While the Pennsylvania House is still out of session and won't resume until late February, the public and advocacy groups are voicing their concerns.

A statewide listening tour was organized by state House Speaker Mark Rozzi - D-Berks - and his six-member workgroup, to hear from Pennsylvanian about ways to move the state forward on legislative rules.

Fair Districts PA Chair Carol Kuniholm said she spoke about the state Legislature not passing bipartisan solutions. Her group recommends that legislative leaders put rules in place that allow bills with clear bipartisan support to get a vote in committee.

"And then if they are voted out of one chamber with bipartisan support, they should be given a vote in the other chamber," said Kuniholm. "Because what we're seeing is only about one in five bills get considered in committee. Half the bills that get voted out of one chamber are ignored by the other chamber and only about 7% of bills introduced actually get passed."

Fair Districts PA's most recent report shows during the session, members of both political parties signed on as co-sponsors of many bills affecting both rural and urban Pennsylvanians.

Kuniholm added that, however, many of the bills never received votes to move out of committee.

Kuniholm said she and others spoke about bills to address the lack of funding and staffing for firefighters since the 1970s. She added that for two decades, there have been legislative solutions to address the lack of broadband access in rural communities.

She said her organization has been trying to get redistricting reform bills passed, but the leadership has blocked those - even though some have had more co-sponsors than any other bills in the chamber.

"Many people talked about the sexual-abuse statute limitations bill that has been bundled into a constitutional amendment," said Kuniholm. "There were firefighters who talked about the concern for remedies for firefighters, there were people who talked about school funding, and quite a few people talked about gun violence."

Kuniholm said they recommend that there would be a discharge petition, which means if a bill is stuck in committee and has a certain number of signatures, that bill would move directly to the House floor for a vote.

She said a proposal that they put forward is that every legislator would be able to have one priority bill that if they could get at least five co-sponsors from both parties, that bill would be guaranteed a vote.

The moment Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping elections bill into law last week, several voter-advocacy groups filed lawsuits against it.

Senate Bill 7050 creates a broad set of restrictions for third-party voter registration groups. It cuts the amount of time they have to submit voters' applications, and adds new and higher fines for late submissions.

Estee Konor - associate director of litigation with Demos, a 'think tank' that focuses on racial justice - said her group's lawsuit targets a new provision that bans any non-citizen from getting involved in voter-registration work.

Konor said it directly impacts groups she represents, such as Hispanic Federation and Poder Latinx, that have a long history of helping people register to vote.

"And really what this law does is," said Konor, "it is an attack on the ability of Floridians - regardless of their immigration status - to participate in the democratic process of civic engagement."

The bill's sponsor, state Rep. Lawrence McClure - R-Dover - said the bill is meant to hold voter-registration groups to high standards and protect voters' personal information.

Groups like the League of Women Voters and other plaintiffs are also suing, claiming the law is unconstitutional and violates the First and 14th amendments.

Konor said all Floridians, including non-citizens, have the right to participate in the work of building a better democracy. She claimed the law is a brazen attempt to shut down voter registration work in those communities.

"If an organization violates this law in any way, even if they do so by mistake, they will be fined $50,000 per person that has violated the law," said Konor, "and there is no limit."

The new law also requires those organizations to provide voter registration applicants with a receipt detailing the voter's personal information.

According a study by University of Florida Political Science Professor Daniel Smith, Florida voters of color are five times more likely than white voters in the state to register to vote through third-party civic engagement groups.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.




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Washingtonians will soon find it even easier to register to vote.

Passed this session, Senate Bill 5112 automatically makes people applying for enhanced driver's licenses eligible to vote.

Alex Alston, consultant for the Washington Voting Justice Coalition, said a number of communities in the state will benefit from the legislation.

"We know that Black and brown communities and folks with socio-economic barriers are often those who are left out of the system," Alston pointed out. "Moving towards a more automatic voter registration system is something that the state's been working towards."

While Washington has made it easy to vote in many respects, including with all-mail elections, lawmakers say nearly 1 million eligible Washingtonians are not registered. After registering them, the state will send a notice in the mail giving people the chance to opt out.

The measure only applies automatic voter registration to people who prove their U.S. citizenship. Alston noted it ensures people not eligible to vote are not inadvertently signed up.

"We don't want inadvertent mistakes that would have negative immigration consequences for someone or their families," Alston emphasized.

Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Massachusetts, Nevada and Oregon have adopted similar automatic registration measures. The law goes into effect July 23.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.


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Local activists will rally in Boston Common tomorrow to urge Congress to lift the debt ceiling without cuts to social programs in return.

President Joe Biden has rejected a House bill which would have raised the debt limit but cut spending on programs Democrats deem vital to working families.

Debbie Paul, chairperson of the Indivisible Massachusetts Coalition, said lawmakers have a duty to raise the debt ceiling without restrictions.

"Negotiating on budget is done at budget time, not when it comes to raising the debt ceiling," Paul argued. "Because that applies to spending that has already been approved and monies that have been spent."

Paul added local activists will rally to support Massachusetts' Democrats, including Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., to resist what they call "extremist MAGA demands," which could send the U.S. into a historic default. Republicans say it is irresponsible to burden future generations with increasing amounts of debt.

House Republicans are seeking more work requirements for people who receive federal nutrition assistance and Medicaid benefits who do not have children, which they claim would help with the nation's worker shortage.

Paul countered those types of cuts would jeopardize some of the most vulnerable citizens in the Commonwealth.

"They want to do away with some more food subsidies for children," Paul pointed out. "They want to do away with energy assistance programs for the elderly."

Paul added the Indivisible Massachusetts Coalition would support President Biden using his constitutional authority to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling, which now stands at more than $31 trillion. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Congress needs to reach a deal by June 1 before the U.S. can no longer pay its bills.