PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGEPAIDHARRISBURG, PAPERMIT NO 529

Stevenson Joins Effort to Reduce State Borrowing

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Part of my responsibility as a state leg-islator is to ensure that your tax dollars arebeing spent wisely. Unfortunately, the pastfive years of the Rendell Administration hasled to a historic increase in the amount of borrowing.Through the end of the current fiscalyear, Pennsylvania’s outstanding debt willhave increased by $2.4 billion. If this trend inborrowing continues, at the end of Rendell’ssecond term in office in December 2010, debtwill have increased to $11.5 billion, more thanany other governor in state history to date.This borrowing translates into long-termdebt that will have to be paid by our childrenand grandchildren, when the state’s debtservice will take up a larger chunk of statespending.A simple analogy is found in people’s ownhouseholds. If people spend their paychecks,exhaust their savings and max out their creditcards, and then ask for their credit lines to beextended, any responsible credit companywould consider this to be too risky to makefinancial sense. And it’s too risky for Pennsylvania.We cannot afford this borrow-now, pay-later attitude.That is why I have joined with colleagues in the House Republican Policy Committee to serveas vice chairman of a special task force studying the Commonwealth’s debt. We will be examiningthis issue as the months progress, and I am hopeful our efforts will result in limiting Pennsyl-vania’s increasingburden of debt.

During a Capitol pressconference, I discussed the level of the state’sdebt that has accrued over the past ﬁve years. As a ﬁscal conservativewho believes that government should livewithin its means, suchborrowing sets a wrong direction for our state.

State Representative

Dick Stevenson

PO Box 202008Harrisburg, PA 17170-2008

Dear Friends,

With the 2007-08 budget debate now behind us and a spending plan in place, I wanted to provide you with an updateof other news from Harrisburg and around the 8th District.In addition to information on my perspective of the final budget, this fall edition of my newsletter includes informationabout legislation I’ve sponsored to help local businesses and organizations recoup money they’ve lost from bad checks,and information about upcoming legislative meetings.You’ll also find a new feature I’m introducing in this newsletter, called “Cheers,” that recognizes people and organiza-tions for their accomplishments. All of those listed received citations from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.If you have any questions about any of the information contained in the newsletter or about state government, pleaseget in touch with my district offices in Grove City or Butler, or visit my Web site at

DickStevenson.com.

Sincerely,Dick Stevenson

The 2007-08 state budget this year camedown to a battle of wills, with 25,000 stateworkers furloughed and a partial shutdown of state government occurring for one day.Although I am pleased the stalemate isover, I could not lend my support to the finalspending plan. We fought off the governor’sseven proposed new taxes, but still, I amdisappointed that spending is far above therate of inflation. As a government, we shouldbe looking at ways to contain spending, notadd to it.The final budget was more than 3.7 percentmore than last year, totaling nearly $27 billion.My first budget in 2001 was nearly $20 billion.In six years, the budget has grown more than35 percent.With a $650 million surplus at the end of the 2006-07 fiscal year, we should be findingways to return that money to the taxpayer,not add new government programs that willonly lead to even greater state spending inthe future.In addition, I continue to be appalled atthe level of borrowing our governor insists isneeded to move Pennsylvania forward.Many members of the agriculture commu-nity called my attention to the importance of retaining the $3 million budget item to supple-ment crop insurance premiums. I and many of my counterparts from rural areas of the statealso recognize the importance of this budgetitem as an essential risk management tool tohelp protect farmers, and the state’s economy,from the effects of devastating crop losses.Unfortunately, even though I consider it oneof the most successful programs the state hasever embarked upon by using state dollarsas an incentive for private sector investment,and even though I conveyed this messageduring budget negotiations, my efforts wereonly marginally successful. The governor pro-posed to cut this funding by two-thirds to only$1 million. While the goal was to restore thisfunding to the $3 million level of past years,we were only able to get agreement with theadministration to fund the program at $1.5million for fiscal year 2007-08.For this reason, combined with concernsabout increased spending and borrowing, aswell as other ill-advised priorities reflected inthe budget, I was a “no” vote on final passageof the budget. Nonetheless, it did pass andwe will have to work within its limits for thenext year.

Stevenson Votes ‘No’to Inﬂated StateBudget

Legislative Meetings Set for Fall

Please join me this fall at one of three legislative meetings I have scheduled around the 8th District.This is an opportunity for me to give you an update on legislative activity in the Capitol, hear your concernsabout issues in our area, and to answer your questions about state government.The meetings are scheduled for:• Friday, Sept. 28, 8 to 9:30 a.m. – Doc Stewart Hall, Harmony.• Thursday, Oct. 25, 6 to 8 p.m. – Pine Grove Community Center, North Street in Grove City.• Friday, Oct. 26, 8 to 9:30 a.m. – West Sunbury Firehall, 772 Hall Road, West Sunbury.Please let us know if you can come so we can plan for your attendance. You may call my Grove City ofﬁce at(724) 458-4911 or my Butler ofﬁce at (724) 284-1431. I hope to see you there!

House OKs Bill to IncreaseBad Check Service Charge

Businesses would be better able to recover costs from writers of bad checks under legislation I have introduced that recently won thesupport of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.Bad checks cost businesses millions of dollars each year, but be-cause of current state law, merchants’ hands are tied when it comesto recovering their costs.When a business or organization deposits or cashes a bad check,its account is charged the bank’s processing fee, and this legislationwill allow it to recoup the loss it has encountered by raising its servicefee from $20 to $50.House Bill 296 allows individuals, organizations and businessesto charge a service fee of $50 when a bad check has been passed tothem. If the actual amount of service charges incurred by the payeeis more than $50, then the actual amount will be assessed againstthe bad check writer.It is against the law in Pennsylvania for a person to knowingly andintentionally write a check for which there are not sufﬁcient funds tocover and he or she fails to make good within 10 days after receivingnotice of the refusal of the check.Upon conviction, the person who wrote the bad check must reim-burse the payee or such other party the face amount of the check, aswell as any service charge if written notice of the service charge wasconspicuously displayed on the payee’s premises when the checkwas issued.A written notice of the service charge amount must still be conspicu-ously displayed at the place of business.The legislation is now with the state Senate for consideration.

Time to Renew Do Not CallRegistration

Some Pennsylvania residents need to renew their registration onthe state’s Do Not Call list to continue avoiding telemarketing calls.Registration for the Do Not Call list is only valid for ﬁve years fromthe date of initial registration. The list is updated quarterly, so if youregistered when the list ﬁrst came out in 2002, your listing expires Nov.1. If you were not able to re-register by the Sept. 15 deadline, you canstill re-register. You may, however, experience some telemarketingcalls for a couple of months until your registration is updated.Phone subscribers should be aware of several exceptions to theDo Not Call law by which telemarketers may call your home even if it is registered on the Do Not call list. The exceptions include callsfrom:

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Telemarketers who have had an established businessrelationship with you up to 12 months prior to the call.

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Tax-exempt charitable organizations, veteran’s organizationschartered by the U.S. Congress and calls made on behalf of apolitical candidate or political party.

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Telemarketers calling at the express request of the residentialtelephone customer.For more information on how to be placed on the Do Not Call listor to renew your registration, visit my Web site at

DickStevenson.com

, or call the Ofﬁce of the Attorney General at 1-888-777-3406.

Dave Stoops, a 40-plus year member of the American Legion Post 852 of Harrisville, poses withhis new license plate, which was created under Act 50 of 2005. Stoops suggested the idea toRep. Dick Stevenson (R-Mercer/Butler) that a special license plate should be created to honor veterans who participated in general military service.

Butler County Man First to Receive SpecialtyLicense Plate

Constituent suggested the idea for special veterans plate

Butler County resident Dave Stoops was the first resident in Pennsylvania to receive a specialized veteransrecognition license plate.Stoops, who lives in Harrisville, first suggested the idea of a license plate for veterans of general service to mea couple of years ago. I was happy to create legislation necessary for such a specialty plate, and when the bill wassigned into law, I requested that Stoops be the first to receive it.Stoops is a 40-plus year, life member of the American Legion, Post 852 of Harrisville.Act 50 of 2005 established three specialty license plates for automobiles and light trucks: the Operation IraqiFreedom veterans’ plate; the Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) veterans’ plate; and a special plate for veterans of general service.Each license plate costs $20 in addition to the normal annual registration fee to obtain. The Pennsylvania Depart-ment of Transportation (PennDOT) is required to certify thoseveterans applying for such plates as serving in one of the above-mentioned military campaigns, or in the case of the veteran plate,any military service by the applicant.Presently, several military plates for veterans of various con-flicts already are issued and include Pearl Harbor Survivors,Korean War, Vietnam Conflict, World War II, and the PersianGulf War.

As a member of the House Republican Policy Committee, I recently took part in a public hearing on thegovernor’s proposed health care coverage plan and its impact in the insurance marketplace. Testifying wereofficials with the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania. Pictured with Stevenson are (from left): Rep. GordonDenlinger (R-Lancaster) and Rep. Kathy Rapp (R-Warren/Forest/McKean).During Heritage Week at the state Capitol in March, I had the opportunity to welcome Mercer County couple, Mark and Linda Brown, who served as Penn Ambassadors. Penn Ambassadors are nominated by a member of the Legislature and participate in a series of events sponsored by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC). This year, Penn Ambassadors had the opportunity to examine thePHMC’s Civil War Muster Rolls conservation project as well as behind-the-scenes tours of the StateMuseum and the State Archives. Pictured with us is Debi Dodson with PHMC.Students from Moniteau High School’s Future Farmers of America program traveled to the State Capitol on March 27 to learn more about state government and the legislative process. The group consisted of (front row) student Amber Foulk and teacher Brian Dean; and (back row) Tim Ealy, Travis Steele and BrianBenson. While there, they had this photograph taken on the historic Capitol Rotunda staircase with me.Several students from the Moniteau School District traveled to Harrisburg in April to participate in the Teens Against Tobacco Use rally at the state Capitol. During their visit, they had this photo taken on the historic Capitol Rotunda steps. Pictured are: Jennifer Kelly, Justin Castello, Gabriel Alcorn, Christopher Cokan,Samantha Ambuster, Jessie Flaherty, Stephanie Bonzo and Michael Kosick. Accompanying them on the tripwas Kristi McEwen; Sharon Maxwell from the Moniteau School District nurses office; and Dr. Donald Gibala,executive director of Community Health Challenge.During the Mercer Memorial 500 weekend, I joined with local residents to unveil three 45 foot by 90 foot, 300- pound American flags. The weekend event celebrates the lives of the men and women from Mercer County who died in our nation’s wars and all of the county’s veterans. I’d like to commend all of the organizers and volunteers for the Mercer Memorial 500 for yet another successful event.