January 15, 2016

Weekly Wrap:

Only the House of Representatives was in Harrisburg for session this week, and it was a short week at that. On Monday, the House couldn’t muster the votes to pass bills to fund the Commonwealth’s state-related universities—Penn State, Temple, the University of Pittsburgh, Lincoln University and the University of Pennsylvania. House Democrats were able to successfully block the constitutionally mandated two-thirds vote for final passage on those bills, saying that given the current state of the budget, the money is just not available to fund the schools. On Tuesday, the House did pass H.B. 1327 (Peifer, R-Pike), but not before amending it to match up with the General Appropriations Bill sent to (and partially vetoed by) Gov. Wolf in late December.

Though the Senate didn’t have session this week, a handful of Senators were in the capital for a public hearing held by the Special Committee on Senate Address. The committee intended to hear testimony from Attorney General Kathleen Kane to determine whether she could perform the duties of her office with a suspended law license. Kane, who disputes the committee’s authority to investigate her, did not attend but her Chief of Staff Jonathan Duecker testified for nearly two hours, explaining the duties of the office that are outside traditional legal work. Former Governor Ed Rendell also testified and maintained that a seated attorney general can perform the functions of the office without a law license, using examples from his days as Philadelphia District Attorney. Rather than remove Kathleen Kane from office, Rendell urged the committee to go through the impeachment process if it is the will of the legislature to remove her.

Even with all turmoil facing Kathleen Kane, she expects to run for reelection in 2016. Earlier this week, Montgomery County Commissioner and Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency Chairman Josh Shapiro threw his hat in the increasingly crowded ring to challenge Kane in the Democratic primary. There are four other candidates vying for the Democratic nomination; Dave Fawcett (a Pittsburgh-area attorney), John Morganelli (Northampton County DA), Jack Stollsteimer (former federal prosecutor) and Stephen Zappala (Allegheny County DA). The lone Republican candidate is current state Senator John Rafferty. The primary election will take place on April 26th, and the general election on November 8th.

A Look Ahead:

Only the Senate will return for session next week; it is scheduled to reconvene on Tuesday, January 19th at 1 p.m. It’s highly likely that the most important order of business will be to concur in the Fiscal Code bill; however, a few committee meetings have been scheduled. Of note, the Senate Education Committee will meet on Tuesday to consider H.B. 1552 (Roae, R-Crawford), which would authorize the Department of Education to enter into an interstate reciprocity agreement government interstate offerings of postsecondary distance education courses and programs.

To read H.B. 1552, go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2015&sInd=0&body=H&type=B&bn=1552

For a full list of committee meetings go to: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/session.cfm

Find the Senate Calendar at: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/SessionCalendars/index.cfm?Chamber=S

In Other News:

The following members recently announced their retirements

They join Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia) and Sen. Pat Vance (R-Cumberland) who announced their retirements late last year.