Tag: Amanda Cappelletti

Senate Panel Recommends Schmidt as Pennsylvania Secretary of State, Votes for Anti-ERIC Bill

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s Senate State Government Committee on Monday recommended confirming secretary of the commonwealth nominee Al Schmidt.

The panel voted 10-1 to back the Republican acting secretary and former Philadelphia city commissioner. In a subsequent, off-the-floor meeting, the committee approved a bill to facilitate removal of Pennsylvania from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a controversial multi-state data-sharing program supporters say helps states maintain accurate voter rolls. The bill would permit the state to use the Social Security death database and change-of-address records to identify voter-registry errors.

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Pennsylvania Senate Panel Passes Ban on Supervised Injection Sites

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday passed legislation banning supervised injection sites anywhere in the Keystone State. 

Under the bill sponsored by Senator Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia), no locality in Pennsylvania could permit the operation of a center wherein people could take illegal substances without risking prosecution. Such locations which are also called “safe injection sites,” “safe consumption spaces” or “overdose prevention sites” aim to avert opioid overdoses and drug-related disease transmission. Opponents like Tartaglione say the sites more effectively worsen opioid addiction and the carnage it creates. 

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Pennsylvania Democrat Proposes Waiting Periods for Acquiring Guns

Bradley Vasoli

A Pennsylvania state senator this week announced she is reintroducing legislation to force gun buyers to undergo three-day waiting periods before they take possession of their firearms. 

Senator Amanda Cappelletti (D-Norristown) wrote in a memorandum describing her bill that she believes the measure could reduce both violent crime and suicides. She stated that more than 60 percent of gun deaths are intentionally self-inflicted and said research has shown that many suicide survivors thought about taking the actions they did for less than a 24-hour period. 

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Reintroduced Bill Would Have Taxpayers Pay to Help Transgender Pennsylvanians Change Their Names

Bradley Vasoli

Several leftist members of the Pennsylvania state Senate announced on Monday they are reintroducing a series of bills to help transgender residents change their names — including one measure that would force taxpayers to assist those who are going through the process. 

Senators Tim Kearney (D-Springfield), Amanda Cappelletti (D-Norristown), Katie Muth (D-Royersford) and Lindsey Williams (D-Pittsburgh) complained that transgender constituents often tell them the process of changing their names is onerous. State Representatives Ben Sanchez (D-Abington) and Melissa Shusterman (D-Phoenixville) have reintroduced a House version of the legislation which would allot $2 million to a “Compassionate Name Change Assistance Grant Fund.” 

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Pennsylvania Senate Passes Voter ID Amendment

Bradley Vasoli

The Pennsylvania Senate this week passed an amendment to the state Constitution that would require individuals to provide identification to vote in person in an election.

Also contained in the bill the chamber approved are an amendment that would open the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse and another amendment that would strengthen legislators’ power against a governor’s regulatory authority. 

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Pennsylvania Senate Democrats Propose Codifying Roe

Bradley Vasoli

Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision on Friday, Pennsylvania Senate Democrats proposed codifying abortion rights by state statute.

Sen. Katie Muth (D-Royersford) circulated a memorandum asking Senate colleagues to cosponsor the legislation that would keep the practice legal in Pennsylvania. So far, Sens. Amanda Cappelletti (D-Norristown), Lindsey Williams (D-Pittsburgh), Maria Collett (D-North Wales), Judith Schwank (D-Reading), Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia) and Carolyn Comitta (D-West Chester) have signed onto the measure.

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Pennsylvania Senate Falls Short of Two-Thirds Needed to Kill Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Bradley Vasoli
White smoke emitting from a couple of buildings

Most state senators voted to end Pennsylvania’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) on Monday but fell short of the two-thirds needed to succeed.

In 2019, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) initiated Pennsylvania’s entry into the 11-state compact to reduce carbon emissions by charging power plants for their discharge in hope of counteracting global warming. Unlike most of the other northeastern and mid-Atlantic states that participate in RGGI, the Keystone State’s governor could not get sufficient backing from state legislators for Pennsylvania’s membership and thus acted via executive order. Republicans and some Democrats have argued Wolf exceeded his constitutional authority in rebuffing the legislature.

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