Weekly Wrap

The biggest news in Harrisburg this week was the swearing-in of our newly elected row officers. Josh Shapiro took the oath of office to serve as the state’s new Attorney General and Joe Torsella will serve as State Treasurer. Eugene DePasquale was also sworn in for his second term as Pennsylvania’s Auditor General. Along with their sworn constitutional and statutory duties, the row officers have voiced their plans to bring integrity back to state government.

A Look Ahead

The General Assembly will get back to business on Monday when the House of Representatives and the Senate will both gavel into session at one o’clock. In the House, the first order of business will be the organization of committees: members will receive their committee assignments, and each committee will hold an inaugural off-the-floor meeting to adopt committee operating rules for the 2017-2018 legislative session. On the Senate side, it’s expected members will receive committee assignments on Monday, if not before.

Once the standing committees have assembled, a complete listing of committee membership will be available here.

The next order of business will be to start referring bills to these committees. Over 100 bills have been introduced so far this year, and any bills that the House or Senate plan to consider will have to be reported from committee before being considered on the floor. With committees not yet assembled and no bills on their docket, it’s unlikely we’ll see any legislative action this week. We may see bills start to move the week of January 30, when the Senate returns to Harrisburg for three days of voting session, or the following week when the House returns to Harrisburg.

News from Buchanan

Since our last writing, BIR welcomed Steve DeFrank to our Harrisburg Government Relations team. A state government veteran, he brings expertise in energy, utilities, gaming and economic development to our practice. You can read Steve’s full biography, as well as bios for our entire Government Relations team here.

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