July 24, 2015

Weekly Wrap:

While things were kind of low-key for the General Assembly this week, there were a few newsworthy events nonetheless.

On the legislative front, the Senate was not in session this week, and the House of Representatives only held voting session on Tuesday and Wednesday. Committee meetings were few and far between;  however, on Tuesday the House Transportation Committee met to consider S.B. 925 (Rafferty, R- Berks) which would update Pennsylvania’s commercial driver’s license laws as required by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Also of interest, Rep. Bill Adolph (R-Delaware) introduced H.B. 1460, a General Appropriations Bill, which was reported from the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.  At the committee meeting, Adolph—who is chairman of the committee—noted that the bill is identical to H.B. 1192 as passed by the legislature, which was vetoed by Gov. Tom Wolf earlier this month. The bill is intended to be a placeholder so that by the time a budget deal is reached, there will be a bill in the pipeline that can be amended to reflect that agreement. (And while budget negotiations continue, that’s about all we can confirm to have happened.)

Wednesday was also the inaugural meeting of the Governor’s Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force. DEP Secretary John Quigley chaired the meeting, laying forth an agenda and timeline of what we can expect from the task force and its work groups in the coming months. Find more about the task force here:

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/pipeline_infrastructure_task_force/22066/

However, the biggest news of all came directly from the Governor’s Office this week, when Gov.  Wolf announced the resignation of his Chief of Staff, Katie McGinty. McGinty, who ran against the governor in the Democratic primary last year, has served as COS since day one of the current administration.  Word on the street is she’s leaving to run for U.S. Senate, but that hasn’t been confirmed as of yet.

Read more at:  http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/8754600-74/mcginty-wolf-state#axzz3gjMtpZ3G

Thursday morning brought more news form the Wolf camp: the governor announced that his current Secretary of Legislative Affairs, Mary Isenhour, will replace McGinty as top dog in his cabinet.  Isenhour’s history with Wolf could possibly pre-date McGinty’s; she signed on to work for his campaign when it was but a fledgling. Executive Deputy Legislative Secretary and Rendell-era veteran Will Danowski will take over as Secretary of Legislative Affairs.

To read Isenhour’s bio, go to: http://www.pa.gov/pages/Cabinet-and-Executive-Officials-Details.aspx?officialid=58#.VbERY090zMM

A Look Ahead:

There is no session scheduled until August 25, when the House will return to Harrisburg. The Senate has yet to schedule any days before September 21.  We’re hopeful budget negotiations will continue over these next few weeks.

In Other News: