Capitol Notes: Keeping track of sex offenders; Governor who? Education budget quirks
Friday, February 10, 2006
By Tracie Mauriello and Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
Welcome to Capitol Notes, a collection of light and not-so-light news nuggets from your state Capitol. It's only available online.
WHO LIVES NEXT DOOR?Know your neighbors? Are you sure?
State Sen. John Pippy, R-Moon, wants to ensure you know where the state's 7,800 convicted sex offenders live.
He is introducing a bill that would require their addresses to be listed on the state's Megan's Law Web site.
The site currently lists addresses of only violent sexual predators, about 100 in all. The others are listed by county, hometown and zip code.
Pennsylvania is one of six states that doesn't provide address information for sex offenders, according to the Web site www12.familywatchdog.us, which maps the addresses of registered sex offenders in other states.
Megan's Law is named after a New Jersey child who was raped and killed by a neighbor who had been convicted as a sex offender.
State Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, wants to take Mr. Pippy's plan further.
She is a prime sponsor of legislation that would require sexual predators to wear devices to track their whereabouts at all times.
The requirement would apply to "sexually violent predators," or offenders that courts determine have personality disorders that make them likely to engage in violent predatory sex offenses.
State Rep. Beverly Mackereth, R-York, proposed similar legislation in the House. Her bill would require all sexually violent offenders to wear electronic monitoring devices during the entire period of probation.
Both monitoring bills are in committee.
NOT "REIL'' GOOD SPELLINGIn his budget address Wednesday, Gov. Ed Rendell credited Connecticut's governor for helping initiate a computers-in-the-classroom effort he wants to replicate in Pennsylvania.
Had she been there, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell might have appreciated the acknowledgement, but not the mangling of her name. Mr. Rendell called her "Gov. Reil'' in oral and written versions of his speech.
C'mon, Governor. "Rell" is only three letters off from "Rendell." And that's the "end'' of it.
SPEAKING OF CONNECTICUT GOVERNORS ...Mrs. Rell's predecessor, Gov. John G. Rowland, was, until this week, a resident of Pennsylvania, courtesy of the federal prison system.
Mr. Rowland, convicted in a corruption scheme in April, was just released from Loretto Federal Correctional Institute in the Keystone State. With Mrs. Rell now occupying the governor's mansion in Hartford, Mr. Rowland is said to be house-hunting in his hometown of Waterbury.
GOT MATH?The governor's cabinet members spent the day stumping for their boss's budget during a series of press events.
During one, Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak responded no when asked whether any programs in his department would be cut under the Rendell budget.
A closer look, though, shows that even though the department's funding would increase overall, several current programs are budgeted at zero dollars for 2006-07.
They include programs that promote parent involvement and job training, including New Choices/New Options, an adult education program that helps single parents, pregnant women and displaced homemakers.
New Choices/New Options received $2.5 million in funding for 2005-06, the same as last year. Other job training programs are funded at $5.3 million for 2005-06, down from $9.1 million the previous year. And the parent involvement program, new in 2005-06, received $1.7 million in funding.
Despite those program cuts, Dr. Zahorchak's budget stands to increase by $517 million for a total of $8.6 billion.
Rendell's press secretary, Kate Philips, said the cut programs are legislators' pet projects and are likely to be restored later in the budget process.
"Every year they're zeroed out and then the legislature adds them back in. The legislators do remain loyal to these projects ? and we would be surprised if they didn't continue to give their money to them because they always have," she said. "They just aren't things the governor would ever fund."
The job training program, though, was funded in all three of Mr. Rendell's previous budget proposals.
BACK TO SCHOOLIf you want to serve on your local board of education, you may have to hit the books first.
State Sen. James J. Rhoades, R-Schyulkill, has called for mandatory training before new board members can be sworn in. The free training program would be run by the state Department of Education and would include lessons in state and federal law, school taxes, school finance, academic standards and more.
SHOW ME THE MONEYPennsylvania's per-capita income reached $33,257 in 2004, according to a recently released study by the Penn State University branch in Harrisburg. That's slightly above the national average of $33,041.
The state's per-capita income has been increasing steadily. In 2003, it was $31,730, up from the previous year's $31,005.
SWAN'S SONG?Occasionally on TV there will be ads for a state-sponsored program called the Statewide Adoption Network, which helps people get information about adopting children. One of the agencies involved with it is the state Department of Public Welfare.
But the toll-free phone number listed for information includes the acronym SWAN, which Gov. Ed Rendell may want to consider changing.
Why? Because his Republican opponent in November will almost certainly be former Steeler Lynn Swann, who's the odds-on favorite to win the GOP primary in May (over long-shot Jim Panyard) now that former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton has dropped out.
There's no sense in the Democratic incumbent providing free advertising for the competition.
WE'RE NO. 2! WE'RE NO. 2!
The job of lieutenant governor doesn't involve a lot of heavy lifting. Running the Senate a couple days a week and chairing the Board of Pardons once a month are the main jobs.
But Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll may be taking up a hobby popular with many Pennsylvanians -- fishing.
This week she bought fishing license No. 2 for 2006 from the state Fish and Boat Commission at the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg. The No. 1 license is, of course, reserved for Gov. Ed Rendell.
"Good fishing is just a short cast away," quipped Mrs. Knoll. "In Pennsylvania, you are never more than 30 minutes away from a great fishing destination."
She said that as a child she often went fishing with her father. A basic annual fishing license for a Pennsylvania resident costs $22.
Friday, February 10, 2006
By Tracie Mauriello and Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
Welcome to Capitol Notes, a collection of light and not-so-light news nuggets from your state Capitol. It's only available online.
WHO LIVES NEXT DOOR?Know your neighbors? Are you sure?
State Sen. John Pippy, R-Moon, wants to ensure you know where the state's 7,800 convicted sex offenders live.
He is introducing a bill that would require their addresses to be listed on the state's Megan's Law Web site.
The site currently lists addresses of only violent sexual predators, about 100 in all. The others are listed by county, hometown and zip code.
Pennsylvania is one of six states that doesn't provide address information for sex offenders, according to the Web site www12.familywatchdog.us, which maps the addresses of registered sex offenders in other states.
Megan's Law is named after a New Jersey child who was raped and killed by a neighbor who had been convicted as a sex offender.
State Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, wants to take Mr. Pippy's plan further.
She is a prime sponsor of legislation that would require sexual predators to wear devices to track their whereabouts at all times.
The requirement would apply to "sexually violent predators," or offenders that courts determine have personality disorders that make them likely to engage in violent predatory sex offenses.
State Rep. Beverly Mackereth, R-York, proposed similar legislation in the House. Her bill would require all sexually violent offenders to wear electronic monitoring devices during the entire period of probation.
Both monitoring bills are in committee.
NOT "REIL'' GOOD SPELLINGIn his budget address Wednesday, Gov. Ed Rendell credited Connecticut's governor for helping initiate a computers-in-the-classroom effort he wants to replicate in Pennsylvania.
Had she been there, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell might have appreciated the acknowledgement, but not the mangling of her name. Mr. Rendell called her "Gov. Reil'' in oral and written versions of his speech.
C'mon, Governor. "Rell" is only three letters off from "Rendell." And that's the "end'' of it.
SPEAKING OF CONNECTICUT GOVERNORS ...Mrs. Rell's predecessor, Gov. John G. Rowland, was, until this week, a resident of Pennsylvania, courtesy of the federal prison system.
Mr. Rowland, convicted in a corruption scheme in April, was just released from Loretto Federal Correctional Institute in the Keystone State. With Mrs. Rell now occupying the governor's mansion in Hartford, Mr. Rowland is said to be house-hunting in his hometown of Waterbury.
GOT MATH?The governor's cabinet members spent the day stumping for their boss's budget during a series of press events.
During one, Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak responded no when asked whether any programs in his department would be cut under the Rendell budget.
A closer look, though, shows that even though the department's funding would increase overall, several current programs are budgeted at zero dollars for 2006-07.
They include programs that promote parent involvement and job training, including New Choices/New Options, an adult education program that helps single parents, pregnant women and displaced homemakers.
New Choices/New Options received $2.5 million in funding for 2005-06, the same as last year. Other job training programs are funded at $5.3 million for 2005-06, down from $9.1 million the previous year. And the parent involvement program, new in 2005-06, received $1.7 million in funding.
Despite those program cuts, Dr. Zahorchak's budget stands to increase by $517 million for a total of $8.6 billion.
Rendell's press secretary, Kate Philips, said the cut programs are legislators' pet projects and are likely to be restored later in the budget process.
"Every year they're zeroed out and then the legislature adds them back in. The legislators do remain loyal to these projects ? and we would be surprised if they didn't continue to give their money to them because they always have," she said. "They just aren't things the governor would ever fund."
The job training program, though, was funded in all three of Mr. Rendell's previous budget proposals.
BACK TO SCHOOLIf you want to serve on your local board of education, you may have to hit the books first.
State Sen. James J. Rhoades, R-Schyulkill, has called for mandatory training before new board members can be sworn in. The free training program would be run by the state Department of Education and would include lessons in state and federal law, school taxes, school finance, academic standards and more.
SHOW ME THE MONEYPennsylvania's per-capita income reached $33,257 in 2004, according to a recently released study by the Penn State University branch in Harrisburg. That's slightly above the national average of $33,041.
The state's per-capita income has been increasing steadily. In 2003, it was $31,730, up from the previous year's $31,005.
SWAN'S SONG?Occasionally on TV there will be ads for a state-sponsored program called the Statewide Adoption Network, which helps people get information about adopting children. One of the agencies involved with it is the state Department of Public Welfare.
But the toll-free phone number listed for information includes the acronym SWAN, which Gov. Ed Rendell may want to consider changing.
Why? Because his Republican opponent in November will almost certainly be former Steeler Lynn Swann, who's the odds-on favorite to win the GOP primary in May (over long-shot Jim Panyard) now that former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton has dropped out.
There's no sense in the Democratic incumbent providing free advertising for the competition.
WE'RE NO. 2! WE'RE NO. 2!
The job of lieutenant governor doesn't involve a lot of heavy lifting. Running the Senate a couple days a week and chairing the Board of Pardons once a month are the main jobs.
But Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll may be taking up a hobby popular with many Pennsylvanians -- fishing.
This week she bought fishing license No. 2 for 2006 from the state Fish and Boat Commission at the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg. The No. 1 license is, of course, reserved for Gov. Ed Rendell.
"Good fishing is just a short cast away," quipped Mrs. Knoll. "In Pennsylvania, you are never more than 30 minutes away from a great fishing destination."
She said that as a child she often went fishing with her father. A basic annual fishing license for a Pennsylvania resident costs $22.
posted by Richy at 9:25 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home