Harrisburg, May 27, 2015 – State Sen. Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) today issued the following statement congratulating Sen. Matt Smith (D-Allegheny/Washington) on his appointment to serve as incoming President of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce. Sen. Smith’s resignation will be effective within the month.
“For the past three years, Sen. Smith has served as a thoughtful and distinguished member of the Senate Democratic Caucus and was an advocate for hardworking people all across Allegheny and Washington counties,” said Costa. “He is a man of great integrity, whose background makes him the ideal candidate to serve as the President of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber.”
Costa remarked that Smith’s advancement to this position is a testament to the breadth and depth of the experience and expertise he brought to the caucus.
“Matt has earned the respect of everyone who knows and has worked with him. This position will give Matt the opportunity to expand on his record of public service and build from his years of work in the House and the Senate.”
Sen. Smith developed a strong record of support for education, economic development, and government reform during his time in the Senate. He introduced legislation to provide access to housing for homeless veterans, protect the rights of pregnant mothers in the workplace and championed new laws to toughen penalties against those would severely injure or kill a police dog.
Smith served as the Democratic chair of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee and also served as a member of the Aging and Youth, Appropriations, Judiciary, and Transportation committees.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the people of the commonwealth and represent the residents of the 37th Senatorial District. I would like to thank my constituents for entrusting me to be their advocate in the district and at the state level, and want them to know that even as I leave public office I will continue to work to make our region stronger and prepare our workforce to compete in the 21st century economy.” Smith said. “I would also like to thank Sen. Costa and all of my Senate colleagues for their partnership and support during my time in the Senate and as I transition into this new role. “
“Matt was a catalyst for change within the Senate and had a firm grasp on issues of importance to his constituents. He will be sorely missed by the entire caucus,” Costa said. “Our loss is truly the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce’s gain.”
No decision has been made on plans to fill his seat. Costa said the office will remain open and continue to deliver the same level of service they have enjoyed under Sen. Smith.
-30-
Harrisburg – May 22, 2015 — State Sen. Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) expressed his thoughts on the death of J. Matthew Simon of Point Breeze. Simon served as President of Point Park College from 1986 to 1995 and as a member of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority from 2005 until his death. Simon died on May 20:
“Matt was a successful and respected member of our Pittsburgh community. Throughout his long career in public service, he held many positions of distinction — lending his character and integrity to every project on which he worked.
“His commitment to education was evident through his work as president and department chair at Point Park. Matt spearheaded the effort to fund educational scholarships, making post-secondary education affordable and accessible for students. He made it his personal mission to help students achieve their dreams and his exemplary work will benefit students for years to come.
“In 2005, I was proud to recommend Matt to serve as a member of the Pittsburgh Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority. Matt served with distinction and shared the commitment and dedication of his fellow board members in trying to find solutions to difficult fiscal issues.
“Matt’s life’s work made meaningful contributions to helping organizations and communities all across Pennsylvania. Our thoughts and prayers go to his family and friends. He was a role model and gentlemen whose service made Pittsburgh, and our region, a better place.”
-30-
By Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa
On the ballot this year are three critical seats on the state Supreme Court, one seat each on the Superior and Commonwealth courts as well as county row offices and municipal posts which influence how citizens are judged or represented. These races are of statewide interest and local importance.
Despite the parochial nature of most municipal elections, there is a great likelihood that the election of state Supreme Court justices, Superior and Commonwealth Court judges and the contests for down-ballot offices this year will attract millions of dollars from outside interest groups and well-heeled out-of-state contributors. These “investors” believe that they can influence state policy with their checkbooks. Much of that funding will be either unreported or under-reported.
Pennsylvanians deserve better. Seats on the high court and other state courts, county offices and municipal offices should not be thought of as investment products. Voters should be wary of being swayed by outside influences and so-called “dark money.” Sadly, there is too much outside influencing of elections and voters are blinded by the money cloak that shades their knowledge of candidates. There is a better way.
I recently introduced legislation (Senate Bill 11) a measure that provides for campaign finance limitations, along with several other important reforms. The corrupting influence of money in politics is known objectively and anecdotally to most Pennsylvanians. Our citizens are not alone in thinking that too much money in politics corrupts. Nationally, according to a Gallup poll, 79 percent of Americans support limits on campaign fundraising.
This election season has reminded all of us of the need to clean up the campaign finance system and our campaign finance laws. We can do better than to hope that things get better. We must act and build fairness and equality in our electoral system by providing reforms for how candidates raise money and disclose shadowy donors.
The measure I introduced will put these stringent restrictions in place:
- Limit the expenditures and donations by and to a candidate, political action committee (PAC), political party or other person, for the purpose of influencing election;
- Require disclosure of super PAC donors;
- Require stockholder approval of expenditures on political activity.
Pennsylvania’s uncapped campaign finance rules, confounding Supreme Court decisions, and outside influence by national super PAC’s underscore what is wrong in our political system. Campaign expenses are increasing exponentially and driving elected officials and candidates to spend more and more time raising money instead of focusing on important issues or solving challenging problems. Fact is, in Pennsylvania’s most recent gubernatorial election, candidates spent a combined $82 million dollars. Races for the state Senate are frequently rising above the $2 million benchmark.
We must act soon to restore confidence in our electoral process and shield our citizens from a bombardment by outside dollars and outside contributors who have no interest in quality, responsive government. This can be accomplished by adopting tough, but fair, campaign finance reforms such as those prescribed in my legislation.
-30-
Harrisburg – May 13, 2015 – Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) said that the Senate Republican pension reform plan that passed the Senate today (Senate Bill 1) is illegal because it impacts benefits of current employees, is woefully short-sighted, and unfair to workers.
Costa challenged Senate Republicans in floor debate to reconcile well-established law with the proposal. He said that the plan would be immediately challenged in court, cause a litigation explosion and compel taxpayers to cover back benefits.
The Democratic leader said that the Republicans abused the process in rushing the measure to the Senate floor for a vote. Plus, he said that both Senate Democrats and Gov. Tom Wolf have offered responsible, constructive, constitutional proposals that would address high public pension costs reasonably.
Costa said the plan provided little relief even if the bill overcomes legal hurdles. The projected savings for the teachers’ retirement system would be $3.1 billion and $600 million for the state employees system.
He said the measure does not address the unfunded liability in the pension funds that spiked because Pennsylvania failed to make its actuarially required contribution for 17 years. Eighty-eight percent of current costs of the state worker and teacher retirement funds are to pay off the unfunded liability. The plan adds a cash-balance plan for new hires but uses contributions from new hires into the fund to pay retirement benefits for others.
Costa’s comments follow:
“Senate Democrats believe that there are responsible pension reform plans that protect taxpayers and provide reasonable benefits for workers but the Senate Republican plan does neither, plus it is unconstitutional. The Republican plan hurts current workers, devastates pension benefits for future employees and provides little in the way for relief for taxpayers.
“The plan puts new employees and future retirees into poverty and makes changes in public pension systems that are unreasonable. The process that was used to pass this plan was flawed and rushed and the plan itself falls woefully short of any reasonable tests of legality or fairness.”
-30-
Contact: Stacey Witalec
Telephone: 717 877-2997
Email: switalec@pasenate.com
Harrisburg – May 13, 2015 – A leading group of Senate Democrats today wrote to the Public Employee Retirement Commission (PERC) to express grave concerns about the process surrounding Senate Bill 1, a massive overhaul of the pension system for public employees.
PERC itself raised red flags about the expedited legislative schedule, which rendered them unable to fully examine the proposal.
Milliman, the actuarial firm hired by the commission to review Senate Bill 1, included the following note in their analysis:
“Due to time constraints dictated by the Commission for providing this actuarial note, we are providing this letter without a complete review of all facets of the legislation nor all actuarial cost projection information used by the system actuaries in their analyses.”
Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) joined with Democratic Appropriations Chairman Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia), and Democratic Finance Chairman John Blake (D-Lackawanna) to call on PERC to use the authority granted to it to provide recommendations to the General Assembly to improve transparency and provide a timeline when considering legislation related to public pensions.
“Senate Republicans have abandoned the principals of an open and transparent government to ram through an illegal bill that could radically diminish retirement benefits for hundreds of thousands of state and school district workers,” said Sen. Costa. “We need to identify a better process than considering a 410-page bill with only 72 hours notice.”
The timeline for Senate Bill 1 has been extremely rushed, lawmaker said.
There was a hastily called Finance Committee meeting on Monday, May 11, where the bill passed along party lines. Senate Bill 1 was then considered by both PERC and the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting on Tuesday, May 12.
“It now appears that this bill—which legal observers believe is unconstitutional and illegal—may be voted on final passage today,” said Sen. Hughes. “It’s simply unconscionable to consider something of this magnitude on such a fast timeline. When you have Milliman acknowledging problems with the process, that should be enough to stop the wheels of destruction from moving forward.”
PERC was created to ensure that lawmakers can make informed decisions about pension legislation. That is why Senate Democrats have called on the commission to make recommendations to the General Assembly on how to guarantee that future legislation is considered in a more transparent manner.
“We have an obligation to the public to fully consider all legislation, especially something as complicated as pension reform,” said Sen. Blake. “I hope that PERC will respond to our request and create a process worthy of the importance and consequences of any legislation affecting our public pension systems.”
###
Contact: Stacey Witalec
Telephone: 717 877-2997
Email: switalec@pasenate.com
View Letter to PERC →
View Letter to Senate Republicans →
