Lawmakers leave state Capitol for summer with bills dangling

Of all the bills that stalled this week in Pennsylvania’s Capitol, perhaps the most remarkable is the derailing of a measure designed to force people with a domestic violence conviction or restraining order against them to forfeit their firearms more quickly.

Rep. Marguerite Quinn, R-Bucks, said she had never left the Capitol with tears of anger in her eyes until Monday. That was after House Republican leaders ended the session for the summer amid growing questions over provisions of her bill, tanking a floor vote until at least September.

On Sunday evening, a Pennsylvania-based gun rights group, Firearms Owners Against Crime, emailed lawmakers to announce its fresh opposition, citing various provisions of the bill in a letter that Quinn said was full of inaccuracies.

“There were a lot of things in the letter that are just not true,” Quinn said. “It was a well-timed letter to disrupt the voting process on the last day of session for the summer.”

House Republican leaders ended the session without giving Quinn time to settle questions about the bill and get it to a floor vote.

All bills die when the two-year legislative session ends Nov. 30, and both chambers are expected to schedule nine to 12 session days in September and October.

Other bills left hanging when lawmakers left for the summer include measures to amend the state constitution to shrink the number of seats in the House of Representatives and to create a citizens’ commission to draw legislative and congressional district boundaries.

Lawmakers say the Department of State told them July 6 is the deadline to approve a redistricting measure to meet constitutional guidelines if a commission is to be operating by 2022’s elections.

That’s when states must redraw boundaries to adjust for decade-long population shifts identified in the census.