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Katz questions minimum wage boost
Expresses concerns about business impacts, job losses

For Immediate Release Jan. 26
Contact Patrick Jackson at 744-4046

DOVER – Saying he’s worried that a proposed increase in the state’s minimum wage could actually cost jobs and possibly close some businesses, Sen. Michael Katz broke with the majority of his Democratic colleagues and voted against the increase.

However, West Wilmington Democratic Sen. Robert Marshall’s bill was OK’d on a 12-9 vote and is now headed to the House for consideration.

“Sen. Marshall’s intentions are noble,” Katz said. “I think we all feel for the people on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder who are suffering through these hard times. But I fear that this well-intentioned increase may actually wind up hurting the very people it’s supposed to help.”

If approved by the House and signed by Gov. Jack Markell, the state’s minimum wage would go up by $1 per hour. The increase would take place in two steps. It would go up 50 cents an hour to $7.75 on Jan. 1, 2013 and another 50-cent per hour increase would kick in starting in January 2014. The state’s minimum wage, which typically has been higher than the federal rate of $7.25 per hour since the 1990s, has mirrored the federal rate since 2009.

The Wilmington News Journal
September 28, 2011

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110928/OPINION11/109280313/Makin...

George Bernard Shaw once said every profession is in conspiracy against the layman.

You need look no further for proof of the playwright's wisdom than considering the political class.

That includes our own here in Delaware. The state legislators have managed to tuck quite a few benefits for themselves into a variety of bills over the years. For example, they give themselves an extra $7,334 a year in "expenses" over and above their wages. Better yet, they don't have to account for that money.

Then score them another bonus: The expense money counts toward their pensions.

Who wouldn't want a deal like that?

Easy. All you have to do is convince enough voters that you are there to serve the people.

But Delaware's legislators are not alone. According to USA Today, legislators in Texas meet every other year and make only $7,200. But it's not unusual to see a legislator get a $125,000-a-year pension. The reason: The legislators' pensions are linked to the state judges' salaries of $125,000.

The list of outrages goes on state by state.

Is it any wonder many Americans are angry with their government?

By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY
September 30, 2011

http://usat.ly/o5PZlt

The governor of South Carolina is urging the state's legislators to eliminate special retirement benefits they get, taking the strongest stand among officials in several states who in recent days have assailed perks that let lawmakers dramatically pump up their pensions.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley plans to overhaul the budget-strangled state pension system.

Gov. Nikki Haley is reacting to a story last week in USA TODAY that showed how South Carolina lawmakers have passed laws letting a legislator collect a pension for legislative service while still in office, and doubling those pensions by including expenses in the salaries on which they are based. The story found that more than 4,100 legislators in 33 states, including South Carolina, are positioned to benefit from special retirement laws that they and their predecessors wrote.

Haley, a Republican who took office in January, wants to bar legislators from collecting legislative pensions while they're in office and to have the pensions based only on the $10,400 legislative salary instead of the salary plus lawmakers' $12,000 annual expense allowance. Haley plans to propose the changes in January in a broad measure to overhaul the state pension system, which, like many state pension plans, faces a multimillion-dollar shortfall.

http://www.townsquaredelaware.com/dr-katz-goes-to-dover/

June 22, 2011 By Michael Katz
Posted On: Townsquaredelaware.com

Serving in Delaware’s General Assembly should be more a form of community service than a career and should be guided by the core values of honesty and integrity. Every member of the General Assembly has taken the oath of office in which they “swear always to place the public interest above any special or personal interest.”

In my third year of serving as a Delaware State Senator, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that many legislators are primarily interested in political advancement and self preservation. In fact, I define a politician as one who places their personal political self preservation above the best interests of the citizens. Examples of this protection of politicians’ self interest include the current redistricting process, legislators doing favors for the financial reward of being placed on a paying Senate committee, placement of family and friends in state and government funded positions, and legislative decisions being primarily based on what will get one re-elected.

For Immediate Release: May 19

Senator Michael Katz, M.D., MBA issued a press release (below) and has sent a letter to the Governor urging him to rethink his position on making cuts to Medicaid (click here to read the text of the letter:
http://www.medicalsocietyofdelaware.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=cex2IW...).

DOVER – Plans to cut what the state’s Medicaid program pays to doctors and other health care providers could wind up sending more people to the Emergency Room instead of a doctor’s office for treatment, Sen. Michael Katz, D-Centerville, said in a letter sent Thursday to Gov. Jack Markell.

Medicaid is a federal-state health insurance program for low-income families and the state’s Medicaid Advisory Committee recently proposed a series of measures, including cuts in reimbursements for medical, lab and non-emergency ER services to brace the state for possible cuts in federal Medicaid funding.

The proposed reductions are:

· 3 percent for most physician and radiology services

· 8 percent for lab services

· 75 percent for non-urgent Emergency Room service

Other proposals include limiting ER and special therapy visits and introducing co-payments for some medical services and for prescription drugs.