{"id":314335,"date":"2026-10-26T05:14:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T05:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/314335\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T05:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T05:14:27","slug":"as-pennsylvanias-legislature-wraps-up-its-session-many-bipartisan-bills-are-poised-to-fail-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/314335\/","title":{"rendered":"As Pennsylvania\u2019s Legislature wraps up its session, many bipartisan bills are poised to fail"},"content":{"rendered":"

HARRISBURG \u2014 As state lawmakers wrap up their legislative session, a long list of proposals with bipartisan support and keen public interest is on track to fail, forcing those issues back to the starting line next year.<\/p>\n

Some, like a deal on regulating skill games, have sunk under pressure from warring and monied special interests. Others, like a long-sought measure to let child sexual abuse survivors file related lawsuits beyond the statute of limitations, became partisan bargaining chips. In a contentious election year with legislative control at stake, each party is also hesitant to give the other a win.<\/p>\n

Every stalled proposal has its own group of frustrated backers \u2014 from business owners to parents to Pennsylvanians concerned about surveillance technology or energy costs. Some have already waited decades for legislative changes.<\/p>\n

There were a few successes during the final week of the session. Lawmakers sent bills to Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s desk that would ban K-12 students from using cellphones during the school day, strengthen the state\u2019s rules around animal testing in scientific research, and create a fund for organizations providing support for child victims of abuse or neglect. Shapiro signed the latter two bills Thursday, along with 56 other measures. He plans to sign the cellphone ban this week at a public event.<\/p>\n

But as it stands, the General Assembly is on track to pass fewer individual pieces of legislation than in any other two-year legislative session since at least 1973-74, according to a Spotlight PA analysis.<\/p>\n

Some skeptics of that stat note that sprawling state budget deals have increasingly woven unrelated bills into the final product, which makes it difficult to keep an exact count. But members of both parties agreed that partisan tensions between the GOP-led state Senate and Democratic-controlled state House have contributed to the low productivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is hard to get things done when you can\u2019t trust the person sitting across the table from you,\u201d state Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, said at a party committee dinner last week, according to GANTNews.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked with (former Democratic) Governor (Tom) Wolf, and it was so pleasant,\u201d Ward said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to go and become president. He wanted to take care of what was right for Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shapiro, an expected 2028 presidential candidate, has repeatedly blamed Republicans in the Senate for stalling initiatives he supports, like increasing the state\u2019s minimum wage, extending the statute of limitations for sexual abuse victims, and funding mass transit. His spokesperson, Rosie Lapowsky, echoed those sentiments Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impediment to progress in our commonwealth is the Senate Republican majority\u2019s intransigence and their inability to get things done \u2014 they refuse to put bipartisan bills up for a vote and then blame everyone else for their own inaction,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rank-and-file state Senate Democrats hope their party will flip the upper chamber in November, which would lead to a major power shakeup and affect virtually every unfinished issue.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Marty Flynn, D-22, Dunmore, who has served in the minority party since he first entered the Legislature as a House member in 2013, told Spotlight PA the current state of affairs is \u201cjust stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also largely pinned the inaction this year on Senate Republican leadership, whom he accused of only running bills for a vote if there is an underlying agreement or trade with House Democrats. All legislation, he said, should at least receive a committee vote to ensure proposals are debated for their merit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t government,\u201d Flynn said. \u201cIt\u2019s not supposed to work this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kate Flessner, a spokesperson for state Senate Republicans, told Spotlight PA in an email that the caucus \u201chas been the voice of reason in protecting Pennsylvania taxpayers, defending our Constitutional freedoms, supporting families, and working to keep our communities safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

State House Democrats held a news conference Wednesday in which legislative leaders also criticized Senate Republicans for not holding more votes on bills the lower chamber had passed this year.<\/p>\n

Post-election, lawmakers have only a handful of voting days on the calendar before the next two-year legislative session begins. While it\u2019s possible they could address some of these issues then, so-called sine die sessions have not recently seen significant action, and any bills that are partially through the process will need to restart next session.<\/p>\n

New legislators are sworn in in January.<\/p>\n

Regulating skill games<\/p>\n

Lawmakers were given a strong incentive to regulate slot machine-like skill games this year when the state Supreme Court ruled them illegal in June. Justices stayed the ruling until this month, which gave lawmakers four months to act.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t. Skill games are now officially illegal and are disappearing from bars, restaurants, social clubs and convenience stores across the commonwealth, along with the revenue they generated for such establishments.<\/p>\n

House Majority Leader Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery, told reporters Wednesday that active closed-door talks continued throughout the week, and that legislative leaders in the House and Senate had reached a deal. He would not share specifics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a deal reached,\u201d Bradford said. \u201cThis deal was done. The Senate ran off again because they could not get the votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, did not deny a deal existed. He noted that he and Ward were the only caucus leaders to propose their own skill games regulation bill. (The bill that the Senate leaders threw their names behind last year never reached a floor vote.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI continue to strongly believe there needs to be a regulatory framework in place, but as we have seen, gaming reform is no doubt complex and requires agreement on numerous levels,\u201d Pittman said.<\/p>\n

In fact, no bills to regulate and tax the industry ever received a vote this session. Shapiro had called for skill games to be taxed at the casino slot machine rate of approximately 50% in his February budget proposal.<\/p>\n

The lack of a deal comes despite broad bipartisan support for the games\u2019 legalization and taxation.<\/p>\n

Instead, lawmakers\u2019 divisions over the issue have to do with the monied interests trying to sway them. Skill games allies have spent many millions to woo members in recent decades, as have casinos concerned about the growing source of competition.<\/p>\n

Casino operators argue any legalization bill should tax skill games at a rate similar to that for slot machines \u2014 around 50%. Skill games backers argue that would put them out of business.<\/p>\n

Allowing more sexual abuse survivors to sue<\/p>\n

Both chambers have repeatedly passed measures that would amend the state constitution to allow a temporary two-year window for survivors of childhood sexual assault to sue their abusers, even if the statutes of limitations on their cases have passed.<\/p>\n

Still, the window has never been created \u2014 a result of error, well-funded lobbying and partisan fighting.<\/p>\n

In Pennsylvania, constitutional amendments must pass in two consecutive legislative sessions with the same language. The General Assembly successfully passed a two-year window this way in 2021, three years after a landmark grand jury report detailing abuse in the commonwealth\u2019s Catholic dioceses. However, a clerical error by the Wolf administration kept it from the necessary ballot referendum.<\/p>\n

Since then, state Senate Republicans have attempted to tie the proposal to another proposed constitutional amendment \u2014 one that would require voters to show a form of identification at the polls each time they vote in an election. Shapiro criticized the GOP leaders earlier this year, accusing them of politicizing the issue by \u201ctying justice to \u2026 pet political projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state House passed its latest two-year window amendment proposal in June. The Senate has not passed any such legislation this session.<\/p>\n

Former state House Speaker Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, himself a survivor of abuse by a Catholic priest, rose to the highest position in the chamber as an advocate for survivors of sexual abuse. He largely blamed Senate Republicans for the inaction, but also said Shapiro could do more to reach a deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictims that are hanging on for this law to pass and victims who haven\u2019t come forward yet, they deserve their day in court,\u201d Rozzi, who has since left politics, told Spotlight PA. \u201cWhether we can go after the perpetrator or we can go after the institutions that aided and abetted these criminals, eventually they are going to be held accountable. Eventually, the hammer is coming down on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making voter ID requirements stricter<\/p>\n

Republicans have long sought to require stricter voter identification requirements in Pennsylvania, which currently requires voters to show a valid form of ID only the first time they cast a ballot at their polling location.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a popular idea among voters, and Democratic-led opposition calmed early in this legislative session. Shapiro, whose administration has remained open to a voter ID bill, restated that position during a recent debate with his Republican opponent, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got to be based in fact,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s got to ensure that we are enfranchising voters in Pennsylvania, not disenfranchising them.\u201d<\/p>\n

State House Democrats have not sent the Senate a proposal, despite one GOP-led bill receiving bipartisan support in a May committee vote. Senate Republicans have pushed to enact voter ID through an amendment to the state constitution, which would require approval from each chamber in back-to-back legislative sessions before going to voters in a referendum.<\/p>\n

Regulating data centers<\/p>\n

Despite a flurry of action during budget negotiations, just one measure aimed at regulating Pennsylvania\u2019s ballooning data center industry reached the governor\u2019s desk this year \u2014 a provision, passed as part of the state budget deal, that mandates data centers using more than 10 MW of electricity annually disclose their energy and water usage.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers in the state House have passed a wide range of other proposals on the issue, including measures that would prevent data center developers from accessing certain tax breaks, allow local governments to temporarily pause development and repeal a major data center sales tax exemption.<\/p>\n

During the last week of this session, the lower chamber passed a bill that would prevent data centers from obtaining public utility status, a change that would keep them from being able to preempt local zoning ordinances.<\/p>\n

The state Senate hasn\u2019t passed any of those measures. The upper chamber also initiated fewer data center bills. The most significant, passed in June, includes measures to repeal the sales tax exemption and limit data centers\u2019 access to a tax break program that applies to certain \u201copportunity zones.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, R-Montgomery, previously told Spotlight PA that she hoped her chamber would consider a bill she introduced that would ban the use of secretive nondisclosure agreements between public officials and data center developers. The bill was never called up for final consideration.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Carl Walker Metzgar, R-Somerset, a rank-and-file legislator, told Spotlight PA that he thought data centers were a \u201cgreat example\u201d of the Legislature\u2019s failures to compromise.<\/p>\n

Between the conservation, land use, energy, and local control issues embedded in the data center debate, \u201cwe should be able to get that done,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI guess the politics sometimes gets in the way of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regulating automatic license plate readers<\/p>\n

Before leaving Harrisburg last week, the state House passed a bill with wide bipartisan support that would regulate government entities\u2019 use of automated license plate readers, like Flock cameras, to investigate crimes. It would also circumscribe government and private entities\u2019 use of the machines\u2019 collected data, only allowing the practice in an investigation involving a vehicle belonging to someone with an outstanding warrant for a homicide or other felony in the commonwealth.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether the bill will reach a vote in the state Senate before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers from both parties rushed to introduce legislation to address the automatic license plate reader, or ALPR, industry this summer, after the technology became a hot-button bipartisan issue for people concerned about privacy and the cameras\u2019 increased use by law enforcement.<\/p>\n

Both gubernatorial candidates spoke out in opposition to them this year.<\/p>\n

However, policymakers and public safety lobbies, like those for police chiefs and district attorneys, differ on the right approach, from strict rules to a total ban on the technology. Details about data retention and when the technology can be used also divide legislators.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, which first considered the bill advanced by the full chamber last week, told Spotlight PA that \u201cwe absolutely do not want [ALPRs] to be used as a surveillance state.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he argued that the last-minute effort this fall was rushed. In committee, he and other Republicans voted no on the Democratic-sponsored bill over process concerns. Kauffman said he also would not support a total ban on the tech.<\/p>\n

The issue, he said, \u201crequires far more digging in and deep compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prime sponsor of the state House bill, state Rep. Jenn O\u2019Mara, D-Delaware, acknowledged on the House floor that more work on the issue is likely. She said her bill was positioned as \u201ca real solid piece of legislation\u201d for the future, if it doesn\u2019t reach the governor\u2019s desk this year.<\/p>\n

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters.<\/p>\n

BEFORE YOU GO\u2026 If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org\/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe exterior of the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg. (Amanda Berg\/For Spotlight PA)
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