Central PA Medicine Summer2020 - 35

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LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

QUARTERLY LEGISLATIVE
UPDATES SUMMER 2020

A

s we reach the midway point of the calendar year, the
Pennsylvania General Assembly heads for the home stretch
of the 2019-2020 regular session. To say that this current
session has been unique and challenging would be a gross
understatement. The current pandemic the world is facing has had a
significant impact on everyday life in Pennsylvania and the General
Assembly is no exception. Adding to this is the civil unrest and
justice reform movements that our nation is experiencing collectively.
The unfortunate result on the way business is being conducted in
Harrisburg is that all of these things together have only deepened
the divide between political parties and those sitting on opposite
sides of the aisle.
While June is typically a very busy month in Pennsylvania politics
as legislators and the Governor seek to reach compromise on a
budget for the next fiscal year, this has not been the case as elected
officials worked to pass an interim budget ahead of the usual June
30 deadline. To this end, a 5-month budget was passed to allow the
Commonwealth to continue moving forward in the face of these
uncertain times. The budget was based on the previous fiscal year
numbers and the most notable highlight was the inclusion of full
year school funding, while the rest of the budget will only take
the Commonwealth through November 30, the date in which the
current legislative session will end and legislators' terms will expire
(all members of the House and half of the Senate).

Additionally, Pennsylvania saw its primary election postponed
until the first week of June, being held on June 2. The entire state
House of Representatives and half of the state Senate are up for
reelection. Prior to the primary election, two state senators announced
their retirements, most notably Senate President Pro Tempore Joe
Scarnati (R-25). Over in the House of Representatives, sixteen
members made the decision to not seek reelection, most notably
Speaker of the House Mike Turzai (R-28). The House also saw
Representative Chris Dush take aim at replacing Senator Scarnati
in the 25th State Senate District. Representative Dush emerged
victorious in the primary and likely will be moving to the Senate
come November. The primary election saw a surge in the use of
mail-in ballots, significant challenges with new voting machines
in various counties and long delays in finalizing election results
(some are not yet final as of this writing). While there will not be as
many new faces at the beginning of the 2021-22 legislative session
as this current session, there will be changes in leadership in both
legislative chambers. As mentioned above, the top two members in
each chamber are moving on and as jockeying plays out to replace
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For more information about any of the items mentioned above,
please visit the Advocacy Section of PAMED's web site at

www.pamedsoc.org
Central PA Medicine Summer 2020 35
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Central PA Medicine Summer2020

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