The Pennsylvania state House on Tuesday adjourned without voting to place any of the GOP’s proposed constitutional amendments on this May’s primary ballot, and the chamber isn’t set to reconvene until well after Friday’s deadline to act. It’s still possible for these measures, as well as an amendment to help survivors of childhood sexual abuse, to go before voters this November or next year, though Democrats would be in a stronger position to block the conservative proposals as long as they win a trio of special elections for Democratic-leaning seats on Feb. 7.
State law requires both chambers to pass a potential constitutional amendment during two successive sessions of the legislature with an election in between before it can get on the ballot, and the governor does not get a veto. Earlier this month former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf called a special session weeks before his term expired on Jan. 17 to take up an amendment that would give childhood abuse survivors a two-year window to sue over claims that had otherwise expired; this measure was supposed to be on the 2021 ballot, but a clerical error by the Department of State derailed everything and forced the process to start again.
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The Republican-controlled state Senate, though, went on to pass a single bill containing this amendment as well as two far more partisan proposals. One would require voter ID, while CNHI says the other would have removed “the governor’s veto from the legislative process to disapprove of executive agency regulations.” This bill did not include another measure that passed in the last session that would have amended the state’s governing document to say, “This constitution does not grant the right to taxpayer-funded abortion or any other right relating to abortion.”
State House Speaker Mark Rozzi, a Democrat who vowed to serve as an independent after he was elected to his post with the support of every Democrat and some Republicans, had pledged that his chamber wouldn’t consider any other matters until the abuse claims amendment passed. Rozzi, who himself is a childhood abuse survivor, ultimately recessed the chamber after determining that this wouldn’t happen.
GOP leaders recently circulated a petition to call members back so they could vote on the amendments, but it failed after state Rep. Tom Mehaffie refused to join the 100 Republicans in backing it; it’s not clear, though, if the petition would have had the force of law even if Mehaffie hadn’t objected.
All of this comes at a time when the closely divided state House hasn’t been able to agree on operating rules that, among other things, would determine how many members from each party would sit on committees. Democrats, including Rozzi, flipped the chamber last year by winning a 102-101 majority, but three of those Democratic seats are presently vacant and won't be filled until the Feb. 7 elections. Republicans currently hold a 101-98 edge; the final seat is held by Rozzi, who remains a registered Democrat even though he said he would become an independent and who Spotlight PA says has remained close to the party.