The Pennsylvania General Assembly session is coming to an end with the fewest new laws in more than a decade

In one of the final votes of the 2023-2024 legislative session, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives sent a bill to Gov. Josh Shapiro for his signature that would eliminate a long-standing barrier preventing first responders from receiving workers’ compensation for post-traumatic stress injuries.

The bill, supported by a Republican senator and a Democratic representative, is one of 241 measures expected to be passed in both chambers of the divided General Assembly this session. So far, Shapiro has done it signed 231 to the right.

State Rep. Jennifer O’Mara (D-Delaware) said on the House floor Wednesday that the bipartisan vote would end six years of work dedicated to the memory of her father, a Philadelphia firefighter who died by suicide. Senate Bill 365which was introduced by Senator Camera Bartolotta (R-Washington), mirrors O’Mary, who was admitted to the chamber in May.

The Workers’ Compensation Act is an example of a successful bipartisan effort between the House and Senate, but both chambers agreed on the smallest number of bills this session since the 2009-2010 session. The last time the Legislature was split, with Republicans controlling the Senate and Democrats holding a majority in the House, only 238 bills were sent to the governor’s desk.

While the House is scheduled to return to session two days after the Nov. 5 elections, the Senate is not scheduled to return until the end of the year, so any bill that doesn’t pass on Wednesday will likely die.

Several vital legislative priorities from this session, including new funding for mass transit and transportation infrastructure, protections for consumers facing utility shutoffs, and a chance for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to seek justice, will remain forgotten until the next General Assembly again will consider them or not. 2025.

Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) said in a statement that the productivity of a legislative session is not simply measured by the number of new bills passed. Pittman said the quality of new legislation is as vital as the work of Republicans in the Senate to prevent government overreach and new spending.

“We remain focused on expanding Pennsylvania opportunities for families, not growing Pennsylvania’s government,” noting that Senate Republicans have demonstrated responsible fiscal leadership by investing in the Commonwealth’s Rainy Day Fund. “The reality is that divided government has its limits, especially given our deep philosophical differences.”

A spokesman for House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery) did not respond to a request for comment.

Shapiro budget proposal for 2024-2025 included $283 million new transit funds agencies across the state, including the state’s largest, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), which has warned of fare increases and service reductions as pandemic-era federal aid dries up.

Shapiro’s proposal would boost the amount of state sales tax directed to the Transportation Trust Fund from 4.4% to 6.4%, and although the House passed three versions of the bill implementing the boost, Republicans in both chambers staunchly opposed it.

Senate Republicans have said they will not support increasing transit funding without also increasing funding for improvements to roads, bridges and regional airports. Several proposals called for regulating and taxing arcade games, imitation slot machines that appeared in convenience stores, bars and restaurants across the state.

Among the proposals was a bill by Sen. Frank Farry (R-Bucks) that would generate an estimated $500 million in new transportation funding by restricting arcade games to establishments with liquor licenses and giving the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board the authority to regulate them.

As the standoff dragged on into the fall, Farry recently told the Capital-Star he felt like a student at the back of the classroom waiting for the right answer. House Transportation Committee Chairman Ed Neilson has said he is open to new funding sources for transit and multimodal transportation, but has not received any specific information from the Senate.

“We may listen and hear gossip about it, but we are not gossipy people. We are people of action,” Neilson told the Capital-Star.

There is no consensus on a bailout for families struggling to pay their bills

A bailout for families struggling to pay their utility bills is set to expire at the end of this year, and Pennsylvania lawmakers agreed on the need to extend it but were unable to reach a consensus on the details.

The House and Senate passed bills reauthorizing a 20-year-old law known as Chapter 14 of the Public Utilities Code. The law establishes a framework within which utilities must deal with customers who are unable to pay their bills, and also specifies when and how utilities can be disconnected.

The version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives would allow more consumers to take advantage of plans to pay off delinquent bills, eliminate reconnection fees and security deposits for some customers, and allow the Public Utilities Commission to review malpractice protection orders issued in other states to provide protection to victims. domestic violence more freedom.

The Senate bill would require those who avoided paying bills in bad faith to post a deposit and forgive reconnection fees for those enrolled in a payment plan.

Although the bills were passed in their respective chambers with bipartisan support, they never made it beyond the opposing chambers’ consumer protection committees.

Legislation enabling survivors of violence to bring lawsuits also fails

The General Assembly began its two-year session in January 2023 determined to make progress toward opening a two-year window for adults who were sexually abused as children to seek justice.

Suspending the deadline for filing a civil lawsuit over sexual abuse has been a goal for more than a decade, since the extent of the Catholic Church’s systematic cover-up was revealed in the early 2000s. A joint resolution amending Pennsylvania’s constitution to allow survivors of harassment to file lawsuits brought the state closer than ever to providing relief, but a State Department technical error derailed those efforts in 2021.

Representatives Mark Rozzi (D-Berks) and Jim Gregory (R-Blair), both victims of sexual violence as children, they advocated for this action again in 2023. While the surviving amendment gained support in both chambers, the Senate tied it to proposals to require voter ID and expand legislative authority to regulate the executive branch.

The three-part package of constitutional amendments passed the Senate with nearly unanimous Democratic opposition. The The House passed a gutted version of the Senate bill containing only the Harassment Survivors Amendment of May 2023. This was the end of progress on the Harassment Survivors Amendment.

Rozzi is retiring this year to focus on mental health. Gregory lost the primary in May. And survivors of childhood sexual abuse in Pennsylvania will continue to wait for their day in court.

Get in Touch

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Related Articles

Latest Posts