Al4-LancMter Farming, Saturday, November 30, 1896
(Continued from Pago A 1)
during the previous Legislative
session because of a lack of
consensus.
While local tax reform seemed
promising, a Senate bill was heavi
ly amended in the House, and more
or less rejected by the Senate.
When the Senate returned the
proposal to the House, it was
stripped of the amendments.
In a separate, but related matter,
residents could get to vote on a
referendum to allow a constitu
tional change that would allow loc
al taxes to be paid from an assess
ment upon income tax rather than
all from real estate.
If the next Legislature picks up
the issue early and becomes the
second consecutive Legislature to
approve a constitutional change,
then the matter can be put on the
general ballot
The gas tax, called for by Gov.
Ridge almost immediately follow
ing winter storms and flood
related damages to state bridges
and highways, was left undeliv
ered in large part because of
tisfaction and disagreement over
spending priorities and perfor
mance by the Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation.
Y ear-End
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Legislature Finishes,
Many local communities were
left empty handed after spending
so much on road cleanup and treat
ment of highways with ice-melting
and traction-improvement
materials.
Other proposals, such as one
targeted at “puppy mills" and pet
stores that would have given con
sumers the right to be compensated
for losses because of disease or
health problems that should have
been addressed by the supplier
before the animal was offered for
sale.
The proposal sought to make
breeders and retailers more
responsible, and, more or less, to
force them to improve conditions
or quit the business.
Some changes to state dog law
were made in another proposal.
That increased fees and, according
to agricultural leaders, gave the
state Department of Agriculture
the tools it needs to get on with the
job of enforcing state dog law.
Legislation was also approved
to change the state law regarding
the enforcement of weights and
measures laws, another responsi
bility that cuirently falls within the
purview of the PDA.
Those regulated by the PDA
Bureau of Weights and Measures
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should not expect to actually see
any changes. The change to law
was made to recodify the laws,
which means they were made to be
less confusing. They were also
changed to settle disputes between
local authority and state
responsibility.
While the Legislature stayed
late both of the last two days this
week to finish, the reasons for
staying late were not clear, expect
to allow for some last-minute
repositioning on the major issues
and possibly approval.
The governor is expected to
approve into law legislation spon
sored by Rep. Arthur Hcrshey that
amends the state clean air law to
more clearly define what is agri
culture, in terms of the Clean Air
Act
The proposal began because of
local non-fanning attempts to
restrict mushroom farmers, on the
premise that odors associated with
the practice were a violation of the
provisions of the clean air law; and
the fact that the state Department
of Environmental Protection did
not consider mushroom growing to
be farming, as protected under the
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The proposal is expected to
bring permanent relief to agricul
ture, at least firom complaints base
don the Clean Air Act.
Also approved was legislation
that allow a farmer to conduct
activities on the farm to further
process crops for use on the farm.
According to Brenda Sham
baugh, legislative director for the
Pennsylvania State Grange, “The
Grange has seen significant legi
slative accomplishments, not only
for the agricultural community,
but for all rural people as well.
“There are obviously some
issues not resolved, like local tax
reform, but overall we’ve had an
extremely successful legislative
session."
The Grange was the first to
notice and lead the battle against a
“rebalancing" plan submitted by
Bell Atlantic that would have
allowed the telephone service pro
vider to lower charges in high den
sity areas and to raise costs to rural
costumers.
The rebalancing proposal is a
direct result of the populist notion
that deregulation of an industry
OFffl MOUSE- SPEC]
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improves it because it allows for
more competition.
However, in Bell’s case, the his
toric provider is locked in by the
state at charging certain rates and
providing service to both rural and
inntercity customers, while those
“competing providers” ate able to
serve only the inncrcity customers
and can undercut Bell’s charges.
While Bell may have developed
and installed the infrastructure for
the telephone system, it has to
allow other companies to use the
infrastructure.
The result is that Bell can be
expected to suffer somewhat from
anal! companies seeking to capi
talize by focusing only on under
cutting Bell’s prices in cities.
The final decison on the Bell
request is to come soon, though it
is expected to be refused.
The Grange also supported the
deregulation of the electric indus
try to the degree that costumers are
to be allowed to select the electric
provider of their choice, instead of
having regions allocated to specif
ic providers and having the compa
nies trade energy as demand and
(Turn to Pag* AIS)
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