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Legislative Update - January 2007

January 18, 2007
January 4, 2007

January 18, 2007

New Leadership and PACD Legislative Program Activities for January

New Leadership

We learned this week that the majority Chairman of the House Conservation Committee will be Rep. Bud George (Clearfield County) and the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee will be Rep. Mike Hanna (Centre County).

PACD Legislative Program Activities for January

http://www.pacd.org/about/legactivities/program/january.htm

January 4, 2007

House Leadership and Senate Procedures

State Senator Joe Scarnati (Warren County) was sworn in this week as President Pro Temp of the Senate for the 2006-07 Session while Dominick Pileggi (Chester) started his first day as Republican Majority Leader. Across the aisle, Lackawanna County's Democrat Bob Mellow settled in for another Session as Democratic Floor Leader - a position he was first elected to in 1989. The Senate adopted bi-partisan "reform" rules for their operating procedures. Those rules include: session times limited to between 8 AM and 11 PM; amendments to bills placed on the Internet before being offered on the floor; a six hour delay before voting on an amended bill or a conference committee report; roll call votes published on the Internet ASAP but always within 24 hours; committee votes listed on the Internet within 48 hours of the vote; and new fiscal notes will be prepared if amendments have fiscal impact.

On the House side, things were far from calm. I’m sure everyone is aware that the Democrats now have a slim majority of 102-101 in the PA House of Representatives. In a surprise move Philadelphia GOP Representative Dennis O'Brien was elected Speaker of the House after Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese placed his name in nomination as a means to counter the GOP effort to keep John Perzel (Philadelphia) in the top job by securing a vote for Perzel from Democrat Tom Caltagirone (Berks). New Republican House Speaker O'Brien said that all House committees would be chaired by Democrats. Let the games begin!