PA Republicans Sue to Stop DP Benefits

July 20, 2005

HARRISBURG—Two top Republican lawmakers are suing the panel that sets benefits for state workers in a bid to stop its members from meeting privately tomorrow to consider extending same sex benefits to the 84,000 commonwealth employees.

Officials with the Pennsylvania Employees Benefit Trust Fund say their board meetings are exempt from the state's Sunshine Law. But an injunction request filed yesterday by House Majority Leader Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Brett Feese, R-Lycoming, asks a Commonwealth Court judge in Harrisburg to compel the panel to meet in public.

Christy Leo, a fund spokeswoman, said same sex benefits are not on the agenda, but she added that any member of the panel, which is composed of union representatives and appointees of the governor, could raise the issue during the meeting.

The lawmakers say they have learned from multiple sources that the topic will be raised.

Leo declined comment on the lawsuit, filed in Harrisburg.

The lawmakers are questioning both the legality of the benefit and the way they contend the fund's board plans to consider it.

It is not the place of political appointees and union representatives to unilaterally create state policy, Smith said in a statement released by his office. To consider acknowledging legally unrecognized relationships during secret meetings, the [trust fund] would be usurping the powers of the General Assembly.

Yesterday's lawsuit and a letter sent Monday by both lawmakers to members of the fund's board specified same sex benefits as the issue of concern. But Smith's press aide, Stephen Miskin, indicated yesterday that the objection would apply to unmarried heterosexual couples as well.

Benefits should go to anyone who's married. If you're not legally recognized as married in this state, then there should not be benefits, he said.

The fund sets benefits for workers in agencies under the governor's jurisdiction. But a vote on partner benefits also would extend to 5,500 state university professors whose labor pact with the State System of Higher Education last year included language saying they would get the benefit when other state employees do.

The lawsuit is the latest flash point regarding a benefit that remains a contentious issue among policy makers in Harrisburg, even as a growing number of employers have opted to begin offering it, including large public schools like the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University.

Gov. Ed Rendell supports the benefit, but a number of conservative lawmakers have opposed it citing moral and legal grounds.

In their lawsuit, Smith and Feese note that the fund gets $900 million from the commonwealth each year. They say it already has indicated that to stem a deficit in its budget it will have to assess agencies $400 per employee this year and $800 per employee next year on top of the commonwealth's $300 per employee bi-weekly contribution.

Extending the benefit, they say, could place an added financial burden on the state.

The fund's 14-member board is chaired by David Fillman, executive director of Council 13 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Leo said the fund's meeting is set for 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at its headquarters in Harrisburg.

Mia Devane, an official with the office of administration, part of the Rendell administration, said that while the meeting is considered private, budget director Michael Masch has invited Smith to attend.