| This week I’m in Harrisburg, Monday to Sunday, as my colleagues and I work to pass a responsible budget that works for every Pennsylvanian by investing in our schools, our communities, and our economy. As budget discussions continue, we’ve also passed some important bills that I want to highlight for you.
HB 1963, which I introduced with my colleagues Rep. Pielli and Rep. Miller, will ensure that spouses of veterans are entitled to receive veteran’s preference death certificates with the fees waived. This was a long-standing practice but was abruptly changed last year to prevent spouses from obtaining veteran’s preference death certificates. This bill would simply undo the policy change and revert to the previous practice. It passed 202-0 and now moves to the Senate for consideration.
HB 2153, which I also introduced with my colleagues Rep. Dawkins and Rep. Davanzo, closes split-rate loopholes that short change our construction workers and prevents wage theft from custom fabrication jobs. This passed 125-77 and now moves to the Senate for consideration.
In the House State Government Committee, my bill HB 2433 was voted out of committee with bipartisan support and is now being considered by the full House. This bill prevents foreign influence in our elections by prohibiting corporations that are substantially foreign owned from donating to political campaigns, preserving Pennsylvania’s ability to self-govern and protecting our interests.
Lastly, I want to highlight HB 1140, introduced by my colleague Rep. Krueger, which ensures that FDA-approved contraceptive medications and devices that are prescribed to patients are available without copays. This was passed with bipartisan support, 133-69, and now moves to the Senate for consideration.
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