LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
STATE UPDATE
The Senate and the House are each adjourned. The House returned in a special session on February 21. The Senate returns on February 27. Here are their schedules and those of committees.
Reform of PA House Rules:
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives returned to session on Tuesday, February 21, in a special session to consider both a statutory change and a constitutional amendment that would open a window for survivors of sexual abuse to sue those whose who harmed them. Next week, the House of Representatives will hold a regular session to discuss other issues.
The first task is to pass new and equitable rules for the operation of the House for the special session this week and the regular session next week. Speaker Mark Rozzi created a workgroup to reform those rules, and its members have heard testimony from citizens all over the state. They proposed rules for the special session.
The rules for the general session will, we think, be proposed by leaders of the House next week. We still do not know exactly what they will propose, but we are optimistic about the rules that the Democrats will put forward.
First, create rules that enhance democracy in the House.
Second, create rules that stop legislation by constitutional amendment. Here is an analysis of the rules the PA House needs.
FEDERAL UPDATE
The 99% PA campaign has resumed their standing weekly Zoom meetings on Thursday afternoons. Reach out to Ali at feldman@pennbpc.org.
The 99% PA campaign’s Jeff Garis has a new weekly blog post on Fridays, “Five Fast Facts,” with a brief overview of the major policy-related developments in Congress and the Biden administration during the previous week. Here is last week’s column.
WE THE PEOPLE – PA UPDATES
Our biweekly Capitol Insider Call happens every other Thursday at 4:30 p.m. The next call is Thursday, February 16. Sign up for updates and join our Zoom room or watch us on Facebook Live.
UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES TO GET INVOLVED
On March 2 at 7:00 p.m., the Education Law Center is hosting “ELC Webinar for Parents: Race & Sex Based Discrimination in Schools” to give advocates the tools to push back against these types of proposed policies, including how to file complaints under Title IX and the Human Relations Act. This will be incredibly valuable in helping people understand the legal issues involved with these board actions. Register here to attend this webinar.
FOR YOUR ADVOCACY WORK
Publications released by Keystone Research Center and the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center:
An Unemployment Insurance Agenda for PA’s Next Governor: Fix What’s Broken and Create a New National Model
Inequity and Inadequacy in K-12 Education Funding in Pennsylvania: Fiscal Year 2022-23 Update
You can find their other research publications here.
CALL TO ACTION
Support Reform of PA House Rules
Tell your legislator to support efforts to reform the House rules.
Too often, in the last ten years, we have seen the Republican leadership use the existing rules to block a majority of legislators—and often a bipartisan majority—from acting. We should encourage the majority party to work to build majorities for legislation in the House instead of allowing it to block them.
And, too often in the last five years, we have seen the Republican leadership seek to bypass the Pennsylvania Constitution’s legislative process with constitutional amendments. If legislators want the people to enact legislation by popular vote, they should give us, not just the majority party, the right to put issues on the ballot.
Contact your legislator saying you support House rules that enhance democracy in the House.
Support Public Education — Close the Opportunity Gap for PA Students
Every child, regardless of zip code, has a right to an excellent public education, which requires access to a full curriculum, art and music classes, counselors and librarians, technical opportunities, and a safe, clean, stable school environment.
Pennsylvania is 43rd in the country when it comes to the share of revenue for local school districts that come from the state, which means the burden is passed to local taxpayers through property taxes. The state’s total spending on K-12 education is more than $4 billion short of providing an adequate education to all students by the state’s own standard of adequacy.
Now, we have a ruling from the Commonwealth Court that emphatically agrees that our system of funding public education in the Commonwealth is broken.
We must upend the broken school funding system in Pennsylvania once and for all. The state must add AT LEAST $4 billion in basic education funding to close the adequacy gap, distributed through both the Fair Funding Formula and the Level Up supplement.
CLICK HERE TO SEND AN EMAIL TO GOVERNOR SHAPIRO AND YOUR LEGISLATORS TO SAY THAT ALL KIDS DESERVE FULLY FUNDED SCHOOLS!
SIGN OFF
We hope you found this week’s eBlast valuable, and we appreciate your support and the demanding work you all do in your own areas every single day. Keep on keepin’ on!
In Solidarity,
Marc, Vivienne, Jay, and the rest of our WTP-PA team
