High Quality
Open the downloaded document, and select print from the file menu (PDF reader required).
Rep. Matt Baker
REPBAKE.COM
PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGEPAIDHARRISBURG, PAPERMIT. NO. 529
Tips on protecting your personalinformation:
The Office of the Attorney General encouragesconsumers to obtain a copy of their credit reportperiodically to check for unauthorized activity. Con-sumers can get one FREE credit report per year fromeach of the major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experianand TransUnion).
Free Annual Credit Report
Annual Credit Report Request ServiceP.O. Box 105281Atlanta, GA 30348-5281Telephone: 1-877-322-8228Web site:
www.AnnualCreditReport.com
In addition, consumers can opt to put a freezeon their credit information for a period of up toseven years. This prevents credit information frombeing released without the consumer’s permissionand stops new accounts from being established inthe consumer’s name until the freeze is removed.For more information on how to request a freeze,go to my Web site and click on “Protecting Your Identity.”Consumers can also choose to remove their name from mailing lists for pre-approved/pre-screened offers of credit or insurance. Just call1-888-567-8688 or go to the Web site www.optout-prescreen.com. Consumers can opt out for five yearsor permanently.
Identity Theft Legislation Signed into Law
Victims of identity theft to receive financial restitution
Legislation I authored placing stricter penalties on perpetrators of one of the fastest growing and most invasive crimes in the nation wasrecently signed into law.ouse , now ct o , requres convcte oeners oidentity theft to provide financial restitution to their victims.t te economc ownturn, entty tet s on te rse an moreand more people every day are finding themselves the victim of thispervasive crime. Once your personal information has been breached,you are an open target for numerous assaults against your finances,cret recor an genera goo name. s someone wo as een avictim of identity theft, I realize that in order to investigate the crimeand restore financial records, it typically takes a good amount of moneyfrom the victim. My legislation will make sure the victim receives res-titution for those costs.e new aw w requre uges to sentence te person convcte oidentity theft to make restitution for all reasonable expenses incurredy te vctm or on te vctms ea reatng to nvestgatng te tet,bringing or defending civil or criminal actions related to the theft, or tak-ing other efforts to correct the victim’s credit record or negative creditreports related to the theft.he types of fees recoverable include, but are not limited to:•Fees for attorneys and accountants. •Fees and costs incurred in disputing or correcting creditrecords or reports.•Court costs. encourage consumers to e vgant n cecng ter cret re-ports and to be more guarded about to whom they are releasing their persona normaton.
◄ During budget negotiations, Rep. Baker signed on to an initiative that called for astate budget with NO NEW TAXES that would protect public safety, provide humanservices to Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable residents and educate our children.
2009-10 State Budget Wrap Up
e was ga tat te -ay-ong uget staemate came toan end and programs and agencies would finally start receiving their state payments, cou not support te spenng pan ue to te taxhikes and excessive spending in the final budget agreement.
Continued on page 2...
RWSSSTAL CUSTOMER
Budget Wrap Up
continued from page 1.
Tax Increases
e uget ncues a -cent-per-pack increase in the state tax on ciga-rettes and creates a new tax on “littlecigars” at $1.60 per pack. The statespending plan also calls for a $374million tax on Pennsylvania employersat a time when the Commonwealth’sworers an o creators are ree-ing from the international economicrecesson.n addition, the budget includes atax on eca anage are r-ganizations (MCOs). The good newss tat we te state spenng panincludes the targeted tax increasesaove, ouse epucans were aeto block several new or increasedtaxes proposed by Gov. Ed Rendell.t varous ponts urng te ugetprocess, the governor called for botha ersona ncome ax ncreaseand an expansion of the state Salesan se ax . e were ae toblock both of these broad-based taxncreases.n addition, the governor proposeda severance tax on natura gas ar-vested in Pennsylvania. This wouldhave stunted the growth of Pennsyl-vanas emergng arceus aenatural gas industry, resulting in fewer goo-payng os or ennsyvanaworkers. We were also successful inavertng ts o-ng tax proposa.
Draining the Reserve Accounts
Budget negotiators balanced thestate spenng pan, n part, y ranngseveral reserve accounts. The Com-monwealth had built up a 755 millionRainy Day Fund that is intended tohelp pay for unanticipated expenses.That fund will be completely depletedduring the current budget year.he budget also calls for depletingthe $708 million Health Care Provider Retention Account and taking 100million from the MCare Fund. Both of tese uns are use to ep cover the cost of medical malpractice for theeat care nustry.urthermore, $150 million wouldbe taken from the Tobacco Settlementfund, which receives money from afederal lawsuit and allocates thosefunds for tobacco prevention andstatewide health care programs.y ranng te states reserveaccounts, nothing will be availablenext year. s cou e evastatngin the event the economy does notturn around. Given the fact that staterevenues are already $217 millionshort for the year, this is a seriousconcern.
Federal Bailout Dollars
After being sworn into office, Presi-dent Barack Obama and the Demo-crat-controlled Congress in Wash-ington, D.C., acted swiftly to approveseveral bailout measures. One of those was the American Recoveryand Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which,among oter tngs, prove eeradollars to subsidize state budgets.e ennsyvana state ugetincludes more than $2.6 billion ineera aout money. e to tenearly $25.2 billion in state dollars inthe final budget, this means the Com-monwealth will spend approximately$27.8 billion in the current spendingplan.Due, in part, to the extensive useo eera oars or eucaton, scoodistricts in the 68th Legislative Districtreceve moerate ncreases n un-ing within the state budget. Althougham an avocate or eucaton, tslevel of spending cannot be main-tained once the federal money runsout in a couple of years, which meanstaxpayers will have to make up the dif-ference. This, in my opinion, will createa serious funding gap and potentialcrss n te uture.
House Republican Plan
House Republicans presentedsevera spenng pans troug tebudget process, including the mostcompreensve pan create wt teinput of several key House Demo-crats (House Bill 1943). Only partialwithdrawls from the reserve accountsand none of these new and increasedtaxes would have been necessaryunder the House Republican budgetproposa, wc was never rougtbefore the General Assembly for con-seraton y te emocrat-controeHouse.
F ME INTN, VST ME ON
2010-11 Budget Process
e w e worng on te -budget in less than three months, andwe must follow our constitutional obli-gation to get a balanced state budgetpasse on tme.There are several legislative pro-posals currently being circulated thatmgt ep expete te process anput measures in place to hold theenera ssemy more accountae.Those initiatives should be comingeore te ouse an enate n tenext few months.
2009-10 Education Funding for 68
th
Legislative District
*Special education funding will remain the same as last year. Federal funding(ARRA) willprovide additional money; however, this funding is only available for three years.School District Basic Basic ARRA ARRA andEducation Education Funding Basic EducationFunding % Increase % Increase Canton Area $6.81 million 2.70% $368,021 7.5%Galeton Area $2.06 million 2% $150,166 8.4%Northern Tioga $12.39 million 5.21% $834,062 10.9%Southern Tioga $8.62 million 4.19% $678,589 10.8%Troy Area $9.10 million 3.78% $564,130 9.1%Wellsboro Area $5.97 million 4.74% $620,266 13.5%Rep. Baker received the 2009 Friend of Penn State Legislative Award, which was presented byPenn State University President Graham Spanier. Pictured above (from left to right) is Spanier;Baker; Baker’s wife, Brenda; and Penn State Alumni President David Han, M.D.
Take Precautions to Prepare Yourself for H1N1
here has been a lot of information about the H1N1 virus in the newslately. The most important piece of information to discern from the wealth of statistics, precautions and myths about H1N1 is that it appears to be no moredangerous that the seasonal strain of influenza each year.1N1 causes symptoms similar to seasonal flu and can include a fever over 100 degrees, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches,headache, chills and fatigue. In some cases, individuals with the virus mayexperience vomiting and diarrhea.eope necte wt are contagous one ay eore gettng sc anup to seven days after that. This time period can be even longer in childrenan peope wt weaene mmune systems.he Pennsylvania Department of Health cautions anyone with the abovesymptoms to stay at home (except to get medical care) until at least 24 hoursafter the fever ends naturally (without the use of fever-reducing medication).e epartment aso avses nvuas wo eeve tey ave not togo to school or work because doing so could spread the virus to those whoare otherwise well.n addition to practicing good hygiene – washing your hands frequentlyand coughing into a tissue or into the crook of your arm – there are someprecautons you can tae, ncung nng out vaccnatons w edistributed in your area.n eary ctoer, te .. epartment o eat as purcase a tota o250 million doses for the entire United States.he Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has identifiedfive targeted groups that should receive the H1N1 vaccine:•regnant women. •Persons 6 months to 24 years of age. •Health care providers and EMS personnel. •Individuals caring for infants under 6 months of age. •Individuals under age 65 with underlying medical conditions. e vaccne tat as een orere eary or ennsyvana w e te veAttenuated Influenza Vaccine (LAIV). This vaccine is ONLY FDA approved for oterwse eaty nvuas age to . e vaccne as areay starte ar-riving in Pennsylvania regions specifically identified as having high incidencesof reported cases of H1N1. Those regions are the southeast, northcentraland southwest, but production and distribution is currently limited.he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls for children under 10to receive two doses of the vaccine administered 28 days apart OR a minimumof 21 days apart. Individuals over the age of 10 will receive one dose of thevaccine. The vaccine is an intra-nasal vaccine that is a spray. Parents areasked to check with their providers and/or schools, who will be responsibleor amnsterng te vaccnes.t is important to note that this vaccine DOES NOT replace the seasonaln uenza vaccne. you receve a u vaccne ast year or you a nto anat-risk category, you should obtain one this year as well.or more information on where to get vaccines, call 1-877-PA HEALTHor visit my Web site at
RepBaker.com
and click on the “Flu Season: Staynformed” banner.
NE AT REPBKE
.COM
Rep. Baker, Republican chairman of the House Health and Human Services Committee, listens toa report by the Pennsylvania Department of Health on the status of H1N1 and how Pennsylvaniais planning to deal with vaccination distribution and control of the spread of the disease.
New Troy DistrictOffice Location
n an eort to etter serve toseresidents living in Bradford County,we move te strct o ce romCanton Street in Troy, to our new loca-tion down the road in a larger facilitythat has six other businesses in it andampe parng. e are now atCanton Street, Suite 6 in Troy.We have three off-street parkingspaces specifically for constituentsand about 50 spaces total that cane use. e ave groun eve entryfor handicap accessibility and a pri-vate watng area. encourage arearesidents to stop by and check outthe new office. To learn more aboutservice my office can provide, pleasesee page 4 of this newsletter.
Rep. Baker (right) was recently presentedwith the Special Recognition Award from thePennsylvania Podiatric Medical Associationduring its Annual House of Delegates InauguralBanquet in Philadelphia. Baker was nominatedfor the award by Dr. Steven Anselmi, D.P.M.(left), from Wellsboro, who is a member of theHouse of Delegates.
Add a Comment