HARRISBURG (10-16-2007) – Senate Bill 986, which bans Pennsylvania state government from paying bonuses to it’s employees, passed the full Senate today by a vote of 48 to 0. Sponsored by Senator John H. Eichelberger, Jr., Republican, Blair the final version of the bill bans bonuses for the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government as well as all state agencies including the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA). The bill makes the provision of a bonus in violation of this law a third class misdemeanor, which provides for maximum penalties of fines up to $2,500 and up to one year in prison.

“This is an important first step in beginning to change the way that state government does business,” Eichelberger explained. “While bonuses may be appropriate in the private sector, we have proven that Pennsylvania state government cannot be trusted with this mechanism without exploiting it for personal gain. I’m pleased that the Senate moved so quickly to pass this bill, and thank our leadership for making sure that this happened.”

Attached are Senator Eichelberger’s comments from the Senate floor upon introduction of the bill.

Madame President, I rise to offer a bill for the betterment of this Commonwealth. A bill that is unfortunately necessary at this point in our history. Madame President, storm clouds gathered above this General Assembly early in the year when news that secret bonuses were given to select staff of Democrat and Republican House and Senate members. Allegations quickly followed concerning the purpose of some of these bonuses. To the credit of the current leadership of all four caucuses, information was provided to the public regarding the bonus amounts with names and salaries of the employees involved. All four caucuses said that this would never happen again, and that we were moving on to more important things for our citizenry. Many issues were in fact not addressed Madame President. Issues like possible violations of the law, now under investigation by the Attorney General, and the commitment of future leaders to abstain from dispensing bonus checks as well as the unknown actions of the Executive and Judicial branches of this government and various state agencies. This bill establishes a very controlled pay structure in which bonuses, clearly defined in the bill, would be banned and that criminal sanctions are set forth for anyone who intentionally approves or authorizes such a bonus. More recently, the news of bonuses paid to the management employees of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency or PHEAA became a topic of conversation for most Pennsylvanians. This issue, separate and distinct from the legislative bonuses, is one that needs addressed in several ways. This bill addresses the PHEAA situation by providing for a personal compensation plan or employment contract to be open for public inspection and further provides that any contract containing performance based incentive payments must have said payments included in the written contract and that said payments must be based on objective criteria. Madame President, this bill in the Senate is an important first step in the process of addressing and remedying these abuses of public trust. If this bill is passed today, the members of the House of Representatives must act swiftly and send this bill to the Governor for his signature and the Governor must not posture but sign this bill into law. The Attorney General must continue his investigation into the legislative bonuses and follow it into both chambers of the General Assembly and onto both sides of the aisle. The PHEAA Board and the legislature must look at the many troubling questions surrounding this agency and do so openly, earnestly and without hesitation. Those remedies may be far reaching and substantial but are critical and need our utmost attention. Madame President, this bill sets forth structural perimeters and criminal penalties for controlling arbitrary bonus payments to a select, well connected group of individuals. But it will take more work from public officials to ultimately fix all that is broken. I ask for the member’s votes to support this important bill. Thank you, Madame President.