a few months for me to get the hang of all the different types of leave. But, here, goes, as always, since bills passing the state house or senate are reported in the weekly legislative update, I look specifically for interesting debates or comments in the journals:

Sept. 19 (46 p.): legislative leave for Sens. Kitchen, O’Pake, and Anthony Williams. Not much of interest was reported in the journal itself. On pages 45-6 of the pdf, 2013-2104 of the print, Sen. Fumo talks about Iraq (again).

Sept 20 (7 p.): legislative leave for Sens. Fumo, Kitchen, and Mellow. Nothing of interest in the journal itself.

Sept. 25 (12 p.): legislative leave for Sens. Greenleaf (later cancelled) and Mary Jo White. Temporary leave for Sens. Kasunic (later cancelled) and Punt. Leave for personal reasons for Sen. Fumo.

Sept. 26 (17 p.): Legislative leave for Sens. Scarnati (later cancelled), Mellow and C. Williams. Temporary leave for Sen. Punt

Sept. 27th (11 p.): Legislative leave for Sens. Mellow, Washington, C. Williams, Wozniak, Stout, Mary Jo White and Kasunic (later cancelled). Temporary leave for Sen. Conti. On pages 8-0 of the pdf (2060-2061 of the print) Sen. Fumo talks about Iraq (again). Later, on pages 9-11 of the pdf (2061-2063 of the print), Sen. Hughes talks about gun control and violence.

July Senate Journals

The Pennsylvania State Senate met twice in July, on Saturday, July 1st, and Wednesday, July 5. Not much happened on the 5th but the journal for the 1st was 52 pages long and there were some interesting and amusing comments.

On page 3 (p. 1911 of the print version) We find Sen. Fumo staying this about Sen. Wozniak:

I ask again for a negative vote on this, because as the gentleman said, this budget is an extremely complex process and this is an integral part of that complex process, and I do not believe anybody wants to start up again at a quarter to 4:00 on Saturday. I know the gentleman wants to get home and see the new dining room furniture that his wife has purchased in his absence, so I do not want to keep him here too long, so I ask for a negative vote on this amendment.

The amendment was to a bill on museum funding. Sen. Wozniak, in his remarks, makes a noise to indicate a tape being rewound. On the next page Sen. Fumo asks how the stenographer will indicate that sound. For the record, it is listed as blrblrblrblrb (tape rewinding sound). Now we know.

On pages 9-10 of the pdf there is a discussion of teachers’ strikes.

On pages 30-33 of the pdf (pp. 1938-1941 of the print), there is a lengthy discussion of the budget. Sen. Fumo gives the history of his support for the matter at hand. Sen. Stout talks about his worries that money will be taken from roads and bridges (especially in flood-prone areas) to go to the gaming board or for further mass transit funding. He and Fumo have a conversation on this. Sen. Madigan is also involved in the discussion.

June Senate Journals

With the election coverage I've been remiss in reviewing the online state senate journals. The Pennsylvania Senate Journals for June were meaty, or at least dealt with meaty subjects. They are available online here. On a number of days Sen. Fumo gave his views on the Iraq War. I will say again that I think it is inappropriate to use public recognition of those who died in battle to espouse your political views.

June Senate Journals

6/12 Sen. Piccola responds to Sen. Fumo and mentions Truman. Fumo says he has a lot in common with Truman including a birthday.

6/13 Sen. Tartaglione on minimum wage

6/14 Sen. Tartaglione on minimum wage

6/20 a discussion on mercury emissions

6/21 marriage act, p. 1771-1781. There are some very good statements made in these pages and some that made me roll my eyes. There were too many of each to quote from them. If it is an issue you have an interest in, please look at the online version and read through yourself.

6/22 minimum wage, p. 1794 -1799.

6/27 gambling (p. 1836 of printed version) a bill to delete provisions relating to supplier licenses. Sen. Fumo says “If we do away with the distributors, there are only two people we are helping, we are helping the licensees who are about to make hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and we are helping the manufacturers. We are doing nothing for the people of Pennsylvania.” [Note: what about property tax reform? Wasn’t that the whole purpose here?]

On subsequent pages Sen. Orie speaks in favor of doing away with middlemen. “From the gaming board which must police these licenses, to the manufacturers who must pay for these unneeded services, to the casinos that will pay a higher cost for the slot machines so the middleman can get their cut, and to the workforce whose wages may not be as high because more casino revenue must be dedicated to pay the suppliers for unneeded services, this is layers and layers of bureaucracy and, more importantly, is the inference of political nepotism being utilized with these suppliers.”

Fumo: "There is no fraud, corruption, and criminal activity. We have a gaming board doing in-depth background investigations. We are not going to have that problem.”

6/30 minimum wage

pp. 1889 - 1891 an interesting discussion on the problem finding qualified sign language interepreters.

May PA Senate Journals

Not much happened in May. The Pennsylvania State Senate met for 3 days and one of those, May 2nd, was devoted primarily to memories of and testimonials to the life of Sen. Robert Thompson. The prayer on that day, by the pastor of Sen. Thompson’s church was beautifully written.

If you look at the May 2nd journal, there is an interesting story about Sen. Thompson and a governor (there was more than one governor during Thompson’s term and the name of the governor isn’t given) on page 7 of the pdf, page 1587 of the printed volume. On page 9 (1589 of the printed volume), Sen. Tomlinson explains why he is wearing a tie with horses’ backsides on it (not necessarily the reason you might think).

April PA Senate Journals

I've been remiss in posting information on the PA Senate Journals. The April Journals are up. This year April was calm not cruel and there was very little debate. The 8th and 15th issues has some debate on cell phone tax and property tax. On the 25th Sen. Fumo again gives a long speech (pp.6-8) on the Iraq War, while memorializing two PA soldiers who have recently died in the war. Even though I share Sen. Fumo's sentiment I don't think he should inject his opinions into a public statement on someone's death, unless you have the express consent of that person's family. Just my views though. You can read for yourself here.

A quick note to any senators reading this -- make sure that if you take a temporary leave, your return is noted in the record. I've noticed one senator in particular who asks for a temporary leave and no mention is made of his/her return; same senator tends to not show up for other reasons, too. It just looks bad and I'm going to start keeping a careful record of leaves when the legislature returns in Sept. We can read the journals online now and take note of when you are and are not at work.