County commissioners Craig Lehman and Scott Martin, right, heard testimony Thursday night at a public hearing on a plan to disband the Lancaster County Human Relations Commission.
The crowd overflowed the seats Thursday at a public hearing on the future of the Lancaster County Human Relations Commission.
Four counties in Pennsylvania have their own human relations commissions.
Whether that makes Allegheny, Erie, Philadelphia and Lancaster county leaders progressive or proponents of duplicative government services was the subject of debate Thursday night in downtown Lancaster.
About 300 people packed a public hearing before the Lancaster County commissioners in the county administration building at 150 N. Queen St. to consider a proposal to disband the county's Human Relations Commission and turn over its duties to the state commission.
READ: Hearing testimony (PDFs)
VIDEO: Excerpts of HRC supporters at hearing VIDEO: Complete HRC hearing
Even thinking about abolishing the local commission is ridiculous, the Rev. Edward Bailey, pastor of Bethel AME Church, said.
"Mr. Commissioners, the message you are sending, hopefully unknowingly, is one that says to our confused neighbors, 'Lancaster no longer cares about unfair treatment of persons who may not be acceptable in employment, housing or public accommodations,' " he said.
The commissioners did not vote Thursday on whether to keep the Human Relations Commission. The hearing was intended to gather testimony and comments from the public. A decision will be made later.
Commissioners Chairman Scott Martin proposed the idea of repealing the ordinance that gives the commission its enforcement powers, because he said he believes the state Human Relations Commission provides the same protections.
Abolishing the local commission would save county taxpayers about $500,000 per year, he said.
Two hours before the hearing started, some 250 people rallied in Binns Park, just outside the administration building, to voice their support for the commission.
Organizers handed out signs, many prepared by state Rep. Mike Sturla, with slogans such as, "Don't rush to racism," "Don't turn back the clock," "We need local protection" and "I won't stand quietly by."
"This is about defending our local access to basic human rights," said city resident Adanjesus Marin of the Lancaster Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Organizing Committee.
"If they take this away from us, we would be the only county in the history of Pennsylvania to move backwards in the arena of human rights."
Those who lined up at the hearing to call for keeping the commission said shedding the group could be a form of discrimination because complainants would have to travel to Harrisburg to pursue their cases.
Some of those people might not be able to take time off work or be able to afford the trip, they said.
"We are in fact rolling back protections by sending people elsewhere," said Josh Dixon, president and CEO of Urban League of Lancaster County. "Protections can be lost as a result of inconvenience."
According to testimony from assistant county solicitor Nicole Decker and county human services lead James Laughman, the legislation that enables both the state and county commissions is nearly identical.
The state is required to have a human relations commission, but local governments are not.
Lancaster County empowered its commission in 1991 and then expanded those powers in 2002 to fight discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations and lending based upon a person's race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, age, handicap/disability or familial status.
In 2009, the commission received 150 complaints, 28 of which led to fact-finding conferences. The commission closed 67 cases, more than half of which were found to have "no probable cause."
Those complaints were among the 1,549 official contacts the commission handled.
On average, it takes 258 days for the county commission to investigate claims of discrimination, according to Kaaba Brunson, director of the Harrisburg regional office of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, which covers Lancaster.
By comparison, it takes Brunson's office 436 days.
Already, each caseworker at the Harrisburg office is handling 126 cases.
"The elimination of the Lancaster County Human Relations Commission will add current and future cases to the Harrisburg regional office inventory," Brunson said.
Not everyone who spoke Thursday night was opposed to abolishing the commission.
Local attorney Randall Wenger of the Independence Law Center said such a move makes good fiscal sense in a difficult economy.
"As a practical matter, no rights are being lost," he said. "The only effect is where a person goes to vindicate those rights.
"As it is, you can go to the city, county or state. … As it turns out, many county residents already choose to contact the Harrisburg office."
According to Brunson, the state commission has a memorandum of understanding with the Lancaster commission to avoid duplicating investigations.
In many instances, he said, complainants file complaints with both agencies.
During fiscal year 2009, 99 cases were filed with both commissions. In those cases, 51 complainants chose to have the Lancaster commission conduct the investigations.
"This emerging preference of the people of Lancaster County to have LCHRC conduct the investigation is related to the reduced expense (of) pursuing complaints and the ability of LCHRC to complete its investigations" in less time than the state, Brunson said.
Stephen Glassman, chairman of the state Human Relations Commission, warned the commissioners that abolishing the local commission could not only lead to an increase in incidents of discrimination, but it could have long-term economic impacts on the county as well.
"You are leaving the impression that people who are members of those protected classes will certainly not feel that they want to do business in Lancaster County if they're being excluded from protections and equal rights and equal opportunity," he said. "They have many places where they can hold conventions, conferences, meetings, where they can shop and spend their dollars."
By the time testimony before commissioners ended at 10:20 p.m., nearly two dozen people had lined up to add their comments on the issue.
Among them, HRC board chairman Bob Rush noted that the HRC last year handled more than 1,500 cases, with only about 150 filed for formal action. That, he said, has saved both the county and state significant dollars.