The General Assembly acted on a series of bills Monday that have reignited a debate over abortion and how involved the government should be in reproductive care.  

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted on Monday to advance two bills to the Senate floor — one that would ban abortions based on a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis and another that would require doctors to inform women with unviable pregnancies of perinatal hospice care options. 

Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education officials have been clear that many moves in the first year of chancellor Dan Greenstein’s term have been about winning back the trust of the General Assembly, with an eye towards boosting dwindling state support.

It appears that PASSHE is looking to cash in their chips and ask for a one-time infusion of cash to help support the system’s reorganization efforts, something lawmakers told The PLS Reporter they could tentatively support.

After an omnibus election reform bill was vetoed by Gov. Tom Wolf in June, state lawmakers are revisiting potential changes to the state’s Election Code, which elected officials on both sides of the political spectrum believe is long overdue.

 

In a joint meeting between the House and Senate State Government Committees on Monday, lawmakers heard from county officials and other interested stakeholders on their top election-related priorities. Their shared goal? No-excuse absentee voting.

With summer ending soon Pennsylvania residents may see fewer fireworks in their neighborhoods and parks, but once the legislature returns to Harrisburg this month, lawmakers will begin attempting to pass legislation paring back the recent proliferation of consumer fireworks in the commonwealth.

Act 43 of 2017 legalized consumer fireworks in Pennsylvania for additional tax revenue, but with few established regulations on the sale and use of consumer fireworks, the General Assembly is now looking to provide more guidance for residents buying and operating fireworks.

An announcement from Gov. Tom Wolf that he will seek new regulations to beef up transparency on charter schools has refocused attention on an area which lawmakers have said has needed attention for some time and will perhaps serve as an impetus to bring on even meatier legislation from the General Assembly.

Announced Tuesday, Wolf said he will instruct the Department of Education to heighten financial transparency for charter school management firms and increase their accountability to the state. The governor is also calling for a fee-for-service model designed to recoup taxpayer money that goes into processing charter applications and other services which the Department of Education performs.