November House Journals

I have, sadly, been neglecting the PA House and Senate Journals, something I hope to rectify in the near future. The House releases their Journals at a slower pace than the Senate so let’s catch them up first.

In November, 2006, the Pennsylvania House met in full session on seven days,

Nov. 13 (41 p.)
Nov. 14 (16 p.)
Nov. 15 (34 p.)
Nov. 20 (37 p.)
Nov. 21 (41 p.)
Nov. 22 (3 p.)
Nov. 27 (3 p.)

A number of those representatives who were taking their leave of the House for whatever reason, chose to make a farewell speech. Some of these were quite classy, some were humorous, some were neither. Below you will find mention of those farewells as well as any interesting conversations or topics discussed.

The page numbers are to the pdf files and not to the printed pages unless otherwise stated. Most of the Journals are taken up with lists of bills shuffled off to committee or voted on with little discussion.

Nov. 13
p. 13, Farewell of Mr. Pistella, very classy
p. 14-16, Mr. Leh, very classy
p. 22-23 Vitali and O’Brien on mandatory sentences
p. 24 Farewell of Mr. Tigue
p. 37-40 inheritance tax

Nov. 14
p. 11-12 Farewell of Mr. Maitland. Near the beginning of his speech he says, “Two years ago in the general election I got 21,000 votes, 75% of the vote and in this past May’s primary I lost by 3,000 votes to 2500. How does that happen? Please permit me to express my frustration.”
p. 14-15 Mr. Birmelin, very classy

Nov. 15
p. 4 Farewell of Mr. T. Stevenson, very classy, points out bills passed, etc.
p. 4-5 Mr. Gruitza, classy
p. 5-6 Mr. Ruffing, mentions he has an autistic son and acknowledges the work of Denny O’Brien in that regard.
p. 6 Mrs. Lederer, mentions she is the fourth member of the Lederer family to serve in the House since 1948, all from the same city block in Philadelphia. She ends with a quite from Helen Keller, worth repeating: “Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness – it is not attained through self gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”
p. 8-10 Mr. Flick, mostly very classy, acknowledging and thanking colleagues and staff, but we find this very odd note on his staff [names redacted]: [Name] has been with me for 24 years, and there have been no sexual harassment cases whatsoever. So I thank [name] and [name]. Back in the district, [name] and [name] have been working with me. [Name] has been there 24 years, and we have a lot of sexual harassment charges, and I filed them all.”
p. 12-13 sentencing guidelines
p. 17-18 Farewell of Mr. McIlhinney
p. 24-25 discussion on whether only ordained clergy as opposed to other church workers can consider communications regarding child abuse confidential
p. 26-28 discussion on the liability of employers for child abuse committed by their employees and the statute of limitations.
p. 29 rules regarding airplane logs for the governor’s plane
p. 29-30 smoking in casinos
p. 32, kudos to the governor. Note this, part of a statement by Mr. Sather: “This amendment amends Act 2 of 1971, the Tax Code, by excluding the active State duty for emergency pay of Pennsylvania National Guard soldiers from the State income tax. This identical language passed the House and Senate under HB 2282 but was vetoed by the Governor this past weekend due to a nonrelated hotel tax issue which was amended into the bill on the floor some time ago. That has been removed from this amendment, and the amendment goes just to the basis of income from the United States government or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for active State duty for emergency within or outside of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall not be taxed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Nov. 20
p. 4-5 Farewell of Zub, submitted but not read
p. 5 Mr. Grell asks his fellow representatives to sign a card for a Missouri State Representative who was injured while on active duty in Iraq.
p. 5-6 Farwell of Mr. McNaughton. This was the most graceful and touching of all the farewell speeches. Picking out a few sentences and taking them out of context would not do them justice. If you only read one of these, read this one.
p. 7-9 Mr. Wright. He mentions plainly that he and others in the chamber were elected because they were relatives, frequently sons of previous representatives and thus had good name recognition. He also takes the media to task and says people do not understand how the legislature works.
p. 9-10 Mr. Fleagle, who took paramedic training some years ago and plans to work in that field now. Godspeed Mr. Fleagle.
p. 13-14 liability of landowners in regards to hunting
p. 21-22 Farewell of Mrs. Crahalla, several negative comments about the media
p. 22 Mr. Flaherty
p. 22-24 Mr. Baldwin
p. 24-28 discussion of tort reform?
p. 29-33 roadside collecting for charity
p. 34-36 environmental regulations

Nov. 21
p. 7-8 Farewell of Mr. Allen
p. 8-9 Mr. Wilt
p. 9-10 Mr. Blaum
p. 16 Mr. Gannon, classy
p. 16-18 Mr. Bruce Smith
p. 19-23 discussion of the Pennsylvania Construction Code
p. 24-25 legislation on amusement tax, written to exempt Kennywood from paying tax to schools and the municipality.
p. 35 Mr. Kirkland says “I just hope and pray, Mr. Speaker, that the members of this body continue to be supportive of one another and not become the best or animal or want-to-be gods on the Senate side and being to continue to do things to being and continue to do things that will be disruptive, mean-spirited for no reason at all.” [bloggers note: Mr. Kirkland was upset, and rightfully so, in the October Journals, because he had proposed legislation to name a highway in his district after a particular pioneer official and the Senate had changed the designee.]
p. 36-39 free liquor in casinos.