Herb Riede's Blog

I would like to introduce legislation. I'm writing it right here, right now... This legislation - the addition of one word, would enable Seniors to be registered to vote and participate in the primary of their high school year whether they are 17 or 18 when April or May rolls around. This would also allow for higher turnover registration from General election to General election, as the day after each general election, a full year's worth of student's would be eligible to vote for the coming year. Currently, If you turn 18 on or before an election, you may register now. For example, If you were born on May 17, 1987 or before, you may now register to vote in the 2005 Municipal Primary. In 2004, this change below would have enabled the first-time 18-year old voters who turned 18 between this year's April Primary and the November Election to participate in the primary. It would also, in my opinion, make it easier for people like me to tell young'uns to registe...

Governor Rendell Please Veto House Bill 30! - Common Cause There's no need to give Verizon their due on this, nor to pat the Republicans on their back when they don't have a Veto Proof majority in the Senate. Let's see if Ed, Edd or Eddy will bunt or kick it out of the ball park. Click the link above to join the cause!

Sometimes ranging from teenagers acting on halfbaked rumor and silly theory to unnerving accuracy and impressive breaking news, depending on which day of the week it seems, who is at the controls, PoliticsPA.com is as many describe it a Pennsylvania political junkie's paradise. I personally have used services advertised on PoliticsPA, even though I despise the inches of ads at the top of their pages, such as GovNetPA and VoterListsOnline. I'm somewhat proud, and afraid to have submitted my blog, now listed on PoliticsPA's homepage - I feel somewhat obligated to post, and somewhat of a nut to be posting publically, because who am I to tell people what I think, after all? Of course the criteria was somewhat low to be listed, to be sure. Email the link and get listed. Maybe I'll be one of 50 to be crazy enough to want to. Maybe 500 will and nobody will pick me out of the line up. Only the stats will tell... In any case. If anyone has any ideas or topics, go ah...

While I didn't like the idea of increasing the lump sum of $10 out of one paycheck to $52, and yes, I knew that it calculated to $1/week but I thought it was just someone being cute, but it appears that Gettysburg intends to enact the full $52 Emergency and Municipal Services Tax at the $1/week rate. Or at least that's how it sounds. This is not unlike a income tax, which is more progressive and fair in my opinion, but the ability to split the $52 up puts me at ease. If someone makes $12,000 or less, a municipality may exempt them from paying the tax. Given that once you drop below $12,000, $52 quickly exceeds a half-percent of income, I would support such exemption. I would wager making the Emergency and Municipal Services Tax a second income tax rate of one quarter of one percent would bring in more money in many places. For example, on $32,000, one quarter of one percent would be $80. I'd rather have a flat percentage across the board in this case than one fla...

The Occupational Privilege Tax... Bleh.. The PA House and Senate just passed HB197 , an attempt to help Pittsburgh out of it's financial woes but actually a terrible failure of state government. I actually agree with State Rep. Maitland's NO vote on concurrence in Senate Amendments, and I am ashamed that my party provided the majority of the votes for this poorly written bill. First, my laundry list... Changing the range of the taxing authority from a maximum of $10 to a minimum of $10 will require those municipalities that only tax at $5 to either raise to $10 per annum or eliminate altogether. I wanted the elimination of the occupational privilege tax, and in fact, this has been accomplished ... The tax has been RE-NAMED the "Emergency and Municipal Services Tax" and is now restricted in use by municipalities for "Police, Fire and/or Emergency Services," "Road Construction and/or Maintenance," and, "Reduction in Proper...