The SPTEA is Introduced!

10 November 2007

Dear Friends,

Another hurdle cleared!

The School Property Tax Elimination Act of 2007 was formally introduced in the House of Representatives on Thursday and is now officially House Bill 1275.

We are now waiting for the bill to be assigned to committee before any further action on our part. We will be watching the bill’s progress closely and I’ll issue Action Items as necessary. Things have the potential to move quickly over the next few weeks, so please be prepared to help.

Below is a list of those Representatives who co-sponsored the introduction of the SPTEA. If your Representative’s name is not on the list, you may want to write or call him or her and ask why they haven’t supported HB 1275 and tell them that you expect them to support the bill in the future. Please be respectful and non-threatening but firm when you do so; we can ramp up the rhetoric later if they remain non-compliant.

You might also want to thank your Representative if his or her name is on the list.

You can find your Representative’s contact information here: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/find.cfm.

Here are the co-sponsors:

Rohrer (R-Berks)
Cox (R-Berks)
Yewcic (D-Cambria/Somerset)
Argall (R-Berks/Schuylkill)
Quigley (R-Montgomery)
Denlinger (R-Lancaster)
Phillips (R-Northumberland/Snyder)
Stern (R-Blair)
Baker (R-Bradford/Tioga)
Barrar (R-Chester/Delaware)
Bastian (R-Bedford/Somerset)
Caltagirone (D-Berks)
Cappelli (R-Lycoming)
Creighton (R-Lancaster)
Everett (R-Lycoming)
Gabig (R-Cumberland)
Gibbons (D-Beaver/Butler/Lawrence)
Gillespie (R-York)
Goodman (D-Schuylkill)
Harris (R-Juniata/Mifflin/Snyder)
Hennessey (R-Chester)
Hershey (R-Chester)
Hess (R-Bedford/Fulton/Huntingdon)
Kauffman (R-Cumberland/Franklin)
Mackereth (R-York)
Mahoney (D-Fayette)
Mantz (R-Berks)
McIlhattan (R-Armstrong/Clarion)
McIlvaine-Smith (D-Chester)
Mensch (R-Montgomery)
Moul (R-Adams/Franklin)
Perry (R-Cumberland/York)
Pickett (R-Bradford/Sullivan/Susquehanna)
Pyle (R-Armstrong/Indiana)
Readshaw (D-Allegheny)
Roae (R-Crawford)
Rock (R-Franklin)
Santoni (D-Berks)
Saylor (R-York)
Schroder (R-Chester)
Steil (R-Bucks)
Swanger (R-Lebanon)

The ongoing help that all of you have given to our work for school property tax elimination and education finance reform is greatly appreciated. Chuck Warner of the PCTA’s Dallastown Group forwarded this quote to me and I think that it is appropriate to our situation:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
- Margaret Mead

This is so true. Thank you, SPTEA supporters!

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Press Conference Video

The video replay of the entire October 31 press conference where the SPTEA was announced is available on-line. It has a very good explanation of the SPTEA and includes formal comments from four PCTA members who support the plan. If you have 40 minutes to watch it’s absolutely worth the time. http://media1.pahousegop.com/video/asx_generator.asp?videoname=372398721.wmv

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PCN Call-in Program

On Monday, November 19 at 7:00 PM, Representative Sam Rohrer, the prime sponsor of the SPTEA, will be on the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) Call-in Program to discuss property taxes. Appearing with him will be Representative David Levdansky, the prime sponsor of HB 1600, the fraudulent property tax “relief” plan that is actually a tax increase in disguise and is strenuously opposed by the PTCC and the PCTA.

This promises to be a very lively show. Please feel free to call the program to voice your support of HB 1275, the School Property Tax Elimination Act of 2007, and especially to let Representative Levdansky know that Pennsylvania homeowners will no longer tolerate more valueless, recycled approaches like HB 1600. HB 1600 needs to be defeated NOW!

Please mark your calendar and join the discussion.

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Tools to Use

An individual petition for the SPTEA is available for you to send to Representative Rohrer to show your support. Please print as many copies as you wish and give them to everyone you know to help to move the SPTEA forward.

Also available is a set of SPTEA promotional tools that was developed by Mike Fogarty of the PCTA’s Coatesville Group. The SPTEA Promo Pack is a downloadable collection of materials and ideas that you can use to help spread the word and increase support for the School Property Tax Elimination Act of 2007.

Both the petition and the Promo Pack are available on the PTCC home page at http://www.ptcc.us/.

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PTCC Blog Site

There’s just one more item today. Please visit the PTCC Blog site at http://pataxpayers.blogspot.com/. All of the recent PTCC updates have been posted there and you can add your comments or join a discussion about this issue. We’d sure like to have you participate and hear what you have to say!

That’s all for now. Please keep up the good work that all of you have been doing to support the SPTEA. We’ve seen many indications that we are really starting to make a difference, thanks to your efforts. Thank you all for your continuing help.

Please write if you have comments or concerns. pataxpayers@gmail.com

David Baldinger
PTCC Administrator