Regular Session

2009-10 State Budget
The most pressing issue before the Pennsylvania General Assembly is passing the 2009-10 state budget, and negotiations will likely extend beyond the June 30 deadline. To date, the Senate is scheduled to be in session on June 25, 26, 29 and 30, and the House is scheduled to be in session on June 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30. Additional session days will be added as needed. The Pennsylvania Bar Association has several major issues of concern with respect to the budget:

Court Funding and Civil Legal Services Funding
Access to justice is a major concern for the members of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Severe budget cuts in the areas of court funding and civil legal services will result in justice denied for citizens across the commonwealth.

The courts of Pennsylvania are currently faced with the possibility of an absolute reduction of funding. The governor’s budget proposal includes a funding cut that translates to an elimination of approximately $34 million in court functions for the judiciary statewide.

In addition, last month, the Pennsylvania Senate passed Senate Bill 850 as their proposed 2009-10 state budget. This legislation eliminates all state funding (all $3.2 million of the state's appropriation) for civil legal services. Though SB 850 was voted down by the House Appropriations Committee in early June, any similar proposals which would call for the elimination of state funding for legal services are equally harmful to citizens' access to justice.

Estate Recovery Expansion
On April 28, Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia) introduced House Bill 1351 as part of the governor’s proposed 2009-10 budget for Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare. The bill is currently in the House Health and Human Services Committee. Section 1412 of HB 1351 expands Pennsylvania’s Medical Assistance Estate Recovery Program (“MAER”) to include the non-probate assets of a Medicaid recipient. This legislation will allow DPW to impose administrative liens against interests created by joint tenancy, tenancy by entireties, tenancy in common, survivorship, life estate, living trust or other arrangements.
    The Pennsylvania Bar Association adamantly opposes this section of HB 1351 and any similar legislation being negotiated as part of the 2009-10 state budget as bad public policy and harmful to the commonwealth’s vulnerable senior citizen population.
    Any attempt to expand MAER will:
•Create significant complications for estate administration and cause major title and conveyancing problems.
•Deter individuals from serving as executors and trustees and lawyers from representing these fiduciaries.
•Discourage older Pennsylvanians from seeking needed long-term care support services out of fear of new liens asserted by the commonwealth.

What You Can Do
Please contact your legislators immediately. Ask them to reject any reduction in state funding for the courts and civil legal services. Ask them to oppose Section 1412 of HB 1351 and any similar attempts to expand estate recovery.
    The PBA Legislative Department has made it easy for you to do this. Go to the PBA's Legislative Action Center for talking points and additional information on these issues. Once there, you will find an easy step-by-step process to compose and send an e-mail messages to your legislators or download letters for mailing.
For more information about your legislators, please visit the Pennsylvania General Assembly's web site www.legis.state.pa.us. If you have any questions or comments regarding these issues, we would like to hear from you. Please e-mail us at legislative@pabar.org.

Please note that the Legislative Boxscore is updated each night to reflect the legislative activity of bills during the previous session day. If you are tracking particular bills on which the PBA has a position, the Legislative Boxscore will provide you timely information.

Courtesy of Pennsylvania Legislature Web site at www.legis.state.pa.us

The PBA Legislative Department has made it easy for you to communicate your views on these issues to your legislators. Please visit the Legislative Action Center today to write to your state senators and representatives, and learn more about these important issues facing the legal community in Pennsylvania

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