Committee sends study of state police costs and municipal coverage to the House after debate

The House Local Government Committee voted to report House Resolution 136, which directs the Joint State Government Commission to study how state police coverage affects Pennsylvania taxpayers in municipalities without full local police departments and to form an advisory committee for that study.

Representative Brennan, the sponsor, told the committee “there’s nothing more important that we do in local government than protect, health, safety, and welfare of our residents.” Brennan said the study should quantify costs borne by the Commonwealth for state police coverage and examine consolidation, consolidation studies done previously and per-capita estimates of state support for coverage.

The resolution would have the Joint State Government Commission examine the cost of full-time and part-time state police coverage to municipalities that lack their own department, the cost impacts when municipalities provide mutual aid to nearby municipalities without coverage, comparative millage rates where municipalities pay for local police, and estimate a per-capita fee that might be necessary to cover state police coverage in municipalities that do not maintain their own police forces. The resolution states the commission should deliver findings and recommendations to the House within one year of adoption and that the advisory committee include executive-branch designees and representatives of municipal and police organizations.

Members asked whether the study was intended to shift responsibility back to municipalities or to contemplate fees. Representative Reicher and Representative Borowski expressed concern about the implications of estimating a per-capita fee; Brennan and others clarified the resolution only directs a study and does not mandate any fees or legislative action. Representative Probst urged the study to consider retention and wage competitiveness in recruiting and retaining officers, noting disparities in response times in areas served only by state police.

Chairman Freeman offered amendment A03026 to broaden advisory committee representation for municipal advocacy organizations and to change wording (for example, replacing "towns" with "municipalities"); the amendment was adopted. The committee reported the resolution to the House by a 16–10 roll-call vote.