HARRISBURG — A contentious and disjointed 2023 for the Pennsylvania General Assembly ended in a legislative frenzy last Wednesday, as lawmakers pushed through high-profile, disputed, and previously stalled items in their busiest voting day of the year.
A review of session records shows the combined 82 roll call votes taken in the House and Senate were by far the highest total of the year, with 32 conducted after 7 p.m. The next-highest daily figure was 57, on June 22.
“When government wheels start turning, it is like a train going down the tracks,” said Rep. Mary Isaacson, D-Philadelphia.
Among the pile of bills that went through and were quickly signed into law by Gov. Josh Shapiro were ones covering probation reform, a major expansion of the child and dependent care tax credit, a lowering of fitness standards for police officers, dedication of $175 million to schools with a need for environmental work or physical upgrades, and final approval for spending on public libraries and community colleges.
Some of the items were in so-called code bills that contained language freeing up spending on items set out in a $45 billion spending bill that was signed into law in August. The long delay in final approval — the 2024 fiscal year started July 1 — generated a lot of political finger-pointing.
Ms. Isaacson and others pointed to the fact that 2023 was the first year in new leadership jobs for three key players in the budget process: Mr. Shapiro, Senate Republican majority leader Joe Pittman of Indiana County, and House Democratic majority leader Matt Bradford of Montgomery County.
“I think everybody saw divided government and the trials and tribulations it can have,” Ms. Isaacson said.
Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-Montgomery, was not happy that the final rush of lawmaking excluded $100 million for Level Up, a program that directs money to the most financially strapped school districts. But he, too, said it was leaders’ newness in their positions that led to protracted deal making in 2023.
“It is like anything. Bring three new people together and there are some issues they have to work out,” Mr. Ciresi said.
Another Democrat, Rep. Frank Burns of Cambria County, was less accommodating. He said the state had plenty of money, with more than $6 billion in its “rainy day fund” and a big budget surplus. But it was politics that gummed up the works.
“Both sides play these games and the ones who suffer are the public,” Mr. Burns said.
Mr. Shapiro delivered his budget address on March 7 as House Democrats settled in as the majority party in that chamber for the first time in more than a decade. Republicans continued to hold the Senate. Mr. Shapiro, a Democrat, publicly exhorted them to work together.
But Republicans in both chambers were jolted by Mr. Shapiro’s July about-face on voucher-style scholarships that would allow students in low-performing public school districts to attend private ones. Mr. Shapiro, who had supported the concept in the past even though it was despised by many Democrats, announced he would veto the $100 million budget line item for the policy.
Republicans accused him of going back on a deal.
“As time went on, there was a lot of mistrust that developed between negotiators,” said Rep. Kathy Rapp, R-Warren.
Last Wednesday, the months of political arguing were put aside in the rush to finally complete the budget almost six months late. The Senate took 32 floor roll call votes that day, its highest total for the year by far, while the House took 50, equal to its high for the year.
Ms. Rapp called it “a marathon.”
“And I don’t see that as a good thing,” she said.
The crush of legislation, she said, meant it was difficult if not impossible for lawmakers to read the final version of every bill on which they were asked to vote.
Some lawmakers had a sense of satisfaction even if they rolled their eyes at how things went.
“This is the way that it worked this year, and we should just highlight that it worked,” said Sen. Devlin Robinson, R-Allegheny. “We still respected the taxpayers.”
Mr. Robinson said the new governor and new majority leaders in the two chambers “were ready to do the job but had to understand the leadership in the other chamber.” That, he said, took time.
Mr. Burns said some of the dysfunction is because of a lack of centrist lawmakers.
“On the left, you have the people on the far-left. On the right, you have the far-right,” Mr. Burns said. “They are holding out for their priority and there is no way in heck they are doing somebody else’s priority until they get theirs.”
He added, “People who are in the middle like me? There are fewer and fewer of us.”
Sen. Nick Miller, a Lehigh County Democrat and former Allentown school director, said, “At the end of the day, we came together to work across the aisle.”
Among the “big wins” in the final rush of legislation was the $175 million for upgrades to schools with environmental problems like lead and asbestos and those with major physical needs like new roofs or heating systems, Mr. Miller said.
He is a member of the Basic Education Funding Commission, a 15-member group that is close to issuing recommendations on a new funding system for Pennsylvania public schools. He hopes facilities and school infrastructure money will have a significant role in what’s next.
Mr. Robinson, for one, expects smoother sailing in 2024: “I hope that we worked out some of the bugs in the system.”
Ford Turner: fturner@post-gazette.com
First Published: December 20, 2023, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: December 20, 2023, 8:45 p.m.
