HOW TO FIX PENNSYLVANIA
by Warren Bulette

Our State, County, Local and School District Governments were established by the people, per our Constitution, to protect our God given rights to life, freedom, ownership of property and the pursuit of happiness. I don't know how you feel, but from my perspective, all of these Governments have failed when one reflects on their performance. The total tax load is now too great for the people to bear! In spite of all the money spent, the people's quality of life compared to 60 years ago, is declining. Higher taxes simply do not result in better quality of life. The traditional family is being weakened which adversely impacts our culture and the future of our Commonwealth.

The most egregious example of failure is the recent pay raise the State Legislators and the Judiciary received. Each Legislator will cost the people this year, a little more than $1.8 million! And that does not include future pension and health benefit costs. Do you honestly think that we the people are getting our money's worth, given the poor performance of the Legislators?

The following are some reform suggestions for Government at all levels to consider to improve performance, slow down the loss of citizen freedom and cut spending (not in any order of importance):

  1. For every hour special interest lobbyists spend with Legislators, an hour must be made available to the people to level the playing field.
  2. Limit the service of elected officials to two terms and eliminate all pensions and health benefits to put an end to career politicians.
  3. Provide for right of recall of any elected official.
  4. Eliminate seniority in the General Assembly and use best qualified elected officials for leadership positions.
  5. Sunset all new laws, review all old laws to sunset those still needed, and remove those that are outmoded or duplicated.
  6. Give right of referendum to citizens on any issue -- especially on school budgets.
  7. Consolidate 501 School Districts into 67 -- one for each county with one curriculum that emphasizes Founding Father principles.
  8. Change the Sunshine Law to eliminate all Executive Sessions so all proceedings are public information.
  9. Reduce the number of elected State Representatives to 80 and State Senators to 20; limit staffers to 3 per Legislator (one each for Harrisburg and home offices plus one policy researcher).
  10. Two weeks before any vote in the General Assembly, any bill, except for an emergency, must be available to the Legislators. All Legislators must certify they read and understand the bill before their vote counts.
  11. Restrict bills to just one issue or subject -- no more Christmas tree bills that serve as Trojan Horses.
  12. Pay Legislators a base salary and a sizeable bonus based on performance as determined by an independent assessment of progress made in improving the quality of life and citizens' freedom.
  13. Replace the entire outmoded School Code of 1949 that doesn't pay teachers on performance but allows tenure and paid sabbaticals, permits right to strike and still be paid, doesn't provide school choice, promotes busing which results in student obesity while lessening parental involvement and increases cost of construction with prevailing wages -- to name the most onerous mandates. The new school code should be as identical to the code for private schools as possible to include school choice. It should give the school districts the right to determine the rules for expulsion of students that impede learning and cause the dumbing down of instruction. The cost of alternative education for expelled students should be born by the parents to improve parental involvement. The school districts should be protected from frivolous suits by parents.
  14. Change the State school funding formula to a current per student amount adjusted for differences in the cost of living and student demographics.
  15. Eliminate the Department of Education and just have a small staff to measure No Child Left Behind Progress.
  16. Enact the Plan For Pennsylvania's Future to eliminate school property taxes.
  17. Consolidate municipalities.
  18. Enact a yearly spending limit for all levels of Government -- the annual budget can't increase more than the rate of inflation.

Fellow citizens, we should demand less from Governments, assume more individual responsibility, take time to get involved and vote only for those candidates who want to reduce the cost of our Governments -- in order to regain some of our freedom. If this doesn't work, we have the Constitutional right to abolish our Governments.

This article appeared in the York Sunday News, August 14, 2005