END OF AN ERA
LONGTIME SPRINGFIELD GOP STATE REP BILL ADOLPH WILL NOT SEEK RE-ELECTION
SPRINGFIELD >> After three decades in public service — staring as a township commissioner and ending as majority chairman of the state House Appropriations Committee — state Rep. Bill Adolph, R-165, of Springfield, announced he will not seek re-election this year.
As pictures of each of the 32 football teams he coached throughout the years hung on his district office walls, Adolph said it’s time for him to spend more time in the place he started, here in Springfield, and he plans to do that when his term ends Nov. 30.
“I felt that at this time, I wanted to let the residents of the 165th district that have placed a lot of faith in me over the years in getting re-elected, to let them know early enough that I’m not running for re-election,” he said. “I enjoy the job tremendously, but it’s now a time in my life to spend more time here, here in Delaware County.”
Adolph’s path to Harrisburg began many years ago and actually originated on the football field, as a coach for the Springfield Youth Club when he went to complain about the condition of the playing surface at North Avenue Park.
Not too long after that, in 1983, the public accountant was appointed township commissioner, eventually becoming its president before running for and winning a seat in the state Legislature in 1988, representing the 165th District, covering Marple, Radnor, Springfield and Morton.
Adolph had never been in the state Capitol before he was elected to the post.
“The first time I had ever been to Harrisburg was the day I was sworn in,” the representative said as he looked over a collage of pictures from that day with the bus loads of family, friends and supporters.
He said he decided to go to the state level because he learned he really liked community service, starting with the phone calls for assistance to his business at Saxer Avenue while he was a township commissioner.
“I enjoyed it,” he said. “I enjoyed the public service part of it.”
Throughout his term, Adolph served as chairman of the House Professional Licensure Committee and of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. He also was a member of the House Consumer Affairs Committee.
In January 2010, he was elected as majority chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, a position he has held for three terms. In this capacity, he serves as the primary budget negotiator for the House Republican Caucus.
Among the bills attributed to Adolph that have been enacted into law is one in 1998 that eliminated the personal income tax on the profit from the sale of a home.
In 2002, another of his bills became law, allowing home-based businesses to operate in the home without excessive interference of local ordinances while making certain to maintain the atmosphere of the neighborhood.
Adolph was the prime sponsor of a groundbreaking telecommunications law that set the parameters for broadband availability for businesses and schools while also providing reduced-rate telephone service for lower income families.
He also authored the Guaranteed Energy Savings Act, allowing Pennsylvania’s school districts and local governments to realize energy conservation and energy savings through contracts with vendors.
Throughout his career, Adolph strongly advocated for medical malpractice liability, especially through the 1996 reform of the Medical CAT Fund, addressing patient safety and lawsuit reform, and even seen in The Fair Share Act of 2011 that focused on fairness and personal responsibility in the legal system.
The representative worked to expand the property tax/rent rebate program to include more senior citizens and permanently disabled people through exempting half of all Social Security and railroad pension income.
He worked to reform penalties that prevented senior citizens who collected Social Security and other pension income from receiving full unemployment benefits.
In 1996, his Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights, also known as Act 195 of 1996, was signed into law. It established uniform rules and regulations for the state Department of Revenue to ensure fair and equitable administration of state tax laws.
One of the more difficult times during his tenure he recalls as one of his greatest accomplishments in transforming the situation.
Adolph has also served as chairman of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, which has distributed about $4.8 billion in state grants to more than 2 million Pennsylvania students for higher education during his tenure.
He was also at the helm during one of the agency’s most controversial moments in 2007 following a months-long battle to release records that revealed approximately $800,000 being spent by executives, board members and family members on trips to resorts, such as the Greenbrier in West Virginia, and spas, as well as lavish gifts.
The agency also came under fire for bonuses it awarded its staff that year, ranging from $570,000 for its top executives to $2.5 million for all of its 2,500 employees.
Adolph said he had been newly appointed when he went on a day trip to Hershey and on an overnight trip to Williamsburg, Va.
“Even though it wasn’t taxpayer money, it was money that could’ve went to student grants and that’s the way we turned it around,” he explained. “Those seminars are very full of education and are needed, especially in the highly regulated business that we’re in.
“Things,” he said, “have changed.”
Adolph said now experts come and present information after their monthly board meetings, as opposed to the board attending seminars.
He said he was among a group of elected officials who wanted to change it and they did.
“It was like taking over the Titanic,” he said. “It would have been easy to run away, but I wanted to fix it.”
Over the years, Adolph’s efforts have received many recognitions.
The representative has been the recipient of the 2012 Conservation Leadership Award from the Pennsylvania Lands Trust Association and the 2012 Pennsylvania Recreation and Parks Society Governmental Award.
The Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania bestowed upon him the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement on Behalf of Higher Education in 2012.
He has been an eight-time recipient of the Legislator of the Year award and the Spirit of Free Enterprise award, presented by the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce.