Commissioners of Pennsylvania’s County Called Legislators to deal with defects in the law of voting according to the community and increasing the financing of psychiatric care and 911 services.
Local election officials are still trying to meet the dates of postal voting and face legal challenges over five years after voting by post, became an option for every voter in Pennsylvania, as members of the Association of Commissioners of Pennsylvania (CCAP) say.
“Achieving these priorities will not only improve the government of the Ferrings, but more importantly, it will improve our communities and the lives of those whom we serve in the whole state,” said Sherene Hess, president of the board of CCAP.
Hess and other members of the CCAP board gathered on Wednesday in Harrisburg to lobby members of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, when the legislative session began in 2025-2026, and a few days before the governor of Josh Shapiro will be established by his proposed budget.
67 Pennsylvania poviats are largely responsible for the provision of services to residents, for which state and federal governments pay.
The counties also administered elections that became more complicated since the former Governor Tom Wolf signed the Act 77 to enable voting absent without an excuse in 2019. Voting by post was popular, but it was also the subject of unfounded claims for fraud and legal challenges.
“Act 77 remains unclear or in some cases quietly how poviats should resolve specific situations,” said CCAP board member Joseph Kantz, commissioner of Snyder, commissioner.
Kantz said that the election officials of the county want the law to be clear whether to count the voting cards that are returned without envelopes of mystery or with missing or incorrect dates. Although state and federal courts have ruled several times about this question, the State Supreme Court recently agreed to ask the question again.
Electoral officials were also summoned to the court regarding decisions regarding notification of post voting voters that they had committed disqualifying mistakes and whether they should have permission to correct them or vote for the voice of ephemeral votes.
The widespread acceptance of voting by post exerted additional pressure on electoral officials to make sure that voting cards would be sent in a timely manner and add them quickly enough to avoid delays in reporting the results of the election.
Allowing poviats to prepare before counting on the day of election would reduce this stress, “especially in the hard-working presidential year, as we just faced,” said Kantz.
Wolf vetoed the Omnibus act adopted in 2021 It also contained funds that the Democrats stated that it was devoid of voters. Later efforts to change Act 77 in similar Omnibus accounts failed.
Kantz said on Wednesday that CCAP is looking for a up-to-date approach, dealing with each of the problems in separate legislation.
Sanity
The Commissioner of the County of Northampton, Lori Vargo Heffner, said that because the stigma surrounding mental illness and treatment of mental health is still falling apart, the need for a significant escalate in financing of such care has become more urgent.
Poviats provide mental health care, including community residential programs, family support, outpatient care and crisis intervention on behalf of the state.
“The poviats were still able to serve their residents, but stretch limited state funds to the broken point,” said Heffner. “It is not a hyperbola say that the lack of adequate state financing in combination with increased demand was pushed by the collapse of the social mental health system.”
In 2024, CCAP called $ 250 million to escalate mental financing. It would be a fraction of $ 1.6 billion additional funds that found poviats, is necessary to fully finance mental health services based on community. The first two Shapiro budgets increased the funds for the mental health of the Ferriers with a total amount of $ 40 million.
This year, CCAP asks $ 100 million more, said Heffner. This would allow poviats to maintain their systems and escalate their ability, noting that people looking for a community -based mental health report are waiting for at least six months and often longer.
“The unhappy need of the community created a growing population of people who got involved in emergency departments, law enforcement agencies and justice system in criminal matters when there is no proper redirection,” said Heffner. “Other solutions are hospitals or imprisonment that are not suitable for mental health treatment settings and are very expensive.”
New generation 911
In the first Shapiro budget adopted in 2023, the legislator approved Increase in subsidy 911 that mobile phones subscribers pay monthly shipping services every month. Hess, the president of CCAP, said on Wednesday that despite the growth, poviats must finance the significant cost of switching to up-to-date generation 911 using local taxes.
The General Assembly must re -authorize the subsidy before its sunset at the beginning of 2026, and CCAP calls for an escalate of up to USD 2.14 to USD 2.20 per month.
“This should be solved,” said Hess. “The volume of connections 911 is growing, and revenues from subsidy 911 do not maintain the pace of system costs in the last few years.”
A spokesman for the Crisis Management Agency in Pennsylvania said that the Shapiro administration is aware that the additional payment does not cover the full costs of poviats, but is waiting for the performance of performance from the legislator required under the provisions in 2023. Because the larger surcharge came into force until last year, It is not clear how many revenues he generated.
“In 2023, an earlier surcharge of USD 1.65 covered about 74% of all reported expenses incurred to ensure 911,” said Ruth Miller spokesman. “Other costs are covered by poviats through their general funds or other sources of income.”
Next Generation 911 is a digital system that uses the Internet to connect society with response points to public security, also known as 911, through voice, text messages and video. It also increases the ability of centers to handle higher volumes of calls for aid during natural disasters and automatically sending ringing to appropriate centers by means of geolocation information.
“The strong, connected system 911 is of key importance to ensuring that services can still be provided in emergency mass situations and keep up with the pace of constantly changing technological progress,” said Hess.
