Rep. Dave Reed (R-Indiana) today publicly urged Gov. Ed Rendell to pay state employees for all hours they have worked since the beginning of the new budget year on July 1.
On Friday, state workers received partial paychecks compensating them only for time worked prior to July 1. Reed is asking the governor to provide state workers – including those at the State Correctional Institution (SCI) at Pine Grove, local state police personnel and other local Commonwealth employees – with their full pay.
“The state did not stop collecting taxes when we reached July 1 without a budget,” Reed said. “The money is there. The governor is just refusing to pay the workers. State cops and prison guards have hard jobs. These folks go to work each day to protect our communities. The least the governor could do is to pay them for the hours they work.”
The dispute stems from the fact that Rendell failed to sign a state budget into law before July 1. This is the seventh year of the governor’s tenure and the seventh year he has failed to meet the deadline.
Without a budget, the governor argues that he cannot pay state workers. However, state legislators disagree and some have argued the governor is refusing to pay state workers in an attempt to build pressure behind his call for a 16 percent increase in the state Personal Income Tax (PIT).
“The governor has essentially taken state workers hostage, refusing to pay them unless he gets his tax hike,” Reed said.
Reed is calling for the governor to use existing revenue sources – the money being collected through existing state taxes – to pay state workers. He points to the fact that the state is spending money in other areas as proof that the governor can pay the workers if he so chooses.
“The state is still sending out welfare checks,” Reed said. “The people who are processing those checks – the state workers – aren’t being paid. If the state has money for the people cashing the welfare checks, it should have money for the workers who are processing them. How can the governor pay people who aren’t working at all, yet not pay the people who are working for the state? If he can pay one, he should be able to pay the other. A compassionate government must help the needy and vulnerable, but it also should deal fairly with those trying to earn an honest living.”
Rep. Dave Reed
62nd District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
(717) 705-7173
Contact: Dan Massing
House Republican Public Relations
(717) 772-9845