March 10, 2022
Harrisburg, PA – March, 10, 2022 − Senator Marty Flynn is fighting to lower gas prices for Pennsylvanians by supporting the reduction of the state gas tax through the end of 2022. Senator Flynn realizes the financial strain the skyrocketing prices at the pump have had on Pennsylvanians who are already facing increased costs at the supermarket and for utilities due to supply chain issues brought upon by the pandemic and nationwide labor shortages. These factors, exacerbated by Russia’s horrific attack on Ukraine, have led to historically high prices for gas.
“Legislators from both sides of the aisle and from all levels of government need to work together and deliver for the people of Pennsylvania,” Senator Flynn said. “It’s all hands on deck. We need to get creative and find a solution to deal with this astronomical increase in gas prices.”
As the Democratic leader of the Senate Transportation Committee, Senator Marty Flynn is committed to negotiating with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and Governor Wolf to determine an appropriate policy to reduce prices at the pump while ensuring that the necessary revenue remains available to fund maintenance of roads, bridges, and crucial infrastructure projects.
“This will be my top priority right now,” Senator Flynn said. “Working class Pennsylvanians are hurting, and we have to act immediately to help the people we were elected to represent.”
February 7, 2022
HARRISBURG – February 7, 2022 – Today, the Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee passed legislation introduced by Senator Marty Flynn (D-Lackawanna/Luzerne/Monroe) to update and improve the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s method of collecting and reporting on tolls.
The committee passed two bills, which will now make their way to the Senate floor. The first – Senate Bill 1051 – is part of Senator Flynn’s Turnpike Reform legislation package, and will require the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to submit an annual report to the General Assembly detailing the tolls that went collected and uncollected during the prior fiscal year. The Transportation Committee passed the bill unanimously.
“After the Transportation Committee met with members of the Turnpike Commission at a hearing in September to discuss the $104 million in uncollected tolls the prior year, I knew something had to be done,” Senator Flynn said. “We need to start holding the Turnpike Commission more accountable,” Senator Flynn said. “If they begin reporting to us instead of only reporting to themselves, maybe they’ll take the hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue more seriously.”
“As an organization, we strive to be as transparent as possible, and in the nine years I have served as Turnpike CEO, we have benefitted from a close working relationship with the Pennsylvania legislature. So further strengthening this interface is a positive step,” said PA Turnpike CEO Mark Compton. “We thank Senator Flynn and his colleagues for allowing us the opportunity to review and comment on this legislation.”
The second piece of legislation – Senate Bill 1053 – will give Pennsylvanians the option to use alternative electronic payment options, including payment applications such as Venmo, PayPal, CashApp, and Zelle, to pay their tolls. Current payment methods — E-Z Pass and Toll By Plate billing — will remain available to those paying their tolls.
“This is a great step in the right direction, and absolutely a win for the taxpayers of our state. We need to start thinking about the ways people pay for things now, and will be paying for things in the future, and get with the times. That begins today.”
Senate Bills 1051 and 1053 will now go to the full Senate for consideration.
January 19, 2022
Harrisburg, PA – January 19, 2022 – Yesterday, State Senator Marty Flynn was appointed as Democratic Chair of the Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee.
“I look forward to working with both my Democratic and Republican colleagues to ensure Pennsylvania improves our many modes of transportation and the systems that make them run,” said Senator Marty Flynn. “Transportation infrastructure is the backbone of our cities and communities. I see how safe roads and bridges, fair tolls, and access to mass transit can support local economies. I’m committed to making sure Pennsylvanians have the best and most innovative options for transportation throughout the commonwealth.”
Recently, Senator Flynn addressed the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the nearly $104 million in tolls that were uncollected from June 2020 to May 2021. Senator Flynn called for three solutions to make sure all tolls get collected, including restoring some toll collectors at high volume exits. Most recently, in a separate piece of proposed legislation, Senator Flynn suggested directing the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to accept app payments such as Venmo and Cash App.
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November 5, 2021
Lackawanna County − November 5, 2021 − Senator Marty Flynn was joined by local state representatives today outside of the Lackawanna County Courthouse to discuss the ongoing strike of the Scranton Federation of Teachers. Flanked by a raucous crowd of Scranton School District teachers, paraprofessionals, faculty, and their supporters, Senator Flynn, Rep. Kyle Mullins, Rep. Elect Thom Welby, Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, and Rep. Mike Carroll fittingly stood in front of the John Mitchell Statue to show their support for the Scranton Federation of Teachers in their labor dispute with the school district’s administration.
“I’m proud to stand here today, not just as your State Senator, but as an AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees) brother,” Senator Flynn began. “I’m proud to have my colleagues here with me. We’re all on the same page here; we all agree that our teachers are not the problem.”
Senator Flynn went on to admonish the administration’s attempts to solve their issues by cutting successful, popular programs in the district. “The administration made class sizes larger, which placed an even greater burden on the teachers,” Senator Flynn said. “They cut art. They cut music. They cut preschool. They cut counselors for students in elementary school. You can’t cut your way to prosperity. You can’t cut your way to recovery.”
Rep. Elect Thom Welby used his own personal experience as a student in the Scranton School District to highlight the negative impact the program cuts could have on the city’s children, highlighting his experience in the now-cut theatre program and crediting it for “helping so many children become fine, upstanding adults.”
“I got involved with the theatre group and with some of the arts groups, and my exposure to the arts literally changed me as a person, that brought me out of my shell,” Rep. Elect Welby said. “It’s so important to our students. We need exposure to the arts from Pre-K all the way through high school.”
Rep. Welby was followed by Rep. Kyle Mullins, who noted that the lack of proper funding for the school district has led to its current situation. “Decades of insufficient funding from the state to school districts like Scranton has set teachers and district management on a collision course,” said Rep. Mullins. “While I’m committed to ending this disparity, this unfairness, we need students back in the classroom with teachers who were put on this earth to care and to teach, teachers who deserve health care and pay comparable to other school districts.”
Rep. Bridget Kosierowski commented on the administration’s decision to suspend teachers’ and paraprofessionals’ health insurance during the strike. “When I say I believe health care is a right and not a privilege, I don’t just mean it as a campaign slogan every two years; I actually believe it,” Kosierowski said. “As a registered nurse of more than 25 years, I saw firsthand the cracks in a broken healthcare system, but never did I think I would see the day that restricting healthcare access would be used as negotiating tactic and a bargaining tool. It is not only cruel, but it is simply immoral.”
Finally, Rep. Mike Carroll laid out a plan to get the district out their current state of crisis and into a position of greater financial stability. “There are three things we need to do: Reinstate health insurance, negotiate a contract for the teachers that is aligned with other Lackawanna County school districts without offsetting healthcare savings, and reduce property taxes by 1%,” Rep. Carroll said. “We know this is in conflict with the recovery plan, but no recovery plan can substitute for the more than $30 million annual shortfall from the state.”
October 26, 2021
Harrisburg, October 26, 2021 − The Pennsylvania Senate passed Officer John Wilding’s Law (Senate Bill 814) today, which creates a new offense of “evading arrest or detention on foot.”
Introduced by Senator Marty Flynn (D-Lackawanna/Luzerne/Monroe) and Senator John Yudichak (I-Luzerne/Carbon/Monroe), the bill was drafted in response to the tragic death of Officer John Wilding of the Scranton Police Department. In 2015, Officer Wilding lost his life from injuries sustained while chasing three armed robbery suspects in a West Scranton neighborhood.
“Every day, our police officers put their lives on the line for us. What’s at stake for them every time they go to work – we can’t imagine,” Senator Flynn said. “So it’s our job as lawmakers to look out for those who serve and uphold the law. We have to protect those who protect us.”
In a bipartisan vote of 36-14, the Senate voted affirmatively on the bill which makes evading arrest or detention on foot an offense if a person knowingly and intentionally flees on foot from a public servant attempting to lawfully arrest or detain that person.
“Officer Wilding gave his life in service to the citizens of Scranton and our great Commonwealth,” said Senator Yudichak. “Senate Bill 814 ensures that his life will forever be honored by protecting the men and women of law enforcement with the addition of a new offense, evading arrest on foot, as a felony offense in the crimes code.”
Existing statute currently prohibits fleeing from an officer in a vehicle and struggling with an officer attempting to place an individual under lawful arrest, however the statute is silent with respect to fleeing from an officer on foot and placing the officers or innocent bystanders at risk of injury.
In addition to establishing the offense, the bill sets the new offense grades as follows:
- A third-degree felony if a person flees or attempts to evade arrest or detention for an underlying offense that constitutes a felony or misdemeanor and another person suffers serious bodily injury as a result
- A second-degree felony if a person flees or attempts to evade arrest or detention for an underlying offense that constitutes a felony or misdemeanor and another person dies as a result
- A second-degree misdemeanor if a person flees or attempts to evade arrest or detention for an underlying offense that constitutes a felony or misdemeanor
The bill also creates a new offense of “harming a police animal while evading arrest or detention.”
“Unfortunately, we cannot change what happened to Officer Wilding,” said Senator Flynn. “But hopefully this law will provide a bit of peace for the Wilding family and will prevent something like this from happening again in the future.”
Senate Bill 814 will now be sent to the House of Representatives for its concurrence.
