The Pennsylvania House of Representatives returned to session on Tuesday, a week after the House Democratic Caucus retained a slim majority in one of the party’s few electoral victories.
As the second session begins in January with control of the state Legislature’s lower house, leaders said they hope to build on bipartisan success during the 2023-2024 session. These included tax breaks for working families and seniors and new education funding that would begin to correct longstanding inequities between the state’s poorest and richest school districts.
And while both parties’ legislative goals of increasing funding for public transit and transportation infrastructure remain unmet, House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery) expressed hope that Republicans who control the state Senate will respond to the revised “political calculus” with approval. joint responsibility of the parties.
“We’re not just going to retread the last session and run into the same walls,” Bradford said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. “We will continue to turn over the Rubik’s Cube with our Senate Republican colleagues.”
Bradford said that with the election of Republican Joe Picozzi to the Philadelphia Senate seat currently held by Sen. Jimmy Dillon (R-Philadelphia), municipal issues will become Republican issues.
“The simple reality is that our Senate Republican caucus now has representation in Northeast Philadelphia, and I would say to that new member, ‘What do you think about closing public transportation in Philadelphia?’ I now call on your club to come to the table,” Bradford said.
On Tuesday, the House heard parting words from former Speaker Mark Rozzi (D-Berks), who served in the role during the tumultuous first two months of the 2023-2024 session when the chamber reached an impasse over the party’s nominee.
Rozzi won the votes needed to take the WA speaker’s gavel deal with Republicans in which he agreed to become independent. He later faced backlash and lost a close Republican ally in the fight to provide legal aid to child sexual abuse victims for not changing their affiliation.
Although Rozzi’s goal of creating an exception to the civil statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse so that they could sue their abusers and abusers succeeded in eliminating deadline for filing charges criminal abuse.
“I remember that day, the day that really started this journey for me,” Rozzi said, thanking her mother and the support Grazia gave him as a victim of abuse by a priest.
“In 1984 when I ran home after being raped in the shower and when I came back I was hyperventilating and she knew something was wrong,” he recalls that the following Monday his mother took him to school and she confronted the principal. “And she made sure I never served in that church again.”
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jordan Harris (R-Philadelphia) said the re-election of 102 Democrats to the chamber is a reminder that each of them was elected by a majority of the 60,000 voters.
“Many hopes and dreams were dashed on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday many people woke up with fear of the unknown,” Harris said. “But amidst the red tide in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania there was a little old blue ship, and that blue ship rode every wave that threw at it, from nine special elections to rolling in the face of the red tide that we saw as we crossed this country.”
The House Democratic Caucus announced Tuesday that Bradford will remain as majority leader and House Speaker Joanna McClinton (R-Philadelphia) will retain her leadership position next year.
Rep. Mike Schlossberg (D-Lehigh) will take over for Rep. Dan Miller (D-Allegheny) as whip, and Republican Rob Matzie (D-Allegheny) will take Schlossberg’s place as caucus chair. All other roles will remain unchanged, with Rep. Tina Davis (D-Bucks) as caucus secretary, Rep. Leanne Kruger (D-Delaware) as caucus administrator, Rep. Ryan Bizzarro (D-Erie) as policy chair, and Rep. Jordan Harris (D-Philadelphia) ) as Appropriations Chairman.
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