Weekly Wrap

Happy New Year! On Tuesday, January 1, members of the General Assembly took their oath of office and marked the start of a new two-year term. We welcomed a class of 50 freshmen: 43 in the House (24 Democrats and 19 Republicans), and seven in the Senate (five Democrats and two Republicans). The House is now comprised of 110 Republicans and 91 Democrats, with two vacancies, and the Senate is now split 29-21 in favor of the Republicans.

The first order of business in each chamber was the adoption of new operating rules. While the Senate rules went largely unchanged since last session’s rules, the House made a few noteworthy amendments to its rules, including moving the deadline for filing amendments from 2:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. and allowing third consideration of bills 12 hours from the time the verbiage thereof became available to the public. The House also amended its rules to address issues related to member convictions and sexual harassment.

The new session will bring new committee membership and new chairmen; to that end, Speaker Turzai released the names of the Republican Committee Chairs earlier this week. We expect that the other caucuses will announce their chairmen and all four caucuses will announce committee membership any day now.

Finally, Gov. Wolf announced some changes to his cabinet this week. Acting Secretary of State Robert Torres will be nominated as Secretary of Aging; Aging Secretary Teresa Osborne will be nominated to the Pennsylvania Civil Service Commission and Kathy Bookvar will be nominated to serve as Secretary of the Commonwealth. Michael Newsome has been named Secretary of Administration, and outgoing Secretary of Administration Sharron Minnich will join PASSHE as Vice Chancellor of Administration and Finance. Randy Padfield has been nominated as acting PEMA Director, as current director Rick Flinn is retiring. Jen Swails has been named Budget Secretary as Randy Albright leaves the Governor’s Budget Office. Finally, Policy Secretary Sarah Galbally is stepping down from her post; Gov. Wolf has named Meg Snead as the new Secretary of Policy and Planning.

A Look Ahead

The next big event is the Governor’s inauguration, which will be held on Tuesday, January 15. The ceremony will be held at 12:00 p.m., followed by an open house at the Governor’s Residence and an Inaugural Celebration beginning at 7:00 p.m. January 15 is also scheduled as session day in both the House and Senate, as is Wednesday, January 16.

The Senate and House will both return to Harrisburg for scheduled session days beginning January 28; shortly thereafter, the Governor will give the first budget address of his second term on Tuesday, February 5.

Beyond that, expect a special election for the 114th and 190th Legislative Districts to be held on March 12. Those vacancies were created by the passing of Rep. Sid Kavulich (D-Lackawanna) and resignation of Rep. Vanessa Lowrey Brown (D-Philadelphia)

In Other News

  • Gov. Wolf is promising that criminal justice will be a top agenda item in his second term.
  • Coming to the Capitol? Toll increases will take effect this weekend.

The annual PA Farm Show kicks off this weekend; be sure check out the always popular butter sculpture.