The recent scandals involving the misuse of state economic development grants in Beaver County prompted state Sen.

Jane Orie, R-40th, to renew her efforts for stricter oversight over state grants for job creation and retention.Orie said her measure would create the Economic Development Accountability Act and require that the Department of Community and Economic Development improve its monitoring of state economic development grants.The legislation would require DCED to more strictly oversee grants by:• Receiving annual reports starting within 12 months of receiving a subsidy.• Having site visits for large grant and loan recipients.• Checking job numbers reported by recipients with other departments of state government.• Providing more complete success and failure statistics to the General Assembly.• Reporting penalties waived as well as penalties assessed.• Reviewing and updating the performance measures of each development subsidy program every five years and publish these measurers on the state's Web site.Orie's bill also would require recipients of development subsidies to disclose whether they are meeting requirements regarding the participation of women and minorities and whether they are delinquent in the payment of any taxes.The state Senate on Wednesday approved a measure introduced by Sen.

Don White, R-41st, that he said would improve health care access, affordability and coverage.The bill seeks to amend the Insurance Company Law of 1921 to create a Mini-COBRA Small Employer Group Health Plan. The bill now goes to the state House."(The bill) is not a silver bullet. It will not solve all of the problems with Pennsylvania's health care system," said White, chairman of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee."However, it is a pragmatic step in the right direction to improve the accessibility and affordability of health care and most significantly it does not cost the Pennsylvania taxpayers one dime."The federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) provides former employees, retirees, spouses, former spouses and dependent children the right to continuation of health coverage at group rates for up to 18 months.COBRA benefits, however, only apply to employers with 20 or more employees. White's measure would extend the COBRA guidelines in Pennsylvania to group plans that employ two and 19 employees.The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the federal stimulus act, provides a 65 percent federal subsidy for COBRA premiums.The subsidy is good for nine months for those covered by COBRA as well as those in a state continuation program such as the Mini-COBRA program established under White's bill.