Rep. Brad Roae, R-Crawford/Erie, speaks about House Bill 746 during a recent House of Representatives’ State Government Committee meeting.

A longstanding proposal to end the practice of state legislators leasing vehicles paid for by the state is progressing again through the state House of Representatives.

Rep. Brad Roae, R-Crawford/Erie, is proposing House Bill 746 to end the practice of state-leased vehicles costing up to $650 a month. Not many legislators take advantage of the program, but Roae believes that small number should shrink to zero.

Roae said there are only about 20 House of Representatives members who have state-leased cars. The program allows leases up to $650 per month, and participants can use the vehicles for official business, campaign purposes and personal purposes. Participants pay a proportional percentage of the cost for the non-business use of the vehicle. For example, if 85% of the usage was official business the legislator could have a brand-new full size 4X4 SUV for only $98 a month plus a proportional share of the other expenses such as gasoline.

House Bill 746 has already been approved by the House of Representatives’ State Government and Appropriations committees.

“Legislators, we haul a briefcase around, so we can do that in our own vehicles,” Roae said.

Similar legislation passed the House in 2018 but did not become law. One reason the proposal may have foundered is that the lease program can save money compared to the state reimbursing legislators on a per-mile basis, especially if those legislators drive a long distance from their district to Harrisburg. The state pays the IRS mileage reimbursement rate to legislators.

Rep. Margo Davidson, D-Delaware, questioned Roae on the floor of the House and questioned the savings in House Bill 746. Davidson asked Roae how many vehicles in the state fleet would be eliminated with his proposal, and Roae said he didn’t know the exact number other than the 20 in the House of Representatives. She also noted that Roae’s bill would eliminate vehicles driven by Republican state Senate leaders. She criticized the bill as poorly researched.

“Mr. Speaker this bill simply seeks to divide and classify certain members that use state vehicles from members that don’t,” Davidson said. “DGS did a study of cost savings and determined submitting mileage was more expensive than state vehicles that are on the road. I will be offering an amendment. If we want to save taxpayers money as it relates to legislature travel, then we should not submit miles or have state vehicles. If we want to have an equal system where legislators no longer charge the state fortheir travel expenses outside of the constitutional miles then we can do that. This piece of legislation just seeks to villanize certain elected officials that use a state vehicle without any real savings to taxpayers.”

One of the issues Roae raises is that taxpayers pay for the legislators’ auto insurance. In 2018, a state representative from Delaware County was charged twice with driving with a suspended driver’s license while driving a taxpayer-funded vehicle. that same representative was involved in two accidents in the state-leased vehicle.

“I actually don’t take mileage outside of committee work. I just have a personal belief if I’m driving around my district, it’s my district and I don’t need to charge taxpayers for doing my job on a day-to-day basis,” said Rep. Seth Grove, R-Dover. “There is a huge expense in the expense of purchasing vehicles and moving forward so I applaud the maker of the amendment for trying to find some cost savers and reduce cost to taxpayers.”