Legislation that ensures Pennsylvania’s elected officials and public employees who commit serious job-related crimes lose their pensions is on its way to Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk for enactment.

By a 44-0 vote, the state Senate on Wednesday approved House changes to a pension forfeiture bill that seeks to broaden the Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act to cut off the pensions of those public officials and employees who commit felonies or offenses punishable by more than five years’ imprisonment.

Wolf has indicated he would sign this government reform measure.

In talking about the bill on the Senate floor, Sen. John DiSanto, R-Dauphin County, the bill’s sponsor, said, “Passing this bill today is a significant step forward for government reform. We are sending a clear message for the people of Pennsylvania that we are serious about restoring public trust in government."

DiSanto said over the past 10 years, the state and school employees’ pension systems identified potentially hundreds of instances where officials and employees exploited a loophole in the law by pleading guilty to a non-pension forfeiture felony to preserve their pensions.

Among them was a former longtime state Sen. Bob Mellow of Lackawanna County, who won a favorable decision in 2017 from the State Employees’ Retirement System board to restore his $245,000 a year pension despite his guilty plea and serving prison time on federal conspiracy charges - which currently is not considered a pension forfeiture crime.

"It’s obvious to me and all the honest hardworking citizens of Pennsylvania that lawbreakers violating the public trust should not receive lifetime pension benefits from taxpayers,” DiSanto said.

The measure passed the House on Tuesday by 194-1 vote with Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware County, casting the lone opposing vote.

The legislation further strengthens the forfeiture law to include federal offenses as well as offenses that occur in another state that are substantially the same as ones that happen in the commonwealth as pension forfeiture crimes. They include such crimes as sexual offenses, theft, forgery, bribery, and wagering on an official action, among others.

It also clarifies that the forfeiture begins on the day the public official or employee pleads guilty or no contest or is found guilty. The courts have interpreted the current law to mean that the forfeiture didn’t occur until the official or employee was sentenced by a judge, which can be may months after an individual admits guilty or is found guilty.

Similar legislation has been offered in past legislative sessions but none of those bills ever completed the legislative process to reach the governor’s desk.

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.

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