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House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township, right, and Majority Whip Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, sit during the swearing-in ceremony on the floor of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in Harrisburg on Tuesday.
AP PHOTOs
Rep. Keith McCall, a Democrat from Carbon County, right, is sworn in as the new speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives during a ceremony at the Capitol in Harrisburg on Tuesday. Holding the Bible are members of McCall’s family, his wife Betty McCall, second from left, son Keith Robert McCall, left, and daughter Courtney McCall, 10.
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania state lawmakers began a new two-year session Tuesday with the selection of Rep. Keith McCall and Sen. Joe Scarnati to serve as the two chambers’ highest ranking members.
The 2009-10 term began under a financial cloud, leading several members to worry that the state’s gloomy economic outlook may force difficult budget decisions in the coming months.
McCall, D-Carbon, won a party-line vote for speaker against Rep. Sam Smith, the Republican leader from Jefferson County. Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, who had previously announced he would run for speaker, nominated Smith instead.
In the Senate, Scarnati, R-Jefferson, was unopposed and unanimously elected to a second term as president pro tempore.
“I urge each of you not to just follow the trend of being opposed to everything, and that seems to be a growing culture in public service,” said Scarnati, 47, who also became lieutenant governor following the Nov. 12 death of Catherine Baker Knoll.
“It’s one that can almost ensure a very long tenure as a legislator, but is one that gives a very short list of results and accomplishments,” he said.
McCall said he was humbled to assume the speakership, a position held for the past two years by Rep. Dennis O’Brien, R-Philadelphia. He thanked O’Brien for “presiding during a very tough period in the House’s history.”
“I know we will not forget the responsibility we have to the people who sent us here,” said McCall, 49. “They sent us here for our good judgment, for our minds and hearts, and our courage.”
Rep. Joe Petrarca, D-Westmoreland, told his colleagues McCall was “the right person to steer us in the right direction” at a time when the General Assembly “is under fire.”
In recent years the public image of state lawmakers has been damaged by a since-repealed pay raise they passed for themselves in the dead of night and the attorney general’s ongoing investigation into the alleged use of state workers and public resources for campaigning and other illegal purposes.
The Rendell administration last week disclosed that its revenue collections were running $815 million less than projected, midway through the fiscal year.
During the last session the General Assembly passed a major transportation bill, a new Right-to-Know Law, an indoor smoking ban and significant revisions to dog and mine-safety laws.
But action to contain a looming spike in electricity rates and expand health coverage for the uninsured stalled.
“I would argue that our purpose here, at this moment, during one of the most difficult times in the history of the commonwealth, is to face these challenges head-on,” said Rep. Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township, the new majority leader.
Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, the new Republican whip, said lawmakers had to do more to improve the institution’s stature and reputation, and said growth in state spending and borrowing needed to be reversed.
A few hours after taking the oath, freshman Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Philadelphia, was behind his desk in the Capitol, surrounded by a pile of paperwork, some deli trays and a few family members.
“But more than anything else, it’s just incredibly exciting. The biggest day, probably, of my life,” Boyle said.
Fellow freshman Will Tallman, R-Adams, described his first session day as hectic — and probably longer than it needed to be.
“I think we could have accomplished quite a bit of that in a much quicker time frame,” said Tallman, who hopes to get a seat on the Agriculture Committee.
The House adopted temporary rules for the chamber that will reduce the size of 23 standing committees, from 16 Democrats and 13 Republicans to 14 and 10.
The new session begins with 15 Democratic and 12 Republican freshmen in the House, which Democrats control 104-99. The Senate, 29-20 in Republican hands, includes five GOP and two Democratic freshmen.