Legislative Update

Two House members intend to introduce legislation to address transparency concerns arising from a recent Supreme Court decision regarding the Sunshine Act that allows government agencies to add items to their meeting agenda without prior notice to the public.

Reps. Robert Freeman (D-Northampton), chair of the House Local Government Committee, and Brad Roae (R-Crawford/Erie), the ranking Republican on the House State Government Committee, seek their colleagues’ support to preserve what they say was the original intent behind the 2021 amendment to the Sunshine Act requiring government agencies to make meeting agendas available to the public at least 24 hours in advance. The amendment excepted emergencies and de minimis matters from the requirement.

The legislators said the court’s interpretation of the law allows any matter to be considered at a meeting without prior notice. “I believe this runs contrary to the intent of the rule and Sunshine Act to provide the public with a reasonable opportunity to be informed of upcoming matters to be discussed at meetings of their local municipality, school district, and Commonwealth agencies,” Freeman said in his cosponsorship memo.

“In order to preserve the purpose of the notice and agenda requirements of the Sunshine Act, the General Assembly should clarify the language regarding these exceptions and limit them to an appropriate set of circumstances,” Roae stated in his memo.

PNA is supportive of efforts to address the transparency concern caused by the high court’s ruling, which PNA Media Law Counsel Melissa Melewsky said is “an invitation for abuse and Pennsylvanians will suffer as a result.”

House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D-Delaware/Philadelphia) set Feb. 24 as the date for special elections to fill seats vacated by Reps. Josh Siegel (D-Lehigh) and Dan Miller (D-Allegheny). Special elections to fill the seats of Reps. Torren Ecker (R-Franklin) and Lou Schmitt (R-Blair) will be held March 17. All four left to serve in elective roles in their respective counties. Their legislative districts are considered party strongholds, so control of the House is likely to remain under Democratic control by one vote for the remainder of the session, which ends Nov. 30.

Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster), a one-time House speaker, told party officials last month he won’t run for reelection to the seat he has held for 20 years, according to LNP | LancasterOnline.

Cutler joins Reps. Mary Jo Daley (D-Montgomery), a seven-term lawmaker, and Anita Kulik (D-Allegheny), a five-term incumbent, both of whom announced last year they would not seek reelection.

Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York) intends to introduce legislation that would place a lien on private property that received upgrades, renovations or improvements using taxpayer money. The payment would be triggered upon the subsequent transfer of property ownership. This stems from the $1.1 million spent on security upgrades to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s private residence outside Philadelphia, according to her cosponsorship memo. While she acknowledges security upgrades to a private residence may be necessary to keep elected officials safe, “Taxpayers deserve to know what they are paying for and to know that it will come back to the state should the property be sold.” Rep. Wendy Fink (R-York) signaled her intention to offer a companion bill on this topic in the House.

Rep. Tarik Khan (D-Philadelphia) plans to offer legislation that would prevent communities from placing arbitrary limits on the number of unrelated roommates who can occupy a home. Calling it the “Golden Girls Law” after the popular 1980s TV show about four woman who shared a home, Khan said in his cosponsorship memo his goal is to expand housing options while helping people afford to stay in their communities.

Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Adams/Franklin) introduced SR 200 that would establish a special committee to investigate the April 13 arson attack on the Governor’s Residence and issue a report to senators within 90 days.

Rep. Jeff Olsommer (R-Pike/Wayne) proposes legislation requiring school districts to direct new property tax revenue resulting from data center construction to be used to reduce homeowners and farmers’ property tax bills.

Rep. Jeanne McNeill

Rep. Jeanne McNeill (D-Lehigh) intends to offer legislation to give parents tools to control the personal information that companies providing online services can collect from minors. It would require businesses to complete a Data Protection Impact Assessment before offering new online services, products, or features that are likely to be accessed by children under the age of 18. Other bills that seek to address social media access by minors include SB 22, offered by Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Montgomery/Philadelphia) and HB 1430, sponsored by Rep. Brian Munroe (D-Bucks).

The Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee on Tuesday voted along party-lines to use its rarely used power to issue subpoenas for information about the more than $1 million of taxpayer funds spent on security upgrades made to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s private home in suburban Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania State Police recommended the upgrades following the arson attack on the governor’s official residence in Harrisburg. Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-Bucks/Lehigh), who chairs the GOP-controlled committee, said the subpoenas for the security upgrade records as well as information relating to the governor’s air travel are necessary to find out basic details about how public funds are being spent; Democratic members called the subpoenas an invasion of privacy and outside the committee’s authority.

Rep. Jeremy Shaffer (R-Lehigh) proposes legislation to prohibit video streaming services from transmitting commercial advertisements at a volume louder than the programs they accompany. “This measure will help ensure a more comfortable and consistent viewing experience for consumers and protect them from the jarring and disruptive nature of excessively loud advertisements,” his cosponsorship memo states.

Rep. Kristin Marcell (R-Bucks) intends to offer legislation to increase the penalty for violating the confidentiality requirement of the Safe2Say Something, a program designed to provide a confidential platform for students and adults to report tips of potential violence. Her bill would raise the penalty to a second-degree misdemeanor. The law currently has it as a misdemeanor of the third degree.

A co-sponsorship memo circulated by Sen. Lindsey Williams (D-Allegheny) outlines her plans to increase transparency and public participation in the selection process for judicial nominees to vacant positions. The bill would include a requirement that the Office of General Counsel post the names and application paperwork on its publicly accessible website for 30 days; allow for public comment to the majority and minority chairpersons of committees conducting confirmation hearings; and require a broadcasted public hearing for nominees.

Sen. Lisa Boscola (D-Lehigh/Northampton) has introduced SB 1010, a joint resolution proposing to increase the state budget cycle from one to two years. Read the co-sponsor memo and bill here.

Sen. Tracy Pennycuick

The Senate Communications & Technology Committee Tuesday approved SB 1090, sponsored by Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-Berks/Montgomery), to require platforms that use artificial intelligence chatbots to disclose the user is communicating with a non-human. Additional disclosures would be required when a minor uses the chatbot. The bill exempts businesses that use AI for customer service and PNA believes it would have no impact on PNA members as drafted. A similar bill, HB 2006, has been introduced in the House by Rep. Melissa Shusterman (D-Chester).

The bipartisan, bicameral Local Government Commission approved a proposal for the General Assembly’s consideration that would specify what the summary of a proposed ordinance in a newspaper advertisement must include to meet the state’s legal requirements. Current law requires counties, First Class cities, boroughs, and First- and Second-Class townships to publish the full text of proposed ordinances or the title and a brief summary of the proposal in a public notice prior to enactment. The law does not define “brief summary” and the commission is offering this proposal to address concerns that the lack of clarity in the statute could result in court challenges. The proposed legislation would require the summary to include specific information, a location where the full text is available to the public, and it would impose a limit on liability if the information was provided as required by law.

Ending a political stalemate that lasted more than four months, Gov. Josh Shapiro on Wednesday afternoon signed a $50.09 billion state spending plan for fiscal year 2025-26 that was due June 30. The General Assembly passed the budget earlier in the day; the plan received bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. The final budget compromise includes new funding for K-12 public education but no additional dollars for mass transit. Additionally, Pennsylvania will withdraw from the 12-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. For more, visit The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

In a 14-12 party-line vote Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee approved HB 490, which would extend the state’s shield law beyond absolute protection for confidential sources to include nonconfidential sources or newsgathering materials. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Ben Waxman (D-Philadelphia). The legislation would allow disclosure only if the information is unavailable elsewhere, essential to the case and obtainable only from the journalist. It further would require courts to identify what must be disclosed and support its orders with detailed findings, ensuring compliance and meaningful appellate review.

Rep. Joe McAndrew (D-Allegheny) plans to introduce legislation calling for the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to produce a report that analyzes the impact Penn State University’s seven branch-campus closures will have on students, businesses and the economy. The university board voted to close these campuses in spring 2027.

Rep. Tim Brennan (D-Bucks) intends to offer legislation to allow United States citizens 18 years and older who were born abroad and never resided in this country to be eligible to vote in state and local elections. They currently are allowed to vote only in federal elections. Legislatures in a majority of states, including Pennsylvania’s neighbors, have expanded this right to “never resided” citizens, according to his cosponsor memo.

Rep. Ben Waxman (D-Philadelphia) plans to offer legislation aiming to prohibit public officials and their immediate family members from creating or promoting cryptocurrency that they have a financial interest in during the official’s term of office. His memo states that the legislation’s goal is “to promote transparency and accountability by ensuring that public officials prioritize the public interest over personal financial gain.”

Rep. Jared Solomon (D-Philadelphia) plans to offer a resolution calling for a Joint State Government Commission study to determine if placement on the ballot gives candidates an unfair advantage and to explore potential reforms, such as ballot rotation.

Tuesday’s election results will create four vacancies in the House. Reps. Dan Miller (D-Allegheny) and Lou Schmitt (R-Blair) won election to seats on their respective county court’s bench. Rep. Torren Ecker (R-Adams/Cumberland) won a judgeship in Adams County while Rep. Josh Siegel (D-Lehigh) won election as executive in his county. Their departures will leave the House with a 100-99 partisan divide – Democrats hold on to a one-person majority – until winners in what are regarded as politically safe districts for the incumbent parties are seated in yet-to-be-scheduled special elections.

The House voted 158-45 Wednesday to approve HR 322, sponsored by Rep. Ben Waxman (D-Philadelphia) designating Oct. 5-11 as National Newspaper Week in Pennsylvania.

Rep. Jason Ortitay (R-Allegheny/Washington) plans to offer legislation that would require  information to be included in AI-generated content to help prevent the spread of misinformation, protect intellectual property, and support public trust in digital media. It would require generative AI providers to offer a tool to allow users to check if content was created or altered by AI and its origin, give them the option to add a visible disclosure their content is AI-generated, and automatically include the metadata of the AI-generated content that provides a record of when and how it was created or altered.

The Senate Communications and Technology Committee on Tuesday approved an amended version of SB 431, sponsored by Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-Berks/Montgomery) that would allow local governments to deny Right-to-Know Law requests believed to be generated by artificial intelligence, citing concerns of potential cybersecurity. The amendment, which PNA requested, provides an exemption for requests from individuals employed by news media organizations as well as nonprofits conducting educational research.

Sen. James Malone

Sen. James Malone (D- Lancaster) plans to offer legislation to prohibit elected officials, public employees, and candidates for public office from accepting any cash gifts or gifts exceeding $50 in total value from a single source per calendar year. His proposed bill is a companion to HB 744 sponsored by Rep. Jared Solomon (D-Philadelphia).

Sen. Jarrett Coleman

Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-Bucks/Lehigh) proposes a constitutional amendment that would return Pennsylvania to a part-time Legislature like 40 other states have. The state went to a full-time Legislature in 1968 at the recommendation of a constitutional convention. Similarly, Rep. Stephanie Borowicz (R-Clinton/Union) introduced HB 1746 which would have the Legislature meet from January through March each year unless called into special session at another time of the year.   

Sen. Marty Flynn (D-Lackawanna/Luzerne) seeks support for legislation to impose an additional 10% tax on subscriptions to, and one-time purchases from, online adult content platforms. This tax would be in addition to the state’s 6% sales tax. Revenue generated from the tax would be deposited into the state’s general fund.

Sen. Anthony Williams

Sen. Anthony Williams (D-Delaware/Philadelphia) calls for legislation to halt lawmakers’ pay during budget impasses. Having “skin in the game” by not getting paid during stalemates, as was the case when he first got elected to the General Assembly 36 years ago, “encouraged earnest negotiations and timely passage of the state budget,” his cosponsor memo states. Rep. Jill Cooper (R-Westmoreland) introduced HB 1682 which also calls for suspending pay when a budget is not completed by the July 1 start of a new fiscal year.

Rep. Brenda Pugh (R-Luzerne) plans to offer a constitutional amendment that would require the General Assembly to be in session every weekday except for state holidays when a budget bill isn’t enacted by July 1. Her cosponsor memo states, “By allowing Pennsylvanians to vote to amend our constitution to incentivize timely budget agreements, we can better represent the constituents we were elected to serve and reassure the public that we are committed to their success.”

Hoping to build on to the improvement to school security enacted last session that requires a school security officer in each district, Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-Bucks/Lehigh) intends to offerlegislation that would place security personnel in every school building. “Many parents don’t realize that their district’s security officer could be stationed 20 minutes away from their child,” his cosponsor memo notes.

Rep. Melissa Shusterman (D-Chester) plans to introduce legislation aimed at protecting consumers from potential misuse of their data by artificial intelligence chatbot providers. Her bill would prohibit suppliers of AI chatbots from selling or sharing information with a third party unless that dissemination is conspicuously disclosed to consumers.

Rep. David Rowe (R-Juniata/Mifflin/Snyder/Union) introduced HB 1937, which would make voter registration applications available to sportsmen when they apply for a hunting or fishing license. “By making voter registration applications available in each of these interactions, we can encourage greater civic participation by this essential portion of the public,” according to his cosponsor memo.

“The agency has the burden of proof to prove an exemption. The exemptions are not mandatory. They are not confidentiality requirements. The Right-to-Know Law is not a confidentiality statute. It is a public access transparency law.”

— Melissa Bevan Melewsky, PNA media law counsel, talking about the Pennsylvania open records law at the PNA Foundation journalism training session this week

Rep. Chris Rabb (D-Philadelphia) plans to offer legislation that establishes an Equal Opportunity Audit program to strengthen accountability and transparency of contractors, grant recipients, and beneficiaries of tax incentives that do business with the commonwealth. It would assign Department of General Services, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, to provide oversight of the program, issue public audit reports, and enforce compliance.

Sen. Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) introduced SB 1029, which establishes a hate group database to be maintained by the attorney general in consultation with the state police with limited accessibility to law enforcement and other appropriate agencies. Those agencies would be charged with annually compiling a public report of hate group activities and incidents in the state. This measure is part of a six-bill hate group and ethnic intimidation package the senator is offering.

Rep. Danielle Friel Otten (D-Chester) plans to offer legislation that would require the Public Utility Commission to explicitly consider the public interest in every proceeding, deliberation and decision that comes before it. The bill further would require the PUC to state how its decisions align with the public interest.

“This National Newspaper Week — and every week — consider subscribing, sharing or simply saying thank you to your local journalists. They are not just reporting the news; they are helping write the story of Pennsylvania and your community.”

– Bill Cotter, PNA president and CEO, in an op-ed column discussing how and why the news media industry plays such an important part in our everyday lives. Download the op-ed here.

Sen. Pat Stefano

Sen. Pat Stefano (R-Bedford/Fayette/Somerset/Westmoreland) plans to offer a resolution declaring Oct. 5-11 as National Newspaper Week in Pennsylvania. The resolution will call for celebrating the commonwealth’s newspaper industry and honoring its journalists, editors, reporters and all those involved in bringing news and newspapers to communities. Rep. Ben Waxman (D-Philadelphia) offered a similar resolution in the House. HR 322 will be considered by the House Communications & Technology Tuesday.

The House Local Government Committee held a two-hour hearing Monday on bipartisan legislation to modernize the state public notice law.  HB 1291 is sponsored by committee Chairman Robert Freeman (D-Northampton).

Committee members heard testimony in support of, and in opposition to, the bill that would require newspapers to post notices on their websites and in front of their paywalls in addition to their printed editions to meet state legal requirements for publication. HB 1291 would allow online publications and free newspapers to publish public notices if no printed newspaper exists in a community.

Speaking in support of the bill from PNA were board Chairwoman Jennifer Bertetto, president and CEO of Trib Total Media; board Vice Chairwoman Sharon Sorg, executive vice president of newspaper operations for CNHI, LLC, and publisher of its newspapers in Sharon, Grove City and New Castle; and Melissa Bevan Melewsky, media law counsel.

Their testimony emphasized that:

• Newspapers are an independent third party whose only stake in the public notice system is informing readers.
• Citizens know they will find notices in newspapers, whose print and digital products have never had a bigger audience.
• Public notice costs are payments for professional, legally required services and investments in local journalism that hold power to account.
• Removing print newspapers from the public notice system would exclude millions of Pennsylvanians who have limited or no internet access.
• Requiring newspapers to post notices on the PNA-maintained statewide public notice website at no additional cost to taxpayers is a value-added public service. 

Representatives from county, borough, township, school board, and municipal authority associations spoke against HB 1291 and in favor of SB 194, which provides options for legal notice publication. They argued:

• Newspapers have a reduced readership that limits accessibility to government information.
• Putting public notices in newspapers is less efficient and more expensive than posting on a government website.
• Allowing notices to appear on social media sites, digital publications, mailers and local television and government websites offers flexibility.
• A publicly funded website, not the PNA-operated site, should serve as the statewide portal for notices.
• There should be a cap on public notice publication fees.

Delphine Samuels, associate professor of accounting at the University of Chicago, presented her research into the impact of Florida’s 2023 law that allowed public notices to be posted on government websites. Her findings showed that notices in newspapers declined by 36% in the two years after the law took effect; traffic on government websites showed no change; and citizen participation at government meetings declined by 16%.

The committee also heard from Frank Lutz, principal of PennBid, an e-procurement system. Lutz spoke of newspapers’ limited reach and said their public notice rates don’t align with municipal budgets. LevittownNow.com publisher Tom Sofield advocated for amending the bill to allow online-only news publications like his to be allowed to publish whether or not there is a print newspaper in a community.

After the hearing, Freeman said he may offer amendatory language when the committee brings up the bill for a vote. 

To view a video of the hearing, click here.

Rep. Jeremy Shaffer (R-Allegheny) intends to offer legislation that would suspend the automatic pay raises the legislators, governor and lieutenant governor receive in any year there is not a state budget enacted by July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.

The House Local Government Committee will hold a hearing on the bipartisan-backed HB 1291, sponsored by committee Chairman Robert Freeman (D-Northampton) at 10 a.m. Monday in Room 205 of the Ryan Office Building in the Capitol Complex.

The bill would modernize the 49-year-old Newspaper Advertising Act to require newspapers to post notices on their websites and in front of their paywalls in addition to their printed editions to meet state legal requirements for publication. It also would open the door to allow online publications and free newspapers to publish public notices if no printed newspaper exists in a community.

Additionally, all public notices would be required to be posted on a statewide public notice site; PNA has maintained a statewide public notice website for more than a decade.

PNA supports this legislation and will be offering testimony at the hearing. Please contact Jan Murphy, PNA’s director of government affairs, at janm@pa-news.org if you have questions.

Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Adams/Franklin) intends to offer legislation that would permit school employees to carry firearms after meeting certification requirements and would require that the identities of those individuals to remain confidential.

Rep. Jonathan Fritz (R-Susquehanna/Wayne) plans to offer a bill creating a criminal offense of political intimidation in response to the rise of political violence across the country including the Sept. 10 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.  “This legislation serves to honor his legacy by affirming that ideas should be tested in the marketplace of public discourse and that violence must never be permitted to silence voices in our society,” his memo states.

Rep. Nathan Davidson (D-Dauphin) intends to offer a resolution calling on Congress to exercise its constitutional oversight authority to gain the release of documents filed against convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He said in his memo the continued concealment of these files erodes public trust in government, and their unconditional release would send a message that the state House “will not tolerate the protection of predators. Wealth and status should never shield abusers from consequences.”

Rep. Ben Waxman (D-Philadelphia) intends to offer a resolution designating Oct. 5-11 as National Newspaper Week in Pennsylvania. His memo takes note of the prominent role the commonwealth played in the nation’s history as well as that of the newspaper industry “through the Pennsylvania Gazette, published by Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, which helped to shape the political and cultural landscape of the American colonies.”

The House Local Government Committee will hold a hearing on the bipartisan-backed HB 1291, sponsored by committee Chairman Robert Freeman (D-Northampton) at 10 a.m. Sept. 29, in Room 205 of the Ryan Office Building in the Capitol Complex.

The bill would modernize the 49-year-old Newspaper Advertising Act to require newspapers to post notices on their websites and in front of their paywalls in addition to their printed editions to meet state legal requirements for publication. It also would open the door to allow online publications and free newspapers to publish public notices if no printed newspaper exists in a community.

Additionally, all public notices would be required to be posted on a statewide public notice site; PNA has maintained a statewide public notice website for more than a decade.

PNA supports this legislation and will be offering testimony at the hearing. Please contact Jan Murphy, PNA’s director of government affairs, at janm@pa-news.org if you have questions.

Rep. Liz Hanbidge (D-Montgomery) plans to offer legislation that would establish a system that records and compiles information on deaths occurring as a result of domestic violence. Her memo states this will help policymakers, stakeholders and organization better tailor actions to “avoid these horrific outcomes.”

Rep. Russ Diamond

Rep. Aaron Bernstine

Sen. Doug Mastriano

Rep. Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon) intends to offer legislation establishing the first Monday of August each year as Charlie Kirk Day as a remembrance of the conservative activist assassinated in Utah on Sept. 10. His memo states, “Honoring Charlie Kirk’s life and work would continue Pennsylvania’s long history as the nation’s foremost guarantor of free speech – a legacy dating back to our commonwealth’s 1776 constitution, in which we were the first state in the world to enshrine the freedom of speech in a constitution.”

Rep. Aaron Bernstine (R-Butler/Lawrence) plans to offer a resolution expressing condolences to Kirk’s family. Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Adams/Franklin) intends to offer a resolution honoring Kirk’s life and work.