HARRISBURG - House lawmakers on Monday directed a study of salaries for top executives and other expenses by nonprofit agencies that provide services to the disabled and children - a move one lawmaker says is retaliation against the agencies' protests to state funding cuts.
The House voted 177-21 to authorize the study by the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee with a due date April 1. The study will collect existing information on compensation for nonprofit executives and the 20 highest-paid employees, lobbying expenses, association dues, assets, administrative expenses and operating costs.
Nonprofits file some of this information through 990 forms with the federal Internal Revenue Service. The resolution sponsor, Rep. Scott Petri, R-178, Richboro, said the goal is to provide this information in one accessible place.
The nonprofits targeted under the resolution will have received state aid under child welfare, community-based mental health services and intellectual disability programs, drug and alcohol services, and the intellectual disability community waiver.
These programs have been at the center of state budget battles and subject to spending cuts in recent years.
House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-33, Pittsburgh, said the study's goal is to make sure that human services dollars are being spent effectively.
However, Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-120, Kingston, a Budget and Finance Committee member, said GOP lawmakers are using the study to retaliate against nonprofits for organizing rallies last spring to protest state human services cuts.
"I have to believe this is retaliation for that," she said.
House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-33, Allegheny County, said he has assurances that the House will vote next week to authorize a similar study for for-profit service providers.
Another study is needed to examine expenses at charter schools that receive state funding, Mr. Dermody said.
The nonprofits study is to help ensure that tax dollars are spent for the purpose spelled out in the appropriation, said Rep. Matt Baker, R-68, Wellsboro. New York and New Jersey recently passed laws to limit pay at nonprofits that receive tax dollars, he said.
Contact the writer: rswift@timesshamrock.com