Tag: Anthony DeLuca

Pennsylvania GOP House Leader Cutler Asserts Right to Schedule Special Elections for May

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Quarryville) on Thursday insisted he has the right to schedule special elections for three legislative vacancies. He wants two elections to take place during next May’s primaries. 

Cutler’s party has tussled with Democrats over control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the wake of November’s elections. Democrats won a majority of House seats that month, but Republican members nonetheless outnumber Democrats by two insofar as three seats to which the latter party won elections are vacant. 

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Pennsylvania House Republicans Sue Over Majority-Leader Status

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania former House Speaker Bryan Cutler (R-Quarryville) this weekend announced he filed a lawsuit in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania over Representative Joanna McClinton’s (D-Philadelphia) assertion of House majority-leader status. 

McClinton has used her title as majority leader to schedule special elections to replace one deceased member and two retired members of the state House of Representatives. State law calls on the House speaker to determine special-election dates for that chamber and vests the House majority leader with that power if the speaker cannot perform that duty. 

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Pennsylvania Re-Elects State Representative Who Passed Away

Bradley Vasoli

Residents of Pennsylvania’s 32nd House District posthumously reelected deceased Democratic state Representative Anthony DeLuca (D-PA-Pittsburgh) on Tuesday, necessitating a special election in the months ahead. 

The lawmaker faced no Republican challenger this year and bested leftist Green Party candidate Zarah Livingston, garnering 21,244 votes (85.9 percent) to her 3,490 (14.1 percent). 

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Inflation Prompts Pennsylvania Legislators to Suggest Tax Holidays

Bradley Vasoli

Some Pennsylvania lawmakers are proposing that the commonwealth offset some of the inflationary burden on residents by pausing certain taxes.

One bill State Senator Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem) is currently drafting would stop sales taxation in June and July 2022 at a time the senator says the state can afford to do so. In a memorandum seeking co-sponsors for her bill, she cited Governor Tom Wolf’s (D) recent declaration that Pennsylvania will amass a budget surplus for Fiscal Year 2021-22 of over $2 billion and a similarly large surplus for the following year. Since budget years end on June 30, the legislation is thus timed to spread the financial loss to the state over both budget cycles. 

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