Dems winning state House could get Pa. back to normal
For the first time in a dozen years, Democrats will have a big say on what legislation passes, or doesn’t pass, the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
Democrats picked up 12 seats in the midterm election. As of now, that means they hold a slim margin, albeit on paper only, in the state House as the next legislative session begins in January.
In reality, though, three Democratic seats will be empty when the session starts. They will have to be filled during special elections, elections that Democrats should win handily.
It’s astonishing that the state House flipped, considering how the party in the White House typically takes a beating during midterms.
Having one chamber of the Legislature on his side should give the next governor, Democrat Josh Shapiro, an easier path to accomplishing his agenda. Republicans still have the state Senate locked up, so it won’t be all smooth sailing.
Let’s hope the divided Legislature means there will be more compromise. And, that government works as intended — meaning lawmakers won’t govern through constitutional amendments and the governor won’t govern through executive orders.
As I wrote last year, amendments are a crappy way to legislate.
They should be rare and used only for major changes. In recent years, the Republican-controlled Legislature handed them to voters, as referendums on election ballots, like they were giving out candy to kids on Halloween.
Tired of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf vetoing their legislation, the GOP found a workaround. And like kids on Halloween, voters gobbled up what they were offered. Voters almost always approve ballot questions, and GOP lawmakers knew that.
Since 1958, voters have approved 87 of 98 proposed constitutional amendments and referendums about incurring public debt.
Last year, voters approved two constitutional amendments to limit a governor’s authority to issue a disaster declaration. Those changes were in response to unhappiness about Wolf ’s business shutdowns and other restrictions at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Wolf clearly could have done better, those amendments were not wise. The state Legislature moves too slowly to react promptly to emergencies. The Legislature also can be disgustingly partisan and politics should never come into play when lives are at risk.
With the power shift, other proposed amendments cooked up by Republicans may never happen now, including one that would clarify that the state Constitution does not guarantee any rights relating to abortion.
The proposed amendment wouldn’t ban abortion or change existing law. It would clarify that the authority to regulate the controversial issue rests with the Legislature.
Lawmakers in several other states took the opposite approach in the midterm and asked voters to enshrine abortion rights to their constitutions. Voters obliged.
Amending the state Constitution requires identical legislation to be passed in two consecutive legislative sessions. It now looks highly unlikely that this plan, which passed its first vote this year, will get a second approval next year.
With Democrats gaining more power in state government, I also hope that will reduce another poor method of governing — by executive order.
Wolf, stymied by the Legislature, used executive orders liberally during his term, including to enroll Pennsylvania in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
We should support that program. We need to take climate change more seriously.
But it would have been better for Pennsylvania to join with legislative support. Pennsylvania is the only member of the multistate consortium that entered without legislative approval.
The tally as it stands now for next year in the 203-member House is 102 Democrats and 101 Republicans, but it’s really a tie at 101 because one Democratic seat will be empty.
Rep. Anthony DeLuca of Allegheny County died shortly before the election, but already was on the ballot and was overwhelmingly reelected. His seat will be filled next year in a special election, but don’t expect it to change the balance of power, as the district leans Democratic.
Two other Democrats from Allegheny County also must be replaced because they were elected to higher office, Rep. Austin Davis to lieutenant governor and Rep. Summer Lee to Congress.
Like DeLuca’s seat, Democrats should cruise to victory in those districts.
There had been speculation since Election Day that Democrats would unexpectedly win enough seats to control the House.
The speculation became reality last week when Republican Rep. Todd Stephens of Montgomery County conceded his race to Democrat Melissa Cerrato.
I am sorry to see Stephens go. He was a much-needed moderate voice among GOP House members and was trying to do something about gun violence.
He wrote legislation to enact a red-flag law that would allow a court to temporarily take firearms from people who have shown they could be dangerous.
And in May, in a vote barely 24 hours after the school shooting that left 21 students and staff dead in Uvalde, Texas, Stephens was the lone Republican in favor of holding a vote on a bill that would ban future sales of assault rifles.
The vote never occurred and the bill has expired. I hope that Stephens will find another way to continue his advocacy.