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Pennsylvania State Senate
11/08/2024 06:19 PM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?SPick=20230&chamber=S&cosponId=38410
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: December 7, 2022 02:45 PM
From: Senator Katie J. Muth and Sen. Lindsey M. Williams
To: All Senate members
Subject: Senate Rules Reform
 
In the near future, we will be introducing a resolution to enact much-needed reforms to the Senate Rules for the 2023-2024 Legislative Session. We will offer this resolution for adoption on Swearing-In day on January 3, 2023. These changes are designed to advance policy, ensure government transparency, encourage public participation in the legislative process, and hold senators accountable to the public. These reforms are all simple, non-partisan measures that will ensure the voices of every Pennsylvanian are heard, not just those with power and influence. 

Each and every one of these reforms is a good government measure aimed at improving the quality of representation, accessibility, and transparency of the Senate for all Pennsylvanians and rebuilding the public’s confidence in this institution. Historically, the Senate Operating Rules are structured to benefit only the Majority Party, while the millions of Pennsylvanians who are represented by senators in the Minority Party are silenced and sidelined by these unfair, inequitable, and exclusionary rules. Enacting this resolution would ensure a representative democracy and allow for the people of our Commonwealth to be prioritized, instead of special interests and partisan agendas.

The following changes to the Senate Rules are included in the resolution:

Operating Rules
  • Requires that all bills and resolutions receive a vote in committee.
  • Requires a ⅔ vote for certain motions, including tabling.
  • Ensures adequate public notice of Senate action by requiring the marked calendar to be released at least 24 hours before the start of session.
  • Authorizes Minority Chairs to call committee hearings.
  • Empowers Minority Chairs to add legislation to the committee voting agenda.
  • Expands legislative requirements and action for bills on concurrence, including allowing amendments to be offered on the floor to bills on concurrence. 
  • Requires action on bipartisan legislation and legislation that has received unanimous support in the House.
  • Ensures every amendment gets a vote and requires that all amendment votes, both in committee and on the floor, are recorded on the public-facing website of the legislature and in the Senate journal.
  • Requires Majority and Minority Party participation to conduct official business.
  • Expands the view of the Senate floor during session so the public can see who is on the floor and observe senators casting their votes.
  • Mandates all committee hearings to be livestreamed, recorded, and archived to ensure meetings held in the Rules Committee Room are viewable by the public.
  • Guarantees equitable representation on standing committees.
  • Requires makers of bills to stand for interrogation upon request.
  • Requires a publicly-available fiscal note for every bill prior to it receiving a floor vote.
  • Expands the type of floor actions that are debatable, including the motion to table.
  • Requires Committee Chairs to administer oaths for all testifiers at hearings.

Ethics Rules

  • Implementation of a sexual harassment and misconduct policy to protect all individuals working within the State Capitol, including outside contractors, lobbyists, and visitors.

Finance Rules

  • Requiring all members’ legislative expenses and all per diem payments to be publicly posted and in searchable format on the public-facing website of the legislature.

At the beginning of this new legislative session, we have the opportunity to hold ourselves to the highest standards possible for our constituents. It is time to stop talking about how we can be better at transparency and accountability and time to actually do better. Any rule that silences the voices of our constituents is voter suppression by another name. Co-sponsor this resolution to reform the Senate Rules to make Pennsylvania’s policy making process more open, transparent, and participatory. 



Memo Updated: December 7, 2022 02:46 PM