SUPPORT: PennDOT currently requires an applicant for REAL ID to provide an original Social Security card, but does not provide any other document options to verify a person's Social Security number. Pennsylvania is the only state that does not provide residents with alternative SSN verification options. HB 238 would require PennDOT to accept additional documentation permitted under the federal REAL ID Act of 2005 to verify an applicant’s Social Security number when applying for REAL ID.

SUPPORT: HB 439, known as the CROWN Act, would amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to expand the definition of “race” to include traits associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles. HB 439 would prohibit racial discrimination of hair texture and protective hairstyles historically associated with race without infringing on an employer's right to implement otherwise valid workplace health and safety rules or policies.

OPPOSE: HB 1934 would actually make it harder for people to obtain information in lawsuits against the Commonwealth. The proposed changes would create confusion, inconsistency, and more red tape. Each agency would have to develop its own procedures for handling discovery, leading to delays and inefficiencies that make it harder for Pennsylvanians to hold the government accountable.

OPPOSE: SB 9 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.

OPPOSE: SB 65 would increase fines and enhance penalties for repeat violations related to school bus safety. While the intent to protect children is laudable, the evidence shows that increasing penalties will not improve compliance or safety. Current penalties are already severe, including substantial fines and mandatory license suspensions.

OPPOSE: SB 92 would impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a fine of $15,000 (or more) for any person convicted of drug delivery resulting in death if the person had two or more prior convictions, or any person who “received anything of value" in exchange for any controlled or counterfeit controlled substance. Not only would SB 92 result in the imprisonment of people suffering from substance use disorder, it would impose the ineffective blunt instrument of mandatory minimums.

OPPOSE: SB 96 would make *any threat* against a school or educational facility a third-degree felony, punishable by up to 7 years in prison and $15,000 in fines. But current law already punishes threats against a school as a third-degree felony if it resulted in people being "diverted from their normal operations." As such, SB 96 is both needlessly broad and likely redundant.

OPPOSE: SB 210 would create a new criminal offense, with five suboffenses, to punish harm or attempted harm to public transit operators. Each of these offenses are already criminalized under current law and as such, are duplicative and unnecessary.

OPPOSE: SB 347 would charge any overdose prevention center with a felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines for an individual or up to $2,000,000 in fines for a clinic. These penalties EXCEED the statutory maximum penalties for a first-degree felony. In other words, the penalty for providing a safe space that can save people from deadly overdoses is *more severe than the punishment for murder.*

OPPOSE: SB 471 would require state and county prosecutors to notify ICE if they become aware that a criminal defendant is not a citizen or is otherwise unlawfully in the U.S. ICE already has more than enough tools it needs to target people for immigration enforcement. Furthermore, entangling these two distinct systems by involving ICE during on-going criminal cases could have harmful ripple effects throughout the criminal legal system.

OPPOSE: SB 490 would unconstitutionally prohibit judges from assigning non-monetary bail for defendants based only on their charges. SB 490 would violate (1) constitutional requirements for bail consideration, and (2) constitutional separation of powers, which gives the courts power to decide criminal legal procedures. In addition, if enacted, SB 490 would have little effect on current bail practices. It would, however, exacerbate economic and racial disparities in the criminal legal system.

OPPOSE: SB 686 would create a new, duplicative offense to punish the destruction of requested public records as a third-degree felony. Tampering with public records or information (18 § 4911) already covers the behavior described in SB 686. As such, SB 686 is unnecessary and clearly duplicative. In addition, the third-degree felony grading, even for a first offense, is excessively punitive.

OPPOSE: SB 912 proposes a massive expansion of genetic surveillance—seizing DNA from people who are presumed innocent under the law, turning them into permanent suspects. Authorizing law enforcement to accumulate genetic data from people without a warrant flies in the face of our most foundational constitutional principles, like the presumption of innocence and the rights to privacy and due process.