Dear Neighbor

As we close in on the end of the 2009-10 legislative session, there isstill much work to be done in Harrisburg. I want to take this opportunityto update you about what has happened at the state Capitol and what isahead for the rest of the year.I am pleased to say budget negotiations for the 2010-11 ﬁscal year went much more smoothly this year than last year. Though we passedthe budget on time, questions remain about the funding provided in thespending plan, and we are expected to consider legislation in the fall toimplement a natural gas severance tax. I voted NO on the budget thisyear, and you can read more about why on page 2 of this newsletter.As you may know, Pennsylvania is in the midst of a Special Sessionon Transportation as a result of the federal rejection of the proposal to tollInterstate 80. Our road and bridge maintenance has been underfunded for far too long and now we must ﬁnd a funding stream that will provide $3 billionannually for infrastructure upkeep. Bear in mind this $3 billion will not includeexpansion or new construction. The governor has expressed his support of raising the gas tax by 3 cents and increasing fees for driver’s license and

PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGEPAIDHARRISBURG, PAPERMIT NO 432

State Representative

SETH GROVE

196th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Summer 2010

REPGROVE.COM

Community Calendar

Following is a list of upcoming events I am hosting. I invite you and your family to join me at any of these events to discussthe issues most important to our state and our community. You can also cut this section of the newsletter out as a convenientreference to what is happening in the 196th District.

LEGISLATIVE EGGS AND ISSUES BREAKFASTS

*All breakfasts will begin at 8 a.m. Please RSVP as soon aspossible by e-mailing your name, address, phone number and date of the event to

wleahy@pahousegop.com

or by calling (717) 767-3947.Friday, Sept. 17Ski Roundtop / 925 Roundtop Rd. in Lewisberry

RSVP by Tuesday, Sept. 14

Friday, Sept. 24 Alexander’s Family Restaurant / 840 Carlisle Rd. in York

RSVP by Tuesday, Sept. 21

Friday, Oct. 8Windy Hill Senior Center / 50 N. East St. in Spring Grove

RSVP by Tuesday, Oct. 5

Friday, Oct. 15Dover Valley Restaurant /

3720 Carlisle Rd. in Dover

RSVP by Tuesday, Oct. 12

LEGISLATIVE LUNCHEON

11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 2Dover Valley Restaurant / 3720 Carlisle Rd. in Dover

RSVP by Tuesday, Sept. 28.

VIETNAM WAR AND ERA VETERANS CEREMONY

Thursday, Oct. 71 p.m.

Toyota Arena at the York Fairgrounds / 334 Carlisle Avenue in York

Visit page 4 of the newsletter to learn more.

vehicle registration, but the General Assembly has yet to debate any of these proposals. I will keep you informed as the situation unfolds.Finally, a survey of legislative initiatives is available on my website,

RepGrove.com

. I encourage you to log onto my website and completethis survey or contact my district ofﬁce if you do not have Internet access.Your opinions are vital to my success in representing our district, and Ilook forward to reading your answers.As always, if you have any questions or concerns regarding statematters, you can call my district ofﬁce, e-mail me directly, visit my websiteor access my Facebook page.Sincerely,Seth M. GroveState Representative196th District

c u t a n d s a v e



LET’S TALK ABOUT THE NEWS ON MY SITES AT

Facebook.com/RepSethGrove | Twitter.com/RepGrove

YORK COUNTY ENERGY FAIR

This expo is a collaboration among the York County House delega-tion to help those residents who will soon experience the expirationof electric generation rate caps. The event is still in the planningstages, but you can learn more by contacting my ofﬁce.

2010-11 Budget Review:

How Your State Tax Dollars Will Be Spent

On time, fiscally sound, holding the line on taxes, forward-look-ing, prioritizing the needs of Pennsylvanians – if I were able to crafta budget for the Commonwealth on my own, those are just a few of the words I would use to describe what that budget would look like.Unfortunately, Pennsylvania’s 2010-11 budget does not exactly liveup to these standards. Though it was on time and does not rely onnew or increased taxes at this time, I believe it is an unsustainablespending plan, and ultimately, I could not support it when it camebefore the House for a vote.Following is a breakdown of the budget:Taxes:I am pleased to inform you this budget does not contain anynew or increased taxes, such as a personal income tax or businesstax increase. However, the House and Senate leaders agreed to con-sider a severance tax on natural gas drilling by Oct. 1 of this year.Cost-Saving Measures: Another positive aspect of this budgetwas its inclusion of cost-saving measures, which will cut down ongovernment waste. The use of purchase cards (P-Cards) will savethe state $10 million and the recovery of tax refund errors will garner $35 million.Spending:This budget contains $28.04 billion in spending for 2010-11, which represents a $207 million increase. Though this is$1 billion less than the original budget request by the governor, it isimportant to remember we ended last year with a $1 billion deficit.This spending is unsustainable because Pennsylvania has beensupplementing spending over the past two years with billions of dollars in federal stimulus money which will expire after the 2010-11budget cycle. When stimulus money ends in 2011-12, the Com-monwealth will be left with a $3 billion structural deficit. Though$207 million is a modest spending increase when compared withprevious years under the Rendell administration, it is irresponsibleto spend even a single dollar more when faced with such a largefunding cliff next year.Unapproved Federal Money:This plan allocates $850 million infederal Medical Assistance funds (FMAP), which have not been ap-proved by Congress. If this money does not come through, budgetcuts will be necessary. Because this money was included in the bud-get, it will be the governor who gets to decide wherethose cuts will come from;however, I am hopeful theLegislature will be givena voice in the process.Ultimately, we should havewaited for the check fromCongress before includingthis money in our spendingplan.Economic Development: Though cuts were seen tonearly every other depart-ment, the Department of Community and EconomicDevelopment will actuallysee an increase in fundingof $59.3 million. While Ifundamentally agree withthe need to spur economicdevelopment, I believe it iswrong to create a systemof corporate welfare in which winners and losers are chosen basedon politics. If we truly want to encourage job creation and businessexpansion, we should make Pennsylvania a more business-friendlystate to help businesses across the board, not just those that arethe handpicked favorites of government officials.Education:Basic education will see a $250 million increase inthis budget, but this and all other funding could be in jeopardy if the FMAP money is not approved by Congress. For public schooldistricts in the 196th District, the increase in funding was allocatedas follows:Dover Area – 2 percent or $211,210Northern York County – 3.96 percent or $286,170Spring Grove Area – 3.97 percent or $420,981West York Area – 6.73 percent or $350,472Streamlining Government Operations:While I could not support thisbudget due to several factors, I also believe our system of budget-ing is flawed. We need to do more to increase transparency andlook for ways to reduce state expenses. To address this need, Iam in the process of drafting several bills aimed at lowering statespending, with the eventual hope of reducing your tax burden. Thelegislation includes:•Creating a Council on Efficient Government to ensure eachagency is focusing on its core mission, maximizing resources andcontracting services with the private sector to increase efficiencyand effectiveness of government services. This council would becomprised of volunteers from the business community.•Establishing an Independent Review Forecasting Commissionof volunteer economists who would develop true revenue forecastsin a transparent process.•Granting authority to the Legislative Budget and Finance Com-mittee to audit state government agencies and programs to rootout waste, fraud, abuse and inefficiencies, and to rely more on theprivate sector for the delivery of services. The goal is to make surethe state is spending tax dollars to serve the people, not to growthe bureaucracy.If you have any questions or comments regarding the budget,feel free to contact my district office.

FOLLOW ME ON

Fixing the Public PensionCrisis Will Take Courage

The Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) andthe State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) are the pensionplans for hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania school and publicemployees. Both are defined benefit plans, which means eachemployee is entitled to a specific retirement benefit based on salaryand years of employment. These plans are funded by a combinationof returns on investments made by the retirement systems, contribu-tions from the employee, and contributions from the employer. Theemployer is essentially the taxpayer.In 2012, PSERS and SERS will be faced with a serious costspike because investment income is down. Because the employeecontribution level is set by law, Pennsylvania taxpayers will be onthe hook to cover the costs of retiree benefits. This means schoolboards will be forced to raise property taxes, and the Legislature willbe forced to increase taxes.In an effort to ease these costs, the House recently passed HouseBill 2497, which would address the spike in several ways. In part, thebill reduces the multiplier, increases the vesting period from five to 10years, eliminates lump sum payments, and increases the retirementages for all

new

SERS and PSERS members – attempts to changebeneﬁts for existing members have been denied by the courts on threeoccasions. It also incrementally increases the employer contributionrates, which can be compared to reﬁnancing a mortgage.What the bill does

not

do is provide adequate protections for our property taxpayers, which is why I ultimately could not support it. Iauthored legislation, House Bill 2482, to lock employer contributionsmade by school districts at 4 percent for the 2010-11 school year andbeyond. The Commonwealth would make up the necessary differ-ence to fully fund the pension system. This would guarantee propertyowners would be 100 percent protected from massive property taxincreases.Our public pension systems are in serious trouble and we musttake bold action to ensure our obligations are met, while cushioningour taxpayers from the full burden of these beneﬁts.While House Bill 2497 is a step in the right direction, I believe itdoes not go far enough to protect Pennsylvania taxpayers. The legisla-tion is awaiting the consideration of the Senate Finance Committee.If you have any questions about the pension crisis, feel free tocontact my ofﬁce.

LINKS ARE AT

RepGrove

.com

LEGISLATIVE

SURVEY

Go Green withPaperless Newsletters

Many people have asked if they can receive an electronic version of my newsletter rather than the paper copy. The answer is ... absolutely.Simply go to

RepGrove.com

and click on the “e-newsletter” icon on the upper rightcorner of the page to sign up.Even if you already receive regular e-mail updates, you must complete this form andinclude your full mailing address so you can be removed from the newsletter mailing list.You will be notiﬁed via e-mail when a new edition of the e-newsletter is available.

Since the incident at Spring Grove High School in which several teenswere caught sexting, I have been committed to ﬁnding a fair and balanced way to protect Pennsylvania’s young people from exploitation, whilesending a message that sexting will not be tolerated. I am proud to say that my House Bill 2189 passed the House in June and is now awaiting the consideration of the Senate Judiciary Committee. This legislationis the result of months of bipartisan dialogue and the input of thePennsylvania District Attorneys Association (PDAA). Pictured with meis Edward M. Marsico Jr., president of PDAA, during the introduction of my sexting bill. You can learn more about this legislation at my website,RepGrove.com.Rich Farr of Rabbit Transit joined me in the House chamber momentsbefore Gov. Ed Rendell opened the Special Session on Transportation.Since the federal rejection of the state’s request to toll Interstate 80,Pennsylvania must ﬁnd a $3 billion annual funding source to maintainour roads and bridges and support public transportation.During the York County model legislature, which offered students fromacross York County the opportunity to visit the Capitol for an in-depthview of state government, I explained the legislative process and theimportance of standing committees in reviewing legislation.

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