Burns crosses party lines to support Taxpayer Protection Act

EBENSBURG, Jan. 15 – Intrigued by the similarities between its aims and his own effort to pry public information from the state Liquor Control Board, state Rep. Frank Burns has sponsored a Republican-authored bill known as the Taxpayer Protection Act. Burns, D-Cambria, said H.B. 1316 not only seeks to limit the rate of state spending increases, tying them to the Consumer Price Index and population growth, it also would create greater transparency in a state budget process that often leaves rank-and-file legislators in the dark. “I have absolutely no qualms about crossing party lines to support good legislation,” Burns said. “That’s what my constituents expect of me, that’s what I’ve promised them – and that’s what I’m going to deliver.” As a fiscally conservative legislator who’s consistently refused to raise state taxes , sometimes in the face of enormous pressure from his own party, Burns said he would welcome the bill’s provision that would essentially tie state spending hikes to reasonable benchmarks. “Too many times, we’ve all been victimized by the Harrisburg shell game of, ‘Authorize the spending now, figure out how to pay for it later,’ which is doing things backward,” Burns said. “It’s time for that game to end, for everyone to know up front how the bills are going to be paid, and for state government to learn to live within Read more