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Winter 2008

2424 Bristol Road, Neshaminy Valley Commons, Bensalem, PA 19020GeneDiGirolamo.com (215) 750-1017

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Spring 2011

DiGirolamo Chairs New House CommitteeLawmaker brings expertise in drug, alcohol issues to Human Services Committee

Speaker of the House Sam Smith (R-Jefferson/Indiana/Armstrong) has named me to be the new chairman of theHouse Human Services Committee for the 2011-12 legisla-tive session.

This is a position where I can effectively continue myadvocacy of issues relating to drug and alcohol treatmentand prevention, as well as mental health, and help Penn-sylvanians in need.

Human services are near to my heart and I am pleasedthat I have been selected to lead this new committee. As amember of the House Health and Human Services Commit-

tee for several years, I am already well versed in the humanservice aspects of state government and have voted on nu-merous changes and improvements to the way state andcounty governments deliver human services. I am excitedto take on this new role.

The committee has oversight of issues within the De-partment of Public Welfare, sections of the Departmentof Health, and the new Department of Drug and AlcoholPrograms, the latter of which was created earlier this yearthrough legislation I sponsored.

The department was established to elevate the Bureauof Drug and Alcohol Programs from the Department of

Health and all of its statutory functions to a cabinet-level de-partment. Experts believe that, with a better focus on drugand alcohol treatment, the department has the potentialto reduce crime, bring healing to families struggling to gethelp for addicted loved ones and ultimately save taxpayermoney.

The committee was formerly part of the House Healthand Human Services Committee. Due to the overwhelmingnumber of bills and resolutions assigned to the committee

in recent years, House leadership decided to restructureand split the committee for greater efciency.

This assignment is one that comes with many new chal-lenges, including ensuring that every dollar sent to the De-partment of Public Welfare is used to its maximum benetand to get the new Department of Drug and Alcohol Pro-grams off the ground.

The new committee replaces the House Intergovern-mental Affairs Committee.

To learn more about how counties operate their human service agencies, weheld a meeting with the Pennsylvania Association of County Human ServicesAdministrators, Dauphin County Mental Health/Mental Retardation Department,Pennsylvania Association of County Drug and Alcohol Administrators, andthe County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. Pictured with meare: Melanie Brown, executive director of the committee; and Rep. Ken Smith(D-Lackawanna).

House Works to

Improve Megans Lawto Protect Children

Legislation has been endorsed by the House that will help to fur-ther protect children by signicantly strengthening PennsylvaniasMegans Law. Elements in the legislative package would require sexoffenders without a residence to register every 30 days with the Penn-sylvania State Police as transients. Another bill would establish penal-ties for out-of-state sex offenders who move to Pennsylvania but failto register as a sex offender in this state.

In addition, another piece of legislation would set specic criminalsentences for sex offenders who fail to comply with registration re-quirements, and the last bill in the package would add a feature to theMegans Law website that would allow a person to receive electronicnotication when an individual required to register under Megans Lawmoves into or away from a specic area.

I am hopeful these improvements will go a long way toward pro-tecting our children and ensuring that communities know more aboutconvicted sexual offenders in their neighborhoods. The legislationpassed the House and is now with the Senate for its consideration.

During the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Biennial Legislative Conferencein Harrisburg on Feb. 1, I spoke to more than 250 union delegatesabout the upcoming legislative session. Pictured with me (fromleft) are: Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder; Ellie McNellis fromBensalem, a member of the local American Federation of State,County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) chapter; and PresidentRick Bloomingdale.

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Human ServicesMeeting Focuses on

New Department

During a recent public hearing, treatment ex-perts, families struggling with addiction, and countyofcials told the House Human Services Commit-tee ways in which the new Department of Drug andAlcohol Programs can help the more than 800,000state residents who are in need of treatment servic-es. Left untreated, those with addiction issues willend up in hospital emergency rooms or county jails,or will lose their lives.

This department was designed so that treatment

services can be streamlined, more people can getthe help they need, and drug and alcohol addictionissues receive greater attention.

One of the overriding themes of the committeemeeting involved how this new department, whichwill take effect July 1, can help save signicant pub-lic funds, especially in terms of criminal justice andhealth care expenses.

Untreated addiction drives the nances of stategovernment, said Deb Beck, president of Drug andAlcohol Service Providers Organization of PA. Ac-

cording to her, 70 percent of those in the Depart-ment of Corrections have untreated addiction, cost-ing taxpayers at least $1.4 billion.

Also among those offering suggestions to ensurethat the new department works in the best interestsof taxpayers and the treatment community were:u Former Rep. Milt Berkes of Bucks County.u Michele Denk, executive director,

PA Association of County Drug and AlcoholAdministrators.

u Kim Bowman, director, Chester County

Department of Drug and Alcohol Services.u Cheryl Floyd, executive director of PA

Recovery Organizations Alliance.u Parents Dana and Harrison Heckard Jr.

New laws are not needed, experts told the com-mittee. The department just needs to enforce exist-ing state laws, help sort out insurance benets andstreamline resources.

If insurance laws arent being enforced to payfor treatment services through private insurance,agencies often turn to public dollars to get the in-

dividual treatment. With a variety of overlapping ofstate and federal laws, many people dont knowwhat their benets cover and sometimes public dol-lars are used when insurance covers services.

This new department is about saving money,protecting the public and saving lives.

Department of Drug and AlcoholPrograms to focus on treatment,

saving tax dollars

Legislation that will help the Commonwealth collect dataand study the incidents and details of methadone deathsunanimously passed the new House Human Services

Committee, which I chair.House Bill 140, which has bipartisan support, calls forthe establishment of a methadone death and incident re-view team in cases where methadone was either a primaryor secondary cause of death. The review team will be part ofthe new Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, whichwas enacted into law last year and will exist as of July 1.

The creation of methadone death review teams will al-low the department to collect data and study the issues ofmethadone and cases where an individual has died. In fact,two incidents of methadone-related deaths have occurredhere in Bucks County.

Nationally, the incidence of methadone-related deaths

is climbing rising nearly 10 times in the past decade but here in Pennsylvania, we do not have the structure inplace to obtain information. This legislation will correct thatand allow the department to thoroughly review cases andnd out if weaknesses occur in state laws with respect tomethadone use or clinics with authority to dispense thesubstance.

Methadone is used to treat addiction to opiates and isbeing prescribed in growing numbers by doctors to treatpain.

Under the bill, the review team must adhere to strict con-dentiality laws to protect the privacy of the patient. In addi-tion, a report from the review team will be submitted back to

the House Human Services Committee, the Senate PublicHealth and Welfare Committee, and the Judiciary Commit-tees of both chambers.

The legislation, which passed the House Health and Hu-man Services Committee with overwhelming support lastfall, is expected to have no nancial impact on the Com-monwealth.

House Bill140 will now be sent to the full House for itsconsideration.

Human ServicesCommittee OKs Bill

for Methadone DeathReview Teams

Temple University student Elizabeth Myrtetus of Bensalem visited the state Capitol onApril 4 to present her research about autism. Elizabeth, who is majoring in psychology,studied with autism spectrum disorder and individuals with autism tend to be morepreoccupied with object features rather than wholes, an occurrence referred to asglobal precedence. The research was presented as part of Autism Awareness Month.

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Property Tax/Rent Rebate Applications

Available

Applications for the states 2010 Property Tax/Rent Re-bate program are now available at GeneDiGirolamo.com orat my ofce in Bensalem.

Rebates of up to $650 on rent or property taxes paid in2010 are available to eligible Pennsylvanians age 65 years

or older, widows and widowers 50 years or older, and those18 years or older with permanent disabilities.

Eligibility income limits for homeowners are set at thefollowing levels, excluding 50 percent of Social Security,Supplemental Security Income, and Railroad RetirementTier 1 benets:u $0 to $8,000, maximum $650 rebate

(homeowners and renters)u $8,001 to $15,000, maximum $500 rebate

(homeowners and renters)u $15,001 to $18,000, maximum $300 rebate

(homeowners only)u $18,001 to $35,000, maximum $250 rebate

(homeowners only)Applications are due by June 30. Call or stop by for ad-

ditional information.

As part of a recent Capitol blood drive, I rolled up my sleeve and gave a pint tohelp the Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank. Joining me is Megan Bettinger, withthe Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank, and Rep. Mauree Gingrich (R-Lebanon), whospearheads the annual drive. According to the Blood Bank, every two seconds,someone needs blood, and an adequate blood supply is crucial to their survival.Just one pint of blood can save as many as four lives.

Bill in Progress toCreate Pharmaceutical

Registry

During the past few weeks, I have been work-ing to develop legislation that will help prevent themisuse and abuse of prescription drugs, namelythose that are highly addictive controlled sub-

stances like pain relievers.Were hearing more in news reports about indi-viduals so desperately seeking prescription medi-cations to feed their addictions that theyre visitingdoctors and pharmacies just to get prescriptions,sometimes for dangerously addictive drugs likeoxycontin and other pain relievers or anxiety med-ications that are considered to be controlled sub-stances.

By creating an online registry of pharmaceuti-cal disbursements, doctors and pharmacists cankeep track of dangerous prescription drugs and

be alerted if someone is suspected of doctorshopping or pharmacy shopping. The practiceoccurs when people seeking drugs go to sev-eral doctors or pharmacies who dont know theirmedical histories and might be more inclined toarbitrarily prescribe medications.

The registry would allow a doctor or pharmacistto look at a secure website to nd out if a patienttheyre treating or lling a prescription for, recentlyobtained a similar prescription from another doc-tor or pharmacy or a prescription that would cre-ate harmful side effects if taken with other drugs.

I am hopeful that this legislation, if enacted,would help to discourage doctor and pharmacyshopping both for the individual seeking theprescriptions and doctors and pharmacies writingand lling the prescriptions. This is also part of anational effort to monitor the abuse of prescriptiondrugs and ensure that laws around the country areappropriate and in place to prevent such abuse.

I expect to introduce the legislation in the nearfuture.

House Passes Reforms as First Order of BusinessA package of seven reform bills designed to enhance accountability in state government and restore trust in Harrisburg

were the rst bills considered by the full House for the 2011-12 session. Our residents are adamant that state governmentmust change the way business is done, and we must follow through with strong and decisive action to ensure reform is partof the new culture in Harrisburg.

This package is a tremendous step forward and is the most important set of reforms since the mid-1980s. I am pleasedthat it was one of the rst orders of business in this new session. The bills will:u Increase the penalties for lobbyists who violate the states lobbying disclosure laws.u Place limits on who can review bids for state contracts by preventing an individual who has been employed by a

company bidding on a project from being part of the review process.

u Apply the states Right-to-Know law to public procurement contracts and allows advanced public inspection ofnon-competitively awarded contracts prior to execution of the agreement.u Prohibit members of the General Assembly from creating and/or maintaining non-prot organizations that receive

public funds. Although part of the House rules, successful legislation would then apply to both the House and the Senate.u Extend whistleblower protection to employees of nonprots and private sector companies with state contracts

who report waste of public money obtained by their employer for services or work.Similar protections will apply to legislative employees.

The bills passed the House overwhelmingly in early February and are now before the state Senate for consideration.

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District Ofce Services

My district ofce is here to help you.Services my staff and I provide include:

u Drivers license and vehicle registrationapplications and renewals

u Assistance with PennDOT paperwork (lost cards, changes,corrections, special registration plates, vanity plates, andtemporary placards for disabled persons)

u PACE and PACENET applications for seniorsu Property Tax and Rent Rebate applicationsu Voter registration forms and absentee ballot applicationsu State tax formsu Student aid applicationsu Free state maps, state park information, and

PA Vacation Guidesu Copies of legislationu Tours of the State Capitolu Referrals to agencies to resolve state-related mattersIf you need help with any of the above or with any other state-related matter, please do not hesitate to call my district ofce.

Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo and I were in attendance when a restored cross waspresented to the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament at St. Katharine Drexel Shrinein Bensalem. The cross stood atop a building that was destroyed by fire in 1960and was since buried underground. As workers were performing excavationwork at the site last year, a crew found the cross, had it restored and presentedit to the sisters.

Members of the American Nephrology Nurses Association from Bucks Countyvisited the Capitol last fall. I was happy to speak with the group about a varietyof health care issues that impact their profession.

During a recent House session, I had the chance to meet Miss Pennsylvania 2010Courtney Thomas from Jefferson County. During her reign as Miss Pennsylvania,she is working to promote her platform, Dont C.O.P.P. Out! Consequences OfPeer Pressure. The goal of this program is to encourage children and teensto make better decisions when faced with peer pressure. During her year ofservice, Courtney also plans on working to pass Johns Law which wouldenforce stricter penalties for drunk drivers in Pennsylvania. A student at DrexelUniversity in Philadelphia, Courtney is also involved with several communityservice programs within the Philadelphia area. She volunteers with The InglisHouse of Philadelphia, which provides programs and services designed toenable people with physical disabilities to enjoy life with the greatest amount of

independence and mobility.