Panel wants '08 primary held Feb. 12

HARRISBURG - A divided House State Government Committee yesterday endorsed a plan to move Pennsylvania's presidential primary up by 10 weeks to Feb. 12, while reserving a day in May for referendums in school districts that require voter approval for large property-tax increases.

The Democratic-dominated committee approved the proposal, 16-13, sending it to the full House, according to a spokeswoman for Rep. Babette Josephs (D., Phila.), the panel's chairwoman.

As amended, the bill sponsored by Rep. Harry A. Readshaw (D., Allegheny) would set the date of Pennsylvania's general primary as the second Tuesday in February, or Feb. 12 next year. Nomination contests for other top offices, including Congress and the legislature, also would be held that day.

The proposal would reserve the third Tuesday in May - the day Pennsylvania holds its primaries in non-presidential election years - for referendums in school districts where tax increases that exceed inflation must be submitted for voter approval. That day falls on May 20 next year.

Gov. Rendell has called for holding Pennsylvania's 2008 primary on Feb. 5, making it one of the first in the nation, to maximize Pennsylvania voters' influence in deciding the presidential nominations. Sixteen other states have already scheduled primaries or caucuses on that date.

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association had said that moving the school vote to February would force school boards to put their preliminary budgets for the 2008-09 school year on display in October - too early to obtain reliable estimates of many costs.

Criminal fines. The state House voted yesterday to double the maximum fines for all criminal offenses and tack on a fee to raise millions of dollars to pay for the salaries of county district attorneys.

The maximum fine for murder or attempted murder would rise from $50,000 to $100,000, for example. For summary offenses, the maximum would rise from $300 to $600. The bill also would raise money from a $50 cost-of-prosecution assessment.

A law passed in July 2005 requires the state government to pay 65 percent of the salaries for full-time district attorneys, an amount estimated at $5.6 million for the coming fiscal year. The bill that passed the House would create a dedicated funding source.

The measure passed the House, 202-1, and was sent to the Senate.

Local services tax. Gov. Rendell signed legislation yesterday that will require the collection of a $52 municipal tax at a rate of $1 a week, instead of in a lump sum, and excuse the state's lowest earners from paying it.

The legislation developed after there were complaints about employers' withholding the $52 annual tax in one installment, causing a hardship to some workers who could not afford to lose that amount from one paycheck.

People who make less than $12,000 a year will be exempt from paying the tax.

The bill also renames the levy the "local services tax" because emergency medical service teams saw a significant drop in voluntary donations after the $52 tax was enacted in 2004 as the "Emergency and Municipal Service Tax," Rendell said.

The money can be used to support road construction and maintenance and property-tax reductions, as well as emergency services.