HB 103 would create two new felonies for offenses against police officers. Police already have special protections that punish people more severely when they’re assaulted, and prosecutors already have all the tools they need to charge offenses against police. Moreover, the communicable disease provision in HB 103 could be weaponized broadly against civilians, including those engaged in First Amendment protected speech, protest, or assembly.

HB 1093 would increase the penalty for removing any container from the premises of a retailer, delivery vehicle, or store from a summary offense—punishable by up to $300 in fines or 90 days imprisonment—to a misdemeanor of the third degree—punishable by up to 1 year in prison and a $2,500 fine. This would create a duplicative crime & would disproportionately affect people experiencing homelessness, including women fleeing domestic violence, people with mental health challenges & veterans.

HB 1095 would add third-degree murder of a pregnant woman to offenses that receive mandatory life imprisonment. The ACLU-PA uniformly opposes mandatory minimum sentences. Mandatory minimums take power and discretion from judges and give unreviewable power to prosecutors. Mandatory life sentences are particularly obscene, since they don’t even pretend to deter crime or reduce recidivism. They are purely a retributive punishment.

HB 1096 would expand access to courts by adding a venue for a statutory civil action in human trafficking lawsuits. Currently, trafficking cases may be brought in the county where the victim resides, while others may be filed in a county where the trafficking violations occurred. HB 1096 would allow these lawsuits to be brought either where the victim resides or where the violations occurred, making it easier for trafficking victims to bring civil lawsuits by expanding where they can file.

HB 1118 would require a fiscal note to be provided for all public debt questions put to the voters via ballot referendum. Currently, when a referendum question appears on the ballot, very little—if any—financial impact information is provided to the public to allow them to make a fully informed decision about how the borrowed money will be used and what the financial impact on the Commonwealth will be for such borrowing.

HB 1130 would add three trafficking offenses to the Megan's Law registry, including non-sexual offenses. The registry is uniquely invasive and comes with dire and enduring collateral consequences — severe punishment imposed after serving a sentence. It is also ineffective punishment, as Megan’s Law has showed no demonstrable effect in reducing sexual re-offenses and no effect on reducing the number of victims involved in sexual offenses.

HB 118 would mandate hospitals or clinics to arrange for burial or cremation of all medical tissue from a miscarriage or abortion, no matter how early in the pregnancy. Current law already requires ritual disposition for pregnancies that end after 16 weeks. HB 118 dangerously expands the definition of a fetus, violates a woman's privacy, and imposes undue burdens on women, their doctors, and medical facilities.

HB 1201 would give the legislature sole authority over how proposed constitutional amendments are presented to the public, including drafting of the ballot question and preparing the plain English description of the amendment. By shifting these responsibilities to a legislative agency, HB 1201 would eliminate the checks and balances in the process, giving the legislature wide latitude to control the drafting and public messaging on all amendments presented to voters.

HB 1231 would create an exception to PA’s compulsory joinder rule (Rule 110) that would allow prosecutors to try summary offenses separately from misdemeanor or felony offenses that arise from the same criminal episode. Rule 110 requires a prosecutor to bring in a single proceeding, all known charges against a defendant. HB 1231 would create an arbitrary exception to that rule for summary offenses, thereby eroding constitutional protections against double jeopardy.

HB 1300 would make numerous changes to the Elections Code, many of which would restrict voting and elections provisions, including (but not limited to): requiring voter ID; requiring signature match verification, eliminating the permanent mail voting list; moving the registration deadline to 30 days before Election Day (from 15 days); moving the mail ballot request deadline to 15 days before Election Day (from 7 days); and opening drop boxes only when staffed by two inspectors.

HB 1393 would amend the Controlled Substance Act to explicitly exclude fentanyl test strips for personal use from the definition of drug paraphernalia. As fentanyl is increasingly being added to heroin to increase its potency—often without the knowledge of those who use it—overdose deaths continue to rise. By legalizing fentanyl test strips for personal use, HB 1393 would help those in the grip of addiction avoid a potentially deadly overdose without fear of facing criminal charges.

HB 140 was originally a benign bike lane bill until a Senate amendment added a provision that would allow a special prosecutor to be appointed in Philadelphia to investigate and initiate criminal proceedings for any violations occurring on SEPTA property (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority). This was one of many politically motivated bills seeking to interfere with the prosecutorial discretion of the twice-elected Philadelphia district attorney.

HB 146, also known as "Markie's Law," would keep people needlessly incarcerated by delaying consideration of parole by adding a mandatory 12-24 months to a person's minimum date of release, depending on the offense.

HB 1482 would codify provisions that mirror sham ballot reviews and would grant excessive election–related authority and discretion to the Auditor General. As such, HB 1482 follows a national legislative playbook that reinforces a lack of trust in election administration at both the county and state levels and aims to shift power away from election officials and place it under the authority of another body, agency, or office.

HB 1500 would unconstitutionally prohibit terminating a pregnancy following a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome. Any person violating this provision could be charged with a third-degree felony.

HB 1546 would create a new assault offense that prohibits the sharing of "restricted personal information" of 39 public officials. The bill poses an unnecessary, unjustifiable, and likely unconstitutional expansion of protections that would hold people criminally liable for perceived future harm committed by someone else.

Pennsylvania's Tender Years Hearsay Act is a hearsay exception that allows out-of-court statements made by individuals 12 years of age or younger to be entered into evidence under specific conditions. HB 156 would uniformly expand the Tender Years Hearsay Act to allow the introduction of hearsay statements made by people 16 years of age or younger, further eroding the due process right to confront one's accuser.

In addition to imposing archaic, harmful, and demonstrably ineffective mandatory minimum sentences, HB 1587 proposes flatly unconstitutional changes to our bail system that are astonishingly hostile to the principles that undergird our criminal legal system, specifically those that protect the presumption of innocence and prohibit punishment before trial.

HB 1590 would impose “presumptive guidelines” within the PA Sentencing Guidelines when a gun is possessed during a crime of violence or drug offense or when a person is prohibited from possessing a gun. Gun-related offenses are already heavily criminalized and deadly weapon enhancements are numerous in the Guidelines. What PA does not need is another mandatory scheme, further contributing to mass incarceration while exacerbating racial and economic disparities within our criminal legal system.

HB 1596 is a proposed amendment to the constitution that would make several changes to Pennsylvania's elections, including requiring voter ID. Many of the proposed changes under HB 1596 do not require amending the constitution. Changes to how elections are administered can, and should be, changes that are legislatively enacted by amending the Election Code. Legislating by constitutional amendment is a dangerous precedent and brazen end-run around our system of checks and balances.

HB 1663 would require that voting machines be manufactured in the U.S. and sold by a vendor with a primary place of business within the U.S. If enacted, HB 1663 would take effect in 60 days. Without knowing which machines are used in each of the 67 counties in the commonwealth, HB 1663 may result in widespread decertification of non-compliant voting machines and require counties to purchase new machines, often prohibitively expensive for counties.

HB 1737 would allow county children and youth services (CYS) agencies to obtain court orders to compel parents to undergo drug and alcohol testing during child welfare investigations. HB 1737 does not include a requirement that a CYS agency have probable cause to believe that an act of child abuse or neglect has occurred and that drug testing the parent will reveal evidence relating to such abuse. Without probable cause, HB 1737 proposes an unconstitutional intrusion on parents’ privacy rights.

HB 1800 is an omnibus bill that would introduce significant changes to the Pennsylvania Election Code. While there are certainly some provisions in HB 1800 that the ACLU-PA would support, the bill contains numerous problematic changes that we would oppose.

HB 1836 would create a new offense of 'child torture' applicable to persons under 18, graded as a felony of the first or third degree. The offense is defined by 12 courses of conduct that are already heavily criminalized and easily chargeable under numerous existing criminal statutes. This bill only serves to cast a wider carceral net that invites selective enforcement by police and and serial overcharging by prosecutors.

HB 184 would enhance the penalty for causing or aiding suicide when the person who died by suicide is under 18 years old or has an intellectual disability from a second-degree to first-degree felony, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Causing or aiding suicide is already heavily penalized under current law and there is nothing in the bill that requires a person to know that the person is under 18 years old or has an intellectual disability.

HB 185, also known as Cody's Law, would broadly expand the definition of assault to allow prosecutors to charge a simple assault against a person on the autism spectrum or with a physical or intellectual disability as an aggravated assault. This would add an additional *8 years* in prison to the penalty for such an offense. Serially expanding the aggravated assault definition undermines the critical distinctions between types of assault, which ensure that the punishment fits the crime.

HB 1910 is a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution that would limit the rule making authority of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. HB 1910 is a legislative attempt to undermine court rules and the separation of power between the branches. The procedural conflict it invites would not only be disruptive and chaotic, but could also threaten the constitutional protections enshrined in the court’s current rules.

HB 1929 would eliminate the antiquated criminalization of automatic knives in PA. § 908 currently prohibits individuals from repairing, selling, dealing, using or possessing an “offensive weapon.” This definition includes many dangerous weapons, but also includes knives used for recreational or work purposes. HB 1929 would remove automatic knives from this definition, thereby removing the opportunity for prosecutors to criminally charge people for merely using or possessing such a knife.

HB 2032 would resolve a conflict between current law and Sexual Assault Testing and Evidence Collection Act (Act 29 of 2019) by creating an exception for failure to report injuries in sexual assault cases where the victim wishes to remain anonymous. This is a reasonable and justifiable proposal to decriminalize failure to report injuries by victims whose privacy is already protected under Act 29.

HB 2039 would amend the PA Crime Victims Act to require that alleged victims are notified of and have an opportunity to comment at bail hearings, allowing bail hearings to be treated more like criminal trials. As a result, HB 2039 would create delays in bail hearings, permit prejudicial information to unduly influence bail determinations, deprive defendants of their due process rights, and undermine the presumption that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty.

HB 2044 would prohibit the use of private donations or contributions for operating elections, employing staff, selecting and equipping a polling place, or for use in voter education or outreach. Because the legislature has repeatedly failed to properly fund elections, and counties are desperate to have the resources they need to run fair elections and to do so safely during a pandemic, these grants patched a critical funding gap.

HB 2046 would amend current law to redefine "bail bondsman" in a way that would require community bail funds to function as professional bail bonds companies, with all the attendant licensing requirements. Those requirements would almost certainly limit what community bail funds can do and would risk putting some out of business altogether.

HB 2066 would require the judicial branch to consolidate its operations in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to the Judicial Center in Harrisburg. Closing all judicial offices outside the city of Harrisburg would limit public access to our courts and would disproportionately affect those who benefit from this access the most, including low-income people, people with disabilities, those with child care needs, or anyone else who cannot readily travel across the state for an appellate court hearing.

HB 2069 would amend Article III, Section 9 of the PA Constitution to eliminate the ability of the governor to veto resolutions that disapprove of executive branch regulations. PA's regulatory process is arduous and gives legislators numerous opportunities to influence and shape regulatory decisions. Allowing the legislature to strike down any regulation by a simple majority vote would undermine the balance of power between the branches, while turning complex decisions into political footballs.

HB 2070 would add a new section to Article IV of the PA Constitution to require that any executive order or proclamation issued by the governor can only remain in effect for 21 days, after which point it can only be extended by a concurrent resolution of the General Assembly. This is yet another attempt to undermine the ability of the executive branch to function independently and separately from the legislature.

HB 2016 would reinstate a long-standing mandatory jail sentence for driving on a suspended license if the license is suspended for DUI reasons. Automatically throwing every person in jail for more than two months for a first offense of driving on a suspended license is unnecessarily harmful and would trigger an array of collateral consequences. And like all mandatory sentences, it takes away the sentencing discretion that should be vested in the court.

HB 2125 would remove references to the term “homosexuality” within definitions of prohibited sexual acts in the Crimes Code, which references homosexuality in outdated and offensive ways. This prejudicial language has no place in our laws, and removing those references will not expand or alter the offense definitions amended under HB 2125.

HB 2157 would establish mandatory minimum fines for existing fireworks violations as well as four new suboffenses with enhanced grading and mandatory minimum fines for each type of violation, all under Title 3 (Agriculture) rather than under Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses). This kind of overly punitive response—for violating restrictions on the use or sale of fireworks, no less—undermines judicial discretion, widens Pennsylvania’s carceral net, and, at best, offers hollow promises of deterrence.

HB 2174 would update current law to reflect a recent PA Supreme Court ruling prohibiting acceptance into an accelerated rehabilitative disposition program (ARD) as a basis for designating a report of suspected child abuse as “founded.” Because ARD is not an adjudication nor an admission of guilt, the bill would instead designate such reports as “indicated" when they are substantiated based upon acceptance into ARD.

HB 2207 would amend the PA Constitution to change how PA's election maps are drawn. HB 2207 claims to create a "citizen's commission" responsible for drawing election district maps. But instead of reforming the redistricting process to allow voters to choose their representatives (rather than lawmakers choosing their voters), HB 2207 would make the problem worse by setting up a sham commission that leaves the real power in the hands of the majority party in each chamber of the General Assembly.

HB 2238 would impose term limits on one DA among the 67 in the commonwealth, which is arbitrary and further complicates PA's already fragmented system of local government. Additionally, the ACLU opposes limitations on the number of terms an elected official may serve. Such limitations infringe on the right of candidates to a place on the ballot and on the right of citizens to vote for persons of their choice. This applies to all branches of government at all levels.

HB 2271, also known as Lindsey's Law, would require the Sentencing Commission to create an additional enhancement for people convicted of sexual extortion if the complainant attempts or dies by suicide within 90 days of the extortion. This bill creates a duplicative penalty, already covered by a law just enacted in 2021. Prosecutors have all the tools they need in our Crimes Code to punish people many times over without creating more duplicative and unnecessary offenses.

HB 2276 would combine two existing misdemeanor offenses—18 § 4303 (concealing the death of a child) and 18 § 5510 (abuse of corpse)—to create a new second-degree felony offense, punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment and $25,000 in fines. Creating new, duplicative offenses only serves to expand prosecutorial power to stack charges, which results in coercive plea deals, longer periods of incarceration, and never-ending increases to Pennsylvania’s $3 billion+ corrections budget.

HB 2290 would amend 18 § 3935.1 to expand the definition of secondary metal to include “catalytic converter.” Stealing a catalytic converter would already be covered under a nearly identical existing offense—§ 3934. Theft from a motor vehicle. In other words, HB 2290 would expand the definition of one offense to make it nearly identical to an existing offense. Creating duplicative offenses expands prosecutorial power, which, in turn, feeds our mass incarceration system.

HB 231 adds 18 existing offenses to § 6318, which establishes the crime of unlawful contact with a minor. The offenses listed under Section 6318 are not unique; every crime listed is already an existing criminal offense, allowing prosecutors to charge two separate offenses for the exact same conduct: once under the existing statute and then again, separately, under § 6318. And the 18 new, duplicative offenses are each graded as third-degree felonies or higher.

The ACLU-PA typically supports body worn cameras for law enforcement officers. But since body cam footage is excluded from PA's Right to Know Law, any benefits of transparency or accountability are minimal to non-existent. More importantly, parole agents are *not* law enforcement; they supervise people released from prison. In that role, they routinely enter people’s homes without permission and giving agents body cams therefore raises serious privacy, surveillance & 4th Amendment concerns.

HB 2449 would require legislative expenses to be publicly posted online on a quarterly basis. Making these expenses publicly accessible would provide increased transparency and greater accountability for how elected officials and other legislative entities spend public funds.

HB 246 would apply the protections contained within Pennsylvania’s Rape Shield Law to victims of human trafficking, specifically prohibiting the introduction of evidence relating to the victim’s past sexual victimization or prior allegations of victimization at criminal trials.

HB 2471 would create a special expedited process for open records requests and appeals made by elected officials, which would all but guarantee sloppy, incomplete, and ill-considered appeals decisions. And there is no justifiable public interest reason to give elected officials special preference in receiving Right-to-Know responses. Legislators have better tools to get and access public information and as such, are already working at an advantage compared to other Pennsylvanians.

HB 248 would comprehensively reform the way PA courts assess and collect court fines, costs, and restitution by providing clear guidelines for courts to determine a defendant's ability to pay, establishing uniform standards for court debt collection, and eliminating / reforming outdated practices that punish people simply for being too poor to pay.

Currently, only candidates who file nominating petitions are subject to removal from the ballot for failure to file financial disclosure documents—candidates placed on the ballot due to a write-in campaign are not. HB 2484 would extend the requirement for filing a statement of financial interests to all candidates who appear on the ballot in a General Election, thereby providing voters increased transparency about candidates running for public office.

HB 2524 would amend Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law (RTKL) to make several updates to the law. Unfortunately, two provisions in particular—designating “vexatious requesters” and limiting requests from incarcerated people—establish dangerous and potentially unconstitutional precedents for allowing the state to pick and choose to whom it responds.

HB 2527 would expand the scope of Good Samaritan immunity provided under Act 139 of 2014 from the use of naloxone only (an opioid overdose reversal drug) to all opioid reversal medicines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration so that any new life-saving drug can be accessed without penalty just as naloxone is today.

HB 279 would re-establish previous permissions for people without a Social Security Number to apply for a driver’s license or learner’s permit using secure alternatives such as a federal taxpayer identification number or any combination of documents that reliably proves the applicant’s name and date of birth.

HB 38 is a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution that would create judicial districts for the purpose of electing judges and justices to Pennsylvania’s appellate courts. HB 38 would grant the legislature the power to draw judicial districts, subjecting appellate courts to undue influence by the General Assembly while injecting partisan advantage into the system. In so doing, HB 38 poses a grave threat to the separation of powers and to the independence of Pennsylvania’s judiciary.

HB 488 would create a new offense for failure to report a missing child. If a parent, guardian, or other person supervising a child under 18 years old fails to report the child missing after 24 hours, they could be charged with a third-degree felony. This duplicative offense is nearly indistinguishable from current statute and only further accelerates the relentless expansion of the crimes code.

HB 521 would create an invasive, continuous monitoring program ordered and enforced by the state and administered by private vendors for those with even a single DUI conviction and no prior offenses. It permits courts to impose surveillance as a condition of probation, parole, and bail, while threatening to unconstitutionally require people to pay the cost of this surveillance before being convicted of any crime. HB 521 also invites overly punitive jail sentences for minor traffic offenses.

HB 711 would require the PA Department of State to establish a campaign finance reporting system that allows candidates and political committees the option to file online. The bill would also create a standardized process for filing and contingency plans with clearly outlined rules for e-filing. This is a commonsense upgrade to PA's campaign finance filing and disclosure system, which would increase transparency while decreasing bureaucratic inefficiencies.

HB 773, also known as “Deana’s Law,” would impose mandatory consecutive sentences for DUI offenses to be served consecutive to any other sentence imposed by the court. HB 773 would also create a penalty enhancement (punishable by 5-10 years in prison and up to $25,000 in fines) simply for refusing to take a breath or chemical test.

HB 822 is a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution that would permit recall elections for an elected officer in a city or county of the first class (i.e., Philadelphia) without requiring that a public official can only be removed for cause. This would carve out Philadelphia elected officials as the only officials who can be whimsically recalled without cause or due process—and likely at a significant cost.

HB 904 would amend the Abortion Control Act to prohibit abortion at roughly six weeks. Under current law, a woman can obtain an abortion at any time up to 24 weeks after her last menstrual period. Any violation would be graded as a felony of the third degree, punishable by up to seven years in prison and fines of up to $15,000. HB 904 would effectively ban abortion entirely in PA and is therefore brazenly unconstitutional.

HB 91 would eliminate the three-strike felony rule for retail theft. Currently, a person can be found guilty of a felony of the third degree for a third retail theft conviction no matter the value of the item taken, meaning you can get a felony for stealing a tube of toothpaste, punishable by up to 7 years in prison and $15,000 in fines. This is an excessively punitive rule that largely incarcerates single mothers, the homeless, and people with addictions who steal basic life necessities.

HB 940 removes the mens rea requirement necessary to convict a person of injuring or killing a police animal and then creates two new "unintentional" offenses: recklessly injuring or killing a police animal and holding someone criminally culpable when a police animal is injured or killed while the person is engaged in the commission of a felony. These are unnecessary, duplicative offenses and dangerously lower the threshold for criminal convictions.

SLAPP suits (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) are used to chill free speech and to deter or silence critics by requiring defendants to mount an expensive and resource intensive legal defense against a case the plaintiff knows cannot prevail on the merits. To combat this practice, HB 95 would create a process to quickly dismiss SLAPPs against constitutionally protected speech through a special motion to dismiss.

HB 972 would ban transgender girls and women from participating on athletic teams or in sports from K-college. Trans youth have the right to participate in sports consistent with who they are and denying them that right is blatantly unconstitutional and discriminatory.

HB 975 would add caretakers to the list of people who can be charged with institutional sexual assault, making it a third-degree felony for an employee to have any kind of sexual contact, including consensual sex, with a person who receives care, services, or treatment in or from a facility. This bill recklessly expands this offense and infantilizes the elderly and those with physical disabilities by assuming they are incapable of engaging in consensual sexual activity.

During the 2017-2018 session, HB 163 repealed the law permitting the automatic suspension of driver's licenses for drug-related and other non-traffic convictions. HB 987 would apply that law retroactively, allowing people with prior convictions to get their driver's licenses back without having to pay a reinstatement fee. This bill would ensure that the reforms made by HB 163 apply to everyone. Furthermore, HB 987 eliminates some additional offenses that currently lead to license suspensions.

HR 240 proposes six articles of impeachment against Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner. None of the articles allege behavior serious enough to justify the removal of an elected public official.

The ACLU-PA certainly supports policies that prioritize making the voter registration system as secure and accurate as possible. But SB 1018 mandates changes to voter registration records that violate federal and state law, are too vague, and/or are already operational.

SB 1040 would amend the Crime Victims Act to provide better notification to surviving family members of a murder victim. The bill would require law enforcement to make reasonable efforts to ensure the victim's next-of-kin has been notified of the death before publicly releasing the murder victim's identity and medical personnel would be prohibited from releasing the victim's identity within 24-hours from when the next-of-kin was notified by either medical personnel or law enforcement.

SB 1049 would condemn impoverished Pennsylvanians to a “choice” between either 50 hours of involuntary servitude for minor traffic offenses or trying to pay money they do not have and getting their driver’s licenses suspended. And because SB 1049 fails to include constitutionally required due process protections, its provisions would compound punishment on poor people for no discernible public safety reasons.

SB 106 proposes five separate amendments to the Pennsylvania Constitution that would: deny the right to abortion in PA without exception; permit the legislature to reject any executive branch regulation; require voter ID; shift election audit authority from counties to the Auditor General; and allow nominees for governor to select the lieutenant governor as their running mate.

SB 110 would create a new, duplicative, and dangerously broad drug delivery offense under Title 18, permitting prosecutors to overcharge for one alleged drug offense. Furthermore, the new offense created by SB 110 would not be covered under the current Drug Overdose Response Immunity Act. Because this offense is so broad, it would make it more dangerous to report a potential overdose, further jeopardizing those struggling with addiction.

SB 1136 would amend PA's Vital Statistics Law to require the Department of Health to turn over information or data from vital statistics records to legislative service agencies upon request. SB 1136 does not protect the confidentiality of this information if released to one of these agencies, nor does it prohibit its release by those agencies to other entities. By replacing discretion with a mandate to disclose, SB 1136 creates a dangerous security threat to Pennsylvanians' private data.

SB 1166 is a proposed constitutional amendment would add a new section to Article II that will limit any congressional plan that is devised by a court or by a person under the direction of a court to only be valid in the election cycle in which the court or person directed by the court devised the congressional plan. This change would eliminate the incentive to draw fair maps if the parties knew that court-drawn maps will be time-limited.

SB 1172 would increase accessibility to Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) by expanding Penn State University's SAFE-T Program. The program utilizes tele-health to ensure all victims have access to proper care provided by SANEs and allows for continued training, and connects examiners to a peer network. This would improve access, treatment, and accurate prosecution for those experiencing sexual assault.

The Domestic and Sexual Violence Victim Address Confidentiality Act provides address confidentiality to those leaving an abusive relationship by providing a legal, substitute mailing address to use whenever a residential, work, or school address is required. Currently, the program requires that all requests be made in writing. SB 1179 would allow applications and supporting documents to be filed electronically.

SB 118 would add three trafficking offenses to the Megan's Law registry, including non-sexual offenses. The registry is uniquely invasive and comes with dire and enduring collateral consequences — severe punishment imposed after serving a sentence. It is also ineffective punishment, as Megan’s Law has showed no demonstrable effect in reducing sexual re-offenses and no effect on reducing the number of victims involved in sexual offenses.

SB 1191 would ban transgender girls and women from participating on athletic teams or in sports from K-college. Trans youth have the right to participate in sports consistent with who they are and denying them that right is blatantly unconstitutional and discriminatory.

SB 1200 would require delivery of mail or absentee ballots only to a physical person at the primary county office. In effect, SB 1200 would not only ban the use of drop boxes, it would also ban counties from opening satellite offices to accept mail-in or absentee ballots.

SB 1208 would allow counties and courts to collect outstanding court debt through private debt collectors without sacrificing the due process rights of indigent defendants. And by offering enhanced provisions to give judges and defendants greater flexibility and more options, SB 1208 would help counties focus on collectible debt while making it easier for some defendants to pay off their debt.

SB 1277 would require schools to label and inventory instructional materials and library resources using an overly broad and vague definition of “sexually explicit content”. It would impose unreasonable burdens on schools and may result in extreme self-censorship. And while it doesn’t outright ban or censor educational or reference materials, it includes an explicit invitation for schools to consider such measures.

SB 1278 will create dangerous confusion about what teachers, staff and students are allowed to say and study in school. It will limit teachers' ability to give students the education and support they need, and it will foster, at best, an information vacuum or worse, a hostile environment that further endangers already-vulnerable young people. Finally, SB 1278 proposes a framework that operates like religious instruction attempting to masquerade as free speech–both pernicious & unconstitutional.

SB 1292 would amend the PA Election Code to prohibit a member or appointee of a county board of elections from simultaneously serving as an officer of a state political party. Holding both positions presents a clear conflict of interest and would only serve to undermine public trust and confidence in the management and oversight of elections in the commonwealth.

SB 1317 would create an Indigent Defense Advisory Committee and a grant fund to support indigent defense. Pennsylvania remains the only state in the nation that fails to provide state-level funding for public defenders and instead requires that individual counties bear 100% of the financial burden to maintain their essential—and constitutionally required—public defense services.

SB 137 would add a five dollar surcharge to DUI fines, collected in a restricted account, to fund the training of Pennsylvania State Police officers as Drug Recognition Experts (DREs)—law enforcement officers trained to conduct field sobriety tests. This is a waste of money, as the PA Supreme Court prohibits the core DRE test from being admitted as expert testimony at DUI trials.

SB 492 would amend Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law (RTKL) to permit agencies to deny requests made by a party involved in litigation against that agency. By conditioning access to public records based on who is making the request, SB 492 would set a dangerous precedent and introduce an untested interpretation of how the Right to Know Law has been understood and applied since it was first enacted.

SB 516 would allow for unpaid fines, costs, and restitution in magisterial district and common pleas courts to be referred to a debt collection agency when a defendant fails to appear, triggering a 25% surcharge to the amount owed. As a result, SB 516 is likely unconstitutional. Adding a 25% surcharge without due process right to a hearing is a clear infringement on a defendant’s constitutionally-protected property interest.

In order to criminalize "upskirting" (a behavior already punishable under current statute), SB 521would expand the scope of invasion of privacy under 18 Pa.C.S. § 7507.1 by selectively increasing the grading for adults or teachers convicted invasion of privacy from misdemeanor to felony offenses.

SB 554 would amend the Sunshine Act to require public agencies to post public meeting agendas at the meeting location, at the agency’s office location, and on the agency’s website no later than 24 hours prior to a meeting, and to prohibit an agency from taking official action on items not in the meeting agenda. This is a commonsense measure to ensure greater government transparency.

SB 573 would permit any registered voter in Pennsylvania to be appointed as a poll watcher in any precinct in the commonwealth. Permitting Pennsylvania electors to serve as watchers in any precinct in the commonwealth invites people from outside county communities inside local polling locations. This change needlessly invites opportunities for confrontation, unfounded challenges to voters’ eligibility by out-of-county watchers, and, in some cases, an increased risk of voter intimidation.

SB 588 would create an exception to PA’s compulsory joinder rule (Rule 110) that would allow prosecutors to try summary offenses separately from misdemeanor or felony offenses that arise from the same criminal episode. Rule 110 requires a prosecutor to bring in a single proceeding, all known charges against a defendant. SB 588 would create an arbitrary exception to that rule for summary offenses, thereby eroding constitutional protections against double jeopardy.

SB 703 proposes two radical changes to how stalking is currently defined under PA law: (1) It proposes to eliminate the requirement that the alleged target of the harassment has any knowledge of the conduct, and (2) it shifts the burden of proof required to prove stalking from the defendant's intent to the recipient's experience. Redefining and criminalizing this kind of behavior as stalking is dangerously broad and excessively punitive.

SB 735 is a proposed amendment to the PA Constitution that would require every voter to present "valid identification" at the polls every time they vote. But SB 735 fails to clearly define which forms of ID qualify as “valid," which means that voters must decide whether to amend the constitution to require voter ID before the legislature has even defined the legal requirements for the process. Voter ID can and should be implemented by changing the Election Code, not by amending the constitution.

SB 738 would establish a useful, transparent mechanism to publicly monitor the status of the procedural steps required for a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution after the General Assembly passes the amendment in a second consecutive session and before it appears on the ballot for voters to approve or reject.

SB 749 would weaken—or even eviscerate—protections provided by the Medical Marijuana Act to workers. The two most problematic provisions would (1) allow employers to discriminate against people with medical marijuana cards who work in “safety-sensitive” positions without evidence that they are under the influence at work; and (2) allow employers to fire medical marijuana patients based solely on the employer’s perception that their use of medical marijuana adversely affects their performance.

SB 78, also known as Kayden's Law, would require an evidentiary hearing during child custody proceedings to vet allegations—new or old—of abuse. The hearing requirements will likely trigger traumatic suspensions of contact between mothers and their children, with nearly impossible barriers to reestablish contact, both because the presumption of supervised visitation has no expiration date and because of the enormous financial penalties that can accompany a finding of a history of abuse.

SB 79 would allow a member of the General Assembly to request a racial impact statement on any piece of legislation proposing changes to crimes and offenses in Title 18 or to sentencing laws in Title 42. Operating similar to the fiscal note process, racial impact statements would be made available prior to a final vote, and would assess whether / how the bill being considered would impact racial and ethnic disparities in our criminal legal system.

SB 814 would create two new duplicative and unnecessary felony offenses: (1) prohibiting evading police arrest or detention on foot; and (2) harming a police animal while evading arrest or detention; resisting arrest; or disarming a law enforcement officer. SB 814 would criminalize the legal and constitutional right to run from law enforcement—an open invitation to charge young Black men and other people of color, who may be legally running from the police, with a felony offense.

SB 835 would create a mechanism for certain ill and/or aging people incarcerated in state prison to petition the PA Parole Board for release. The bill would also require the Department of Corrections to assist incarcerated people with petitions for release, provide relevant records, notify families of a terminal medical diagnosis, facilitate quick visitation after a terminal diagnosis, and track statistics about medical and geriatric parole for the legislature to review annually.

SB 904 would permit probation officers to hold remote supervision meetings when appropriate. Probation officers would still be free to insist on in-person meetings, to hold unannounced meetings, or to schedule meetings at times that the probation officer deems necessary.

SB 905 would ensure that when probation officers set a supervision schedule for their clients, that they consider their client's work schedule and any scheduled essential medical care, when making those scheduling decisions.

SB 913 fails to meaningfully reform our broken probation system and changes current law in ways that risk making probation worse in PA by making it easier for judges to incarcerate people after revoking their probation and allowing judges to keep people on probation indefinitely for those who can't pay restitution in full. Its only solution to reducing time on probation is a convoluted and exclusionary process to terminate probation early—an outcome far easier to achieve under current law.

SB 940 would amend the PA Constitution to give the Legislative Reference Bureau responsibility for preparing proposed constitutional amendments for the ballot, including drafting the ballot question and the plain English description of the amendment. By shifting these duties to a legislative agency, SB 940 would eliminate the checks and balances in the process, giving the legislature wide latitude to control the drafting and public messaging on all amendments presented to voters.

SB 956 is a proposed amendment to Pennsylvania’s constitution that would deny the right to abortion care in Pennsylvania—even in cases of rape, incest, or life-threatening conditions—if federal protections are weakened or overturned. Without the protection of state courts, abortion could be drastically restricted, criminalized, or banned entirely in Pennsylvania.

SB 982 would prohibit state and local governments from soliciting, applying for, entering into contract with or receiving gifts, donations, grants or funding from a non-gov't entity for election expenses. Violations would be criminalized as second-degree misdemeanors. SB 982 is an overreaction to county election offices that received nonprofit funds in 2020 to assist with COVID--related prep for the general election—funding the legislature failed to provide.