State Sen. Bob Robbins, R-50th, wants firefighters to be allowed to continue the practice of passing around boots to collect donations from motorists on roads.Robbins on Monday told the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association he has introduced legislation that would allow charitable organizations — after getting local approval — to fundraise on roads.“These types of fundraisers are often successful because they are highly visible to the community. Without such visibility, it is difficult to attract attention for such worthy causes,” Robbins said.He originally introduced the measure last year; however, the bill received amendments at the end of the session, including a number of new provisions relating to issues such as automated red light enforcement cameras and tort options for insurance policies.The same measure is now before the Senate Transportation Committee.———

<B>U.S. Rep. Phil English, R-3rd</B>, is backing a bill that seeks to encourage working Americans to save for their retirement.The Automatic IRA Act of 2007 would require employers without retirement plans to establish an automatic payroll deduction to an individual retirement account.“By linking automatic enrollment with IRA options, this initiative will encourage individual savings and ensure economic security for working families across the country,” said English, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has primary jurisdiction over the issue.The Automatic IRA Act, which English introduced this week along with U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., would make it easier for workers to save for retirement by requiring employers to establish an automatic payroll deduction to an IRA.Specifically, employers with more than 10 employees who do not offer qualified retirement or pension plans would be required to allow all eligible workers the option to put a portion of their wages into an automatic IRA account through payroll deductions.Employers would be able to choose the type of IRA option for their employees.———

Keeping state police barracks open around the clock, permitting dogs to be used when hunting turkeys, and security on Pennsylvania’s college campuses were among the issues considered by the state Senate during the session week of April 30, according to <B>Sen. Bob Robbins, R-50th</B>.The Senate on May 1 approved a bill that increases the number of the state police from 3,940 enlisted members to 4,310 members and requires barracks to be open to the public 24 hours a day.“This legislation is necessary since the (Rendell) administration is considering plans to close some state police barracks after business hours,” Robbins said. “The truth is crime doesn’t stop at the end of the business day, in fact the evening and overnight hours are when it is most prevalent.”Also May 1, the Senate approved a measure that would amend the State Game Code to make it lawful to use a dog to pursue, chase, scatter and track wild turkeys during the fall wild turkey season.Additionally, the Senate approved bills to eliminate the positions of elected assessor in the Borough Code and the First Class Township Code, and to eliminate references to Borough and First Class Township assessors in the Fourth through Eighth Cass County Code.“The elected assessor position is unnecessary at the municipal level since counties are already required to perform those assessments,” Robbins noted.By eliminating the positions, counties will save money in ballot printing costs, election certification procedures and other duties associated with locally elected positions.Locally elected assessors were eliminated previously in other classes of municipalities.