Greetings from Harrisburg! Win (temporarily) on reproductive rights

The Pennsylvania Senate delayed votes on legislation that would adversely affect women's access to reproductive healthcare in the commonwealth. Learn more with this video update from legislative director Andy Hoover, and find memos, press releases, and other statements at our legislative webpage.



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Greetings from Harrisburg! The week the dam started to crack

Last week the General Assembly compromised civil liberties in multiple ways. Learn more in this video and at our legislative webpage.

Please note that by playing this clip YouTube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see YouTube's privacy statement on their website and Google's privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view the ACLU of PA's privacy statement, click here.

Next week at the state capitol: When it rains, it pours

I'll try not to be overly dramatic. But the s**t is hitting the fan at the state capitol. Here's what could be/will be on tap for next week.

House Bill 574, re: altering legal guidelines for abortion clinics. This bill could cost freestanding abortion clinics to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in building renovations and staffing increases and could put those clinics out of business or at least increase dramatically the cost of abortion care. Supporters of the bill include the Pennsylvania Family Institute and Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, organizations that oppose women's access to abortion care. That says plenty.

Interestingly, while supporters of the bill have claimed that Philadelphia DA Seth Williams supports the bill, after the indictment of West Philly "Doctor" Kermit Gosnell, DA Williams has said, no, I don't.

HB 574 has been moved from the House Tabled Calendar to the House Calendar, and the word is that it is going to get a vote next week. We have an action alert posted on it. Take action now!

House Bill 934, re: voter suppression by ID. The House State Government Committee will vote on Monday on this bill to mandate photo ID at the polls. The problem? Approximately 11 percent of US citizens do not have government-issued ID, and they are disproportionately the elderly, the working poor, and African-Americans. In other words, this is an ol' fashioned voter suppression tactic that harkens back to the darkest corners of American history. Our friends at Project H.O.M.E. have posted an action on HB 934.

This just in! Late word has come in this afternoon that the Senate may take up Senate Bill 9, re: mandatory government-issued ID for public aid, and SB 637, re: forcing state contractors to use the federal E-Verify database program. We oppose both bills.

Hearings! Hearings! It's not all bad news. On Wednesday, the Senate Communications & Technology Committee will hold a hearing on SB 354, which would prohibit Pennsylvania's participation in the federal Real ID Act, and on other privacy issues. I'm testifying at that hearing and at a joint hearing of the Senate and House State Government committees on redistricting on Thursday. The latter is an open discussion about redistricting.

The hits just keep on comin'!

The Update, 4:15pm: I just got the Senate Appropriations Committee agenda for Monday. It includes SB 637 and SB 9...and SB 3, which prohibits insurance companies that participate in the insurance exchange created by healthcare reform from covering abortion care. I wasn't kidding when I said that the hits just keep on comin'.

This week at the state capitol

Day One of this session week at the state capitol has passed, but the real fun begins tomorrow.

On Tuesday at 10am, the House Judiciary Committee will consider House Bill 815, to create a new crime of "sexting." This bill creates criminals out of dumb teenagers being dumb teenagers. In the shadow of the Luzerne County juvenile court scandal, one would assume that the legislature would tread lightly when it comes to criminalizing our kids, but this bill is like killing a gnat with a sledgehammer.

Fortunately, there is an alternative proposal in the Senate, SB 850, which criminalizes sexting when one person harms another. SB 850 is already out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The ACLU of PA doesn't support SB 850...but we also don't oppose it. We oppose HB 815, and the ACLU-PA memo submitted to the House Judiciary Committee is available at our legislative webpage.

It must be the week for dueling House-Senate proposals on civil liberties. On Wednesday, the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee will consider Senate Bill 732, which makes alterations to the inspection process for abortion clinics. SB 732 has some minor problems, including patient and employee privacy issues, but we're putting all of our energy into stopping HB 574, which would impose a complete rewrite of the legal playing field for clinics, potentially putting them out of business. In fact, we just posted this action alert against HB 574. Please take action!

Our friends in the immigration advocacy community will hold a press conference to answer some of the anti-immigrant vitriol out there on Wednesday. And SB 1, the school vouchers bill, continues to hang out there after being re-referred to the Senate Education Committee. Senator Piccola says that he has an agreement with the Corbett administration on revisions, but no one knows if he has the votes to pass the bill in the Senate. Time will tell.