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Faxes Sent to Michael Gerber

Letters

From:	NJ
To:	Representative Gerber
Date:	Tuesday, 06/19/07
Subject:	Flaw in Energy Bill HB1201

Hello …

I am a member of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental
Education (SCEE) which stradles both Philadelphia and Montgomery
Counties. I am opposed to SCEE installing solar panels in the
wildlife habitat. I am also opposed to how Governor Rendell’s
bill will forward this kind of wildlife habitat loss, and I
explain it as follows:

I am opposed to Governor Rendell’s energy initiative bill until
an amendment prohibits these government financial incentives from
being granted to large-scale solar projects on previously
undeveloped land, including utility right-of –ways.

A prime example of the foreseeable problems with this bill is the
recent proposal by The Schuylkill Center for Environmental
Education’s (SCEE) to install a utility scale solar farm on its
land. SCEE along with MESA Energy and PECO plan to install a
large-scale solar farm on the grasslands of the SCEE property,
under the PECO right-of-way. Destroying open space and wildlife
habitat to build an industrial scale photovoltaic farm is
illogical and self-defeating, especially at the same time that
research shows that even birds formerly considered common are
disappearing.

Under the pending legislation, the contractor would receive 50%
of the installation cost, and investors in the project would
receive substantial tax breaks. To give incentives to energy
companies to develop utilities in pristine lands, wildlife
habitats and open space is deeply contradictory. I support
Governor Rendell’s energy initiative bill with an amendment
qualifying the use of this taxpayer money to support such energy
installations ONLY in industrial areas and on undeveloped land
that does not support wildlife.

Nancy Johnston

Can you help over 100 residents of Whitemarsh and Springfield
Townships who oppose the effort to rezone a part of the
Flourtown Shopping Center from residential to commercial? The
owner wants to put in a huge Home Depot(larger than the old
KMart)which will put much truck traffic through residential
neighborhoods, and destroy the efforts to make the Bethlehem
Pike corridor more pedestrian friendly (as was done with the
Black Horse Tavern preservation. There is inadequate parking for
a Home Depot, and the space is just too small. MANY THANKS

Dear Representatives:

I am a resident of Merion and work as a clinical social worker
(LCSW)for Growth Opportunity Center in Huntingdon Valley. I am
writing to request that you support a joint hearing of the House
Judiciary and Health and Human Services Committees into the
impact of the administrative practices of Magellan Behavioral
Health on patient care.

I have been increasingly concerned with the manner in which the
inefficiency of managed care companies interferes with the
quality of patient care. My administrative staff spends hours
on the phone trying to get clarification of billing procedures
and correct denial of payment. At a time when health care costs
are escalating so rapidly, it bothers me to see so much
administrative waste in the system.

Last year Magellan forgot to notify our practice that it needed
to update my credentials. Although I was fully credentialled, it
evicted me from their system and denied payments for my
services. Rather than discontinue client care, I worked without
reimbursement while our administrative staff made daily
phonecalls over a four month period trying to rectify the
situation.

These problems only drive up the cost of health care and drive
qualified practitioners away from practice.

Sincerely,

Joan F. Pollak, LCSW
Merion, Pa.

The Honorable Michael Gerber
Pennsylvania State House of Representatives
Dear Representative Gerber:
I am writing to you to ask you to work for stronger privacy
regulations for the State of Pennsylvania. Specifically, I would
like to recommend to you that Pennsylvania adopt the same strong
privacy regulations that the State of California uses. I will
explain why I believe this is necessary.
The State of California recently adopted regulations that
specify certain exact obligations for companies with customers in
the State of California. As one of their strongest requirements,
they demand that in the event of any privacy breach in the
company's records, all of the people affected by the breach in
California are notified. However, of course, it being a state
law, this does not apply to customers outside the state.
Therefore, in the event of privacy breaches involving people
from all over the country, the companies only have an obligation
to notify people in California. In order to enhance public
relations, they will not release information to anyone else
because they are not mandated. As an example of this phenomenon,
one can consider the recent breach of ChoicePoint's servers.
They notified their California customers, in compliance with the
law, but avoided providing details about the rest of the country
This, and other instances like it, have specific consequences
for the customers of Pennsylvania. In the case of a privacy
breach, we have no way of knowing, which could have drastic
consequences for our credit record if the private information
were misused.
The only solution is to have Pennsylvania adopt the same, or
very similar guidelines, as California has in this area. I ask
you this not only because I am your constituent, but also because
you are a member of the Committee on the Judiciary.
Please act now and reply as soon as possible with details of
the specific actions you will take. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Matthew Flaschen