Speaker relents; Pa. House will reconvene

by By Angela Couloumbis, INQUIRER HARRISBURG BUREAU

Published Nov. 10, 2010, 1:46 p.m. ET

HARRISBURG – House Speaker Keith McCall has scheduled a voting session for the state House of Representatives this Monday, apparently bowing to pressure from many of his members who were outraged when, last week, he abruptly canceled all remaining voting days for the year.

McCall (D., Carbon), announced Friday that he was canceling the five remaining voting days scheduled this month, thus killing a wide range of largely noncontroversial bills that appeared destined to become law, as well as a public-pension bill that did face opposition.

McCall never explained why he was canceling the session.

But other top Democrats said he and other leaders believed that the Senate version of the pension bill was unconstitutional, and that none of the other bills slated for votes rose to the level of importance of the pension measure.

The pension bill was aimed at addressing skyrocketing retirement costs for state employees and public schoolteachers. The Senate version of the pension bill also contained an amendment establishing an independent fiscal office that would act as a watchdog over legislative and executive-branch spending.