NEPA's state lawmakers discuss priorities amid divided Pennsylvania General Assembly

Jan. 9—In eight days, Pennsylvania will still have a Democratic governor and a divided General Assembly.

Just not the same Democratic governor and divided assembly.

As Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro takes the oath of office Jan. 17 and succeeds Gov. Tom Wolf, Republicans will continue to control the state Senate. The House will have more Democrats than the last assembly, perhaps even more a month from now once special elections fill three vacancies.

The 203-seat House already has 49 new representatives — 23 Republicans, 26 Democrats. On top of that, the House has a new speaker, nominated Tuesday by Republicans — Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-126, Berks, who pledged to act independently but remained a registered Democrat as of Friday.

The faces have certainly changed in Harrisburg, and whether that means less hyper-partisanship will become clear only with the passage of time.

Nonetheless, this still feels like the best opportunity for significant bipartisan cooperation in a generation, said G. Terry Madonna, the state's veteran political analyst.

"What will be at stake, for the most part, will be Josh Shapiro's agenda, and look what he has done already," Madonna said.

On Thursday, Shapiro named former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt, a Republican, as secretary of the commonwealth, which means he'll oversee elections, among other things. The day before, Shapiro, the attorney general and a former state representative and Montgomery County commissioner, said he will nominate former state Rep. Mike Vereb, another Republican, as secretary of legislative affairs.

Both signal Shapiro's intention to deal with Republicans differently, Madonna said.

"I think his background from Wolf is completely different in terms of knowing how to get some of these deals through," said first-time state Rep. Kyle Donahue, D-113, Scranton. "I think he's going to govern in a bipartisan way and try to get those deals made, whatever issue it may be on."

Rep. Joseph Adams, R-139, Salem Twp., Wayne County, a former county commissioner like Shapiro and also a freshman legislator, said Republicans and Democrats must cooperate in a House so closely divided with a Democratic governor and a Republican-controlled Senate. For the next month, Republicans will have the House majority, 101-99, though Democrats are favored to win the three vacant seats, all in Allegheny County.

"I think what really needs to happen is bills and laws that can be oriented around good things for the people of Pennsylvania, that both can agree to do," Adams said. "They need to be the priority."

The Times-Tribune asked local legislators about what the assembly should focus on and what their own priorities are:

Rep. Tina Pickett, R-110, Bradford

Pickett plans to make expanding broadband internet access a top priority. The federal infrastructure bill contains major funding for that, she said.

"In areas like my district that are rural, it is a constant (complaint)," Pickett said. "People are almost forced to need the service, but they can't get it. ... Whether you're talking school or medicine or your own work or your own pleasure or whatever, it's just tied into everything now."

Pickett also wants to address chronic creek flooding by putting management more firmly in local hands through conservation districts.

"The local conservation district, the local landowner, they can work together, and they can do an awful lot of good if you just get out of their way," she said.

Rep. Jonathan Fritz, R-111, Honesdale

Fritz said his goal remains protecting residents' "way of life and quality of life," which means "keeping government out of their life."

Infrastructure is right at the top, too.

"We have an inordinate amount of bridges that we have to contend with, aging bridges," Fritz said. "Based on our topography, I have to deal with what's known as (earth and rock) slides ... as well, we're going to need to make sure that we get the proper funding and resources for continued economic development. Our small towns depends on those resources."

Rep. Kyle Mullins, D-112, Blakely

Mullins wants to "double down" on fair funding for underfunded school districts.

"Many of the students I represent are being impacted by that inequity," he said. "But (so are) property taxpayers, because every time Harrisburg budget makers, lawmakers decide to invest in our public education system, it's a benefit to property taxpayers."

Mullins said he will also introduce a bill to require employers with at least five employees to set up pension plans through a voluntary state-hired, third-party manager. Employers would only have to deduct money from an employee's pay, but would not have to contribute.

He also wants to keep pursuing measures to address severe and chronic bullying.

Rep. Kyle Donahue, D-113, Scranton

Donahue said fair funding for school districts will remain his top priority until it happens.

"I (also) think the next few years are going to be important for our region in terms of an Amtrak service to Hoboken," he said.

Local leaders are trying to revive passenger train service between Scranton and New York City via Amtrak and the next few months are expected to be crucial in the effort.

Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, D-114, Waverly

Kosierowski called the condition of the state's roads and bridges "a disaster."

"So that's going to be a huge fix," Kosierowski said. "We have got to increase our funding of our public schools. ... I will continue to talk about health care (access), the uninsured, (funding for) emergency rooms, primary care, recruitment and retention of nurses."

The school funding should include more for trade schools to encourage students to think about trade careers.

Rep. Jim Haddock, D-118, Pittston Twp.

Haddock, a former Pittston Area school director, said he will pursue more funding for school districts, charter school funding reform and "meaningful property tax reform."

Eliminating property taxes is unlikely, but the state can certainly do better to reduce property taxes, including enlarging eligibility for rent and property tax rebates aimed at senior citizens, he said.

He said he will also pursue a higher minimum wage.

Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-121, Wilkes-Barre

Pashinski wants to address inflation and that means controlling rising health care costs and limiting property tax increases.

Pashinski said he will continue pursuing creation of a national infrastructure bank to raise trillions of dollars to supercharge infrastructure improvement.

"We want to make sure that we pass the right kind of legislation that's going to actually, again, begin ... fixing our roads and bridges," he said.

Rep. Joseph Adams, R-139, Salem Twp.

Adams plans to focus on economic development, building out broadband internet and roads and bridges.

He said he thinks expanding property relief through more funding for existing homestead and farming exemptions should be a priority, too.

"It was funded one time back in 2008, 2009, and hasn't been added to since," he said.

Sen. Lisa Baker, R-20, Lehman Twp.

As chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee, she plans to continue pursuing juvenile justice reforms. They include standardizing record expungement, speeding up expungement in certain cases, setting a state reimbursement rate for juvenile defense expenses and paying counties that offer alternative services for juveniles.

She also plans to continue pursuing guardianship reforms and passage of a constitutional amendment to allow victims of child sex abuse more time to sue abusers.

Sen. Marty Flynn, D-22, Dunmore

Flynn wants the assembly to finally impose a tax on natural gas extraction and address property tax relief and fair public school funding. As Democratic Transportation Committee chairman, he plans to focus on reducing the turnpike's losses because of unpaid tolls.

"Once Congressman (Matt) Cartwright gets that over the finish line, Pennsylvania is going to have to maintain (and operate) it so that'll be interesting," Flynn said of the train. "I'm excited about helping with that (funding)."

Attempts to reach state Sen. Rosemary Brown, R-40, Middle Smithfield Twp., were unsuccessful.

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147; @BorysBlogTT on Twitter.