SENATE TO RETURN NEXT WEEK FOR START OF FALL LEGISLATIVE SESSION

 HARRISBURG, SEPT. 15 – State Sen. Connie Williams noted that the Pennsylvania legislature has a full legislative agenda ahead of them as the Senate returns on Sept. 19^th and the House on Sept. 26^th for the fall session.

 “The top priority remains property tax relief, but there is also a renewed interest in increasing the state’s minimum wage, and providing additional financial relief for the men and women who are dedicating themselves to protecting our safety as members of the National Guard,” Williams said.

 “All of these are issues that I stand behind. I was pleased to hear the governor announce that this was part of the administration’s agenda for the fall.”

 According to Williams, the governor seems to be on the right track with making necessary legislative changes to ensure that property tax relief remains viable. The governor has proposed removing the mandatory Earned Income Tax provision of Act 72 and asking homeowners, not school districts, to decide if they want property tax relief.

 “Change is never easy, especially when it involves something as vitally important as how we fund our schools. However, something must be done to change our system of property taxes, so that people – especially seniors – are not taxed out of their homes,” Williams said. “As I have said all along, Act 72 is a first step toward updating the way Pennsylvania funds its system of public schools. Change isn’t going to happen unless we allow it to begin.”

 The administration is supporting legislative efforts to increase the state’s minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.25 an hour by January 2006, and to $7.15 an hour by January 2007.

 “Pennsylvania currently uses the federal minimum wage, which hasn’t been increased since 1997,” Williams said. “While $5.15 an hour may have been a living wage eight years ago, it doesn’t begin to provide the financial means to support a family today.”

 On the governor’s proposal to provide financial assistance to members of the National Guard, Williams noted that the men and women are serving their country and deserve Pennsylvania’s support, whether it be through providing life insurance coverage, by ensuring college access for surviving spouses and deferments of student loans for deployed soldiers, or by making necessary changes to election ballots to ensure that all military and overseas voters ballots can be cast and are counted in every election.

 “Aside from the administration’s agenda, I expect the legislature will revisit methods to protect the public from identity theft and will return to the issue of transportation funding – including mass transit and local road and bridge projects,” Williams said. “As we did with Growing Greener II and with the newly enacted incident management legislation, it is going to be important for partisan politics to be put aside and for the legislature to work together to address the transportation needs of the entire state.”

 Looking at her own agenda of proposed legislation, Williams said she will introduce legislation this fall that will deal with postpardum depression, bullying in schools, and protecting the rights of women to breastfeed in a public or private location where they are otherwise authorized to be present.

 “I hope constituents will continue to follow what is happening with their state government,” Williams said. “I will again host town hall meetings to provide the opportunity for constituents to meet with me directly, and am organizing my annual senior expo to provide a one-stop-shop for older adults to find out about programs and opportunities on all levels of government that were designed just for them.”

 Town hall meetings are planned as follows:

 Sept. 15 -- 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. – East Norriton Township
                                                            East Norriton Municipal Bldg. Township Mtg. Room
                                                            2501 Stanbridge Street

Oct. 6 -- 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.  –   Narberth
                                                        Narberth Borough Hall
                                                        100 Conway Avenue, Narberth

 Oct. 11 -- 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. – Radnor Township
                                                      Radnor Memorial Library
                                                      114 W. Wayne Ave., Wayne   

 The Senior Expo will be held  from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7^th at the Plymouth Meeting Mall. The event is free, but residents of the 17^th Senatorial District are asked to RSVP if they plan to attend by calling one of Williams’ offices – King of Prussia, 610-992-9790 or Havertown, 610-853-5433.