Don Walko leaves office as state representative for the 20th Legislative District at the end of December to begin serving as a judge in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Continued constituent service coverage for the residents of the 20th District has been arranged. This interim coverage will be in effect until a successor takes office, which is expected to be no later than June 2010.

During that period, the constituent service phone number for the 20th District will remain the same: 412-321-5523.

Art Nese, who has worked on constituent service in the 20th legislative district local office for 15 years, will respond to your calls. He will work from state Rep. Dan Deasy’s office in the West End and will also be able to meet you at other convenient locations near you.

Art Nese and Rep. Deasy’s staff will be able to assist you with all of the services previously provided, including:

* Property Tax/Rent Rebate information and applications
* Senior citizen information including PACE and PACENET
* CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program)
* PennDOT forms and concerns
* College financial aid information and applications
* Unemployment compensation
* Voter registration and absentee ballot applications
* Problems with any state government agency

State Rep. Don Walko will be closing his district office when he leaves at the end of the year to take up the post of judge in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.  Last week we posted that he planned to arrange for constituent service during the transition.

Today, we received the specifics on the transition.  Here is the letter from Rep. Walko:

I will leave office as state representative for the 20th Legislative District at the end of December to begin serving as a judge in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Working with House Democratic leadership, I have arranged for continued constituent service coverage for the residents of the 20th District until my successor takes office, which is expected to be no later than June.

During that period, the constituent service phone number for the 20th District will remain the same: 412-321-5523.

Art Nese, who has worked on constituent service in my local office for 15 years, will respond to your calls. He will work from state Rep. Dan Deasy’s office in the West End and will also be able to meet you at other convenient locations near you.

Art and Rep. Deasy’s staff will be able to assist you with the same services my office has provided, including:

• Property Tax/Rent Rebate information and applications
• Senior citizen information including PACE and PACENET
• CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program)
• PennDOT forms and concerns
• College financial aid information and applications
• Unemployment compensation
• Voter registration and absentee ballot applications
• Problems with any state government agency

It has been an honor and a privilege to serve you as your representative in Harrisburg for the past 15 years. I am grateful for the new opportunity to serve the people of Allegheny County in my new capacity as a judge.

State Rep. Don Walko, D-Allegheny, has appointed a transition manager who will assist him in handling matters relating to the closing of his district office. The manager will work with Walko to keep the office open for constituent services through the end of the year, when Walko resigns to take office as a judge in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

Working with House Democratic leadership, Walko is arranging for continued constituent service coverage for the residents of the 20th Legislative District until his successor takes office, which is expected to be no later than June. Details of those arrangements will be released in the near future.

Walko’s office is located at 3880 Perrysville Ave.; phone 412-321-5523.

The 20th Legislative District includes part or all of several Pittsburgh neighborhoods, including the North Side, Strip District, Lawrenceville and Polish Hill, as well as West View Borough and parts of Reserve and Ross townships.

by state Rep. Don Walko

I know that Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s tuition tax proposal is controversial, but the state has left him with few, if any, options.

Despite numerous efforts over the years, Pennsylvania has not provided opportunities to urban hubs, large and small, that host large tracts of tax-exempt real property to recoup the costs of the municipal services that they render to them.

Some may point to the Local Services Tax of $52 per year, which was pushed only by Pittsburgh, but is now used by hundreds of municipalities throughout the state. While that tax has helped, it is far from closing the budget gaps in communities like Pittsburgh that host large, regional tax-exempt institutions such as hospitals, universities, museums and stadiums.

Naturally, as Pittsburgh residents, my family and I enjoy the wonderful tax-exempt amenities that we have in our city. Those same amenities are also enjoyed by non-city residents from all over western Pennsylvania and beyond.

A tuition tax would not be my first suggestion. My approach would be to enact a state revenue-sharing program, like the one I proposed in 1995, which passed the House in 1996. It died in the Senate, even though the state was flush with cash at the time. Since then, there has been no political will to fund such a program. In light of what the nationwide recession has done to our revenue projections, chances are bleaker than ever.

Rather than blasting the mayor’s proposal, the institutions of higher education should team up with him to address the city’s revenue needs. Other tax-exempt institutions should join in the effort. They can start by mobilizing their boards of trustees and student bodies and their families in a major lobbying effort in support of state revenue-sharing or other funding mechanisms for the urban hubs that serve as hosts for these tax-exempt institutions that benefit the entire region.

For questions about other state-related issues, please visit my Web site – www.pahouse.com/Walko — or call my office at 412-321-5523.

by state Rep. Don Walko

I was proud to co-sponsor and vote for a new law that will immediately help more than 25,000 people who have exhausted their unemployment benefits. This law will use federal stimulus dollars to extend benefits by seven more weeks for a total of 79 weeks.

This will help 25,430 people who had their benefits expire in July and the 60,000 people who will be affected before the end of the year. Thousands of families will get seven more weeks of benefits while they continue to look for new employment in this challenging job market.

Act 30 of 2009 (H.B. 1770) will make a temporary change to the Unemployment Compensation Expanded Benefits law to allow the state to draw nearly $145 million in federal stimulus funding.

According to the Department of Labor and Industry, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in June was 8.3 percent, unchanged from the previous month. That rate is up 3 percent from this time last year.

By taking this necessary step, we will assist thousands of families to put food on their family’s table and pay their mortgage and other bills. Since we’re using federal dollars, there will be no impact to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund or to businesses.

The average weekly unemployment payment in the state is $305, regardless of family size. This translates to $15,860 per year, a figure that is $6,190 below the federal poverty guideline for a family of four. Pennsylvania has lost nearly 180,000 jobs since the nationwide recession began in December 2007.

Besides putting money into the pockets of struggling workers, this bill will pump nearly $145 million into Pennsylvania businesses and the economy. Every dollar provided in unemployment compensation for residents will generate $1.44 of economic activity.

It is important to note that this is not a free ride. Recipients must prove they are looking for a new job.

The new law temporarily switches the mechanism Pennsylvania uses to trigger extended unemployment benefits from the current “insured unemployment rate” – the percentage of workers covered under the unemployment law who are out of work – to the “total unemployment rate” – the percentage of all workers in Pennsylvania who are out of work.

Under the stimulus law, the federal government will cover the cost of providing the seven additional weeks of unemployment benefits if Pennsylvania’s total unemployment rate exceeds 8 percent, which it has since May. Under Act 30, most Pennsylvania workers will be eligible for a total of up to 79 weeks of unemployment benefits, as long as the federal money is available.

The new law will only keep the alternative trigger in place while federal money pays for the extended benefits.

If you have a question about a state-related issue, please visit www.pahouse.com/Walko or call my office at 412-321-5523.

Our State Representative, Don Walko, has recently introduced two pieces of legislation.  One is a constitutional amendment that would allow active-duty military personnel to hold local public office in Pennsylvania.  Currently the state constitution permits members of the General Assembly who are called to active duty to continue in office, but not local public officials.

Rep. Walko has also reintroduced his bill that would update Pennsylvania’s limits on how much nonprofit organizations can earn from bingo games.  The House of Representatives passed the same bill 180-18 last May, but the Senate failed to act on it before the end of the 2007-08 session.

The bill (H.B. 1115) would make several changes:
•  increase the maximum payout per day from $4,000 to $10,000
•  allow organizations to have bingo up to four days a week, up from the current limit of two
•  allow an organization to offer one progressive jackpot/day that could increase by $10,000/day to a limit of $50,000
•  allow the use of handheld electronic bingo cards
•  allow leasing of bingo halls and compensation for professionals to run the game
•  remove limits on advertising.

If you have questions on a state-related issue or subject, please visit www.pahouse.com/Walko
or call Rep. Walko’s office at 412-321-5523.