State Rep. Todd Stephens, R-Montgomery, speaks in the state Capitol on Sept. 17, 2019.
Ed Mahon / PA Post
What to watch for in Harrisburg as legislators return to work
-
Ed Mahon
Ed Mahon / PA Post
State Rep. Todd Stephens, R-Montgomery, speaks in the state Capitol on Sept. 17, 2019.
Breaking Capitol news: State Sen. Mike Folmer, a Lebanon County Republican, was arrested on child pornography possession and other charges, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office announced Tuesday evening. GOP Senate leaders quickly moved to remove Folmer from the chairmanship of the chamber’s State Government Committee. As a lawmaker, Folmer is perhaps best known for shepherding the legalization of medical marijuana through the GOP-controlled General Assembly.
—
Memo: NPR picked up a version of Rachel McDevitt’s story about members of the Amish community leaving Lancaster County. It’s a really good listen and an interesting topic. At a recent family party this was the story I spent a lot of time talking to out-of-towners about.–Ed Mahon, PA Post reporter
—
Memo: NPR picked up a version of Rachel McDevitt’s story about members of the Amish community leaving Lancaster County. It’s a really good listen and an interesting topic. At a recent family party this was the story I spent a lot of time talking to out-of-towners about.–Ed Mahon, PA Post reporter
Ed Mahon / PA Post
State Rep. Todd Stephens, R-Montgomery, speaks in the state Capitol on Sept. 17, 2019. (Ed Mahon / PaPost.org)
Energy debate will be high on agenda
-
State representatives returned to Harrisburg Tuesday, and senators are scheduled to be back in session next week. WITF’s Katie Meyer has this handy guide for what’s on lawmakers’ agenda this fall.
-
One debate to watch is about competing visions for energy and economic development. One vision is Restore PA, Gov. Tom Wolf’s infrastracture revitalization plan that would be paid for with a natural gas severance tax. The other is Energize PA, the House Republican plan that seeks to boost development of Pa.’s natural gas resources.
-
The minimum wage fight will continue, Katie reports. Pennsylvania’s rate is set at the federal level of $7.25 an hour, and the GOP-General Assembly hasn’t appeared eager to raise it. It’s rare for a GOP-controlled legislature to pass a minimum wage increase — at least in recent history — as I found when I looked at how minimum wage increases passed in 11 states that voted for Donald Trump.
-
Other issues to watch: legislation related to child sexual assault and statute of limitations; reforms to the criminal justice system and gun control.
-
I covered a rally Tuesday that saw several lawmakers and more than 100 volunteers with Moms Demand Action urge lawmakers to pass legislation creating extreme risk protection orders in Pennsylvania. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings about guns, mental health and the Second Amendment on Sept. 24 and 25, and opponents of extreme risk protection orders are urging people to make their voice heard in the Capitol.
-
Reminder: extreme risk protection orders, sometimes called red-flag laws, would allow judges to temporarily remove someone’s gun rights if there’s reasonable concern the person could be a threat. Judges could approve interim orders without people having a chance to defend themselves. But the longer orders — which would last three months to one year — would require a full hearing.
Best of the rest
Vicki Vellios Briner/Special to PennLive
Sue Klebold, an advocate of mental health awareness and mother of one of the Columbine High School shooters, speaks at Penn State Harrisburg on September 16, 2019.
-
Sue Klebold, whose son was one of the Columbine High School shooters in 1999, spoke to WITF’s Scott LaMar. Her book, “A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy,” was selected as the WITF 2019 Summer Read.
-
Transforming Health’s Brett Sholtis also interviewed Klebold at a public event in Harrisburg. One gun control law she supports is extreme protection orders.
-
WHYY’s Aaron Moselle looks at a proposal that would give more than 1,000 state inmates serving life sentences for murder a shot at being released.
-
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, former Vice President Joe Biden and other presidential candidates made their pitch to hundreds of union members in Philly on Tuesday. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Sanders “drew the warmest response of the day, with many in the crowd standing and chanting his name, waving phones to take pictures as he took the stage.”
-
PA Post reporter Emily Previti has five takeaways from a joint meeting of Senate and House state government committees. Absentee ballots got the most attention, but there was also some discussion of the shortage of poll workers.
-
Four more years! That’s how much longer a nuclear site in Idaho would host radioactive debris from the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. The U.S. Energy Department has a deal to keep the materials in Idaho until 2035, but is asking to extend the agreement to 2039, the Associated Press reports.
