Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives take the oath of office on swearing-in day on Jan. 3, 2023. (Capital-Star photo by Peter Hall)
In the month after securing their 101-vote majority, Pennsylvania House Democrats have held hearings on gun safety, raising the minimum wage, and expanding access to reproductive health care.
While they might at first appear to be the routine work of a state legislative chamber, hearings on Democratic policy priorities are a source of optimism for advocates across the state.
Under Republican control of the House in the last six sessions, committee chairs have not given Democratic goals space on an agenda. But with control of the committees, Democratic leaders are giving airtime to advocates for long awaited reform.
And those advocates say that with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro in office there’s a better chance than any time in the last 12 years of those reforms becoming law. With Republicans in control of the state Senate, however, accomplishing those goals will be an exercise in bipartisanship.
“I think there will be a very real political process and at the end of the day there will be real choices that legislators and the governor will have to make,” Stephen Herzenberg, executive director of the labor-friendly Keystone Research Center, said.
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