Pennsylvania's first law of 2019 expands the list of crimes that would result in a convicted public official or government employee being stripped of their public pension.
Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bill Thursday. Its passage was spurred by the case of a former Democratic state senator who was able to keep his $246,000-a-year pension after a 2012 guilty plea to a federal conspiracy charge for using Senate staff to work on political campaigns.
The legislation expands the law to apply to state and federal felonies and other crimes that could result in at least five years behind bars, in addition to an existing list of crimes related to public office or public employment.
The law comes as Pennsylvania's state and municipal pension funds carry a projected $79 billion debt.
(Photo credit: Gov. Tom Wolf/Flickr)
