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Legislative Update

Week Ending Nov. 9, 2007

• Dems Take Back State Supreme Court Majority
• Justices Retained; “Just Say No” Effort Fails
• Michigan Senate Votes to Repeal Sales Tax
  
• Realty Transfer Regulation Approved
• Nailor Announces Retirement
  

Dems Take Back State Supreme Court Majority

Democratic Superior Court Judges Seamus McCaffery and Debra Todd were elected on Nov. 6 to two open seats on the state Supreme Court. The vacancies were created by the 2005 retention loss of Justice Russell Nigro and the retirement of Justice Sandra Schultz Newman.

With nearly 100 percent of the statewide vote counted, McCaffery had 1,203,798 votes and Todd had 1,058,175 votes. Republican Superior Court Judge Maureen Lally-Green followed Todd with 976,749 votes. The other Republican, Mike Krancer of Montgomery County, had 769,537 votes statewide.

Republicans held a slight 4-3 edge on the Court prior to Tuesday’s election. With McCaffery and Todd winning, Democrats now control the state’s highest court.

On the Superior Court, Republicans expanded their majority with Republican Westmoreland County attorney Jackie Shogan and GOP Allegheny County Judge Cheryl Allen winning two of the three open seats. Democratic attorney Christine Donohue won the third seat.

Republicans held a slight edge on the Superior Court, with a balance of 8-7. With Republicans winning two of the three available Superior Court seats, their party’s control on the Court expands to 9-6.

The election of Justices McCaffrey and Todd to the Supreme Court creates two new vacancies on the Superior Court. The vacancies will be filled by gubernatorial appointment until the next Municipal Election in 2009.

For more election information, visit Pa. Department of State or Pa. Prosperity Project.

Justices Retained; “Just Say No” Effort Fails  

Voters overwhelmingly retained all seven state judges facing retention elections this year, dealing a significant setback to the “just say no” reform movement. A retention election is a vote on the ballot to either "yes" keep the justice on the Court or "no" remove the justice from the Court in turn setting up the need for an election to fill the position.

Supreme Court Justice Tom Saylor along with Superior Court Judges Joan Orie Melvin, John Paul Musmanno and Corry Stevens, and Commonwealth Court Judges Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter, Barney McGinley and Doris Smith-Ribner, all had more than 60 percent of the vote for retention.

In addition to all seven state judges being retained, 66 of 67 county Common Pleas Court judges facing retention were successfully retained. Voters ousted only Bradford County Judge John C. Mott, whose wife pled guilty to embezzlement.

Michigan Senate Votes to Repeal Sales Tax

By a vote of 23-15, the Michigan Senate Nov. 7 voted to repeal a new six percent tax on selected services. The tax was part of the fiscal bailout adopted a month ago by the legislature.

"The trickle-down effects are going to be huge," Amy Frankmann, executive director of the Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association, told the panel. Landscapers, she said, have notified their customers of a six percent price increase on contracts already in place for next spring, and "clients are saying, 'Cut my services back by six percent,'" she said. "I want you to think what this is going to do to our environment."

Facing skyrocketing property taxes in the early 1990s and gaping funding disparities between wealthy and poor school districts, Michigan abandoned property taxes as the basis of its school general fund budgets. It switched to a system based on sales taxes and income taxes. Today, Michigan schools are cutting programs and laying off teachers at an alarming rate, in large part because sales tax revenue is not meeting projections.

A similar proposal is under active discussion in the Pennsylvania House. PICPA opposes the sales tax expansion plan and urges members to contact your state legislators to express your opposition.

Realty Transfer Regulation Approved

Changes to the regulations governing the Pennsylvania Realty Transfer Tax were adopted recently by the Independent Regulatory Review Commission, or IRRC, despite opposition from the legal community and others. Rulemaking #15-429 was promulgated by the Department of Revenue.

The Realty Transfer Tax is a documentary stamp tax placed on the transfer of real property. Pennsylvania assesses a one percent statewide tax on the sale price of the property. There are certain exclusions, including wills and trusts, certain transactions between family members, religious organizations and government entities. The regulations have not been updated since 1998.

Some commentators argued that the regulations go against current law and are not easy to understand.

The Commission approved the regulation after a 2-2 vote. The regulation goes into effect upon being published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

Nailor Announces Retirement 

Cumberland County state Representative Jerry Nailor this week announced he would retire from the legislature at the conclusion of his current term. Nailor has represented the District 88 in South Central Pennsylvania since 1988.

Nailor joins Rep. Tom Tangretti (D-Westmoreland) as the only state House members thus far to announce they will not seek re-election. The demographics and voting trends of the district favor a Republican candidate. There are at least four likely GOP candidates lining up.