🌫️ Good Wednesday Morning. Be careful out there Western PA!
PA Weather
Zelienople | Haze, 77
Bellefonte | Haze, 77
Tobyhanna | Mostly Cloudy, chance of showers, 71
PA Sports
Phillies (41-37) | Cubs 5-1 | W-Th at Chicago
Pirates (36-42) | San Diego 9-4 | W-Th at San Diego
What We’re Hearing
“Pennsylvania’s power grab infringes on more than just the rights of defendants — it upsets the proper role of the states in our federal system.” – Justice Amy Coney Barrett
What’s Happening
The House and the Senate will convene at 11a.
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Top Story
1. Supreme Court Rules Against Independent State Legislature Theory
The United States Supreme Court declined to endorse that theory today, handing down a 6-3 decision that rejected a bid to give state legislatures wide-ranging authority in drawing congressional maps and regulating federal elections.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion which preserves the ability for state courts to hear partisan gerrymandering lawsuits in congressional redistricting and review other federal election rules set by state legislatures. (PoliticsPA)
Related
Supreme Court Rejects Novel Legislative Theory But Leaves A Door Open For 2024 Election Challenges. “The U.S. Supreme Court shot down a controversial legal theory that could have changed the way elections are run across the country but left the door open to more limited challenges that could increase its role in deciding voting disputes during the 2024 presidential election.” (AP)
How The Supreme Court’s Decision On Election Law Could Shut The Door On Future Fake Electors. “The Supreme Court’s rejection of a controversial election theory may also have another huge political consequence for future presidential contests: It obliterated the dubious fake elector scheme that Donald Trump deployed in his failed attempt to seize a second term.” (POLITICO)
Supreme Court Allows Unusual PA Law On Corporate Suits. “The Supreme Court upheld a Pennsylvania law on Tuesday that requires corporations to consent to being sued in its courts — by anyone, for conduct anywhere — as a condition for doing business in the state. Only Pennsylvania has such a law.” (New York Times)
State
2. PA’s Mail In Voting Law Is Upheld Again, As Court Rules Against Republican Challenge
“A Pennsylvania state court on Tuesday rejected the latest Republican effort to throw out the presidential battleground state’s broad mail-in voting law that has become a GOP target following former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about election fraud.
It is the latest of several refusals by a state court to invalidate Pennsylvania’s 2019 mail-in voting law, enacted barely months before the COVID-19 pandemic began and Trump began attacking mail-in voting.” (AP)
Related
State Court Rejects GOP Challenge To PA Mail Voting Law. “The law that created mail voting in Pennsylvania has withstood another Republican legal challenge.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Commonwealth Court Upholds Act 77, Again. “Pennsylvania’s much-maligned mail ballot law known as Act 77 has withstood its latest legal challenge.” (PoliticsPA)
Public School Advocates Call On PA Lawmakers To ‘Oppose Tuition Vouchers In Any Form’ “Labor leaders, parents, a few students, and public education advocates gathered in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday to call on state lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro to end any further consideration of establishing a school voucher program in Pennsylvania.” (PennLive)
Blue PA Is On The Verge Of Passing School Choice. “If the scholarship program makes it into the state budget, it will be because Democratic governor Josh Shapiro has broken ranks with teachers’ unions.” (National Review)
Debate Over Public Education Alternatives Percolates As PA Budget Deadline Nears. “Dual debates involving public education alternatives —among the most divisive issues before the Pennsylvania Legislature — simmered in the state Capitol on Tuesday as lawmakers worked toward a deadline Friday to pass the state budget.” (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
Senate Panel Moves Bogen Nomination For PA Health Secretary With No Recommendation. “The Republican-led Health and Human Services Committee voted unanimously on the motion by Committee Majority Chair Michele Brooks, R-Mercer, to make no recommendation on the nomination of Dr. Debra Bogen.” (Capitolwire)
Rich Negrin Confirmed As Secretary Of Department Of Environmental Protection. “In this role, Negrin leads the department’s mission to protect Pennsylvania’s air, land and water from pollution and to provide for the health and safety of its citizens through a cleaner environment, while increasing permitting efficiency to better serve Pennsylvanians.” (PennLive)
A PA Senate Panel Moved To Expand Property Tax Rebates And Nix Cellphone Taxes. “A Republican-led Senate committee on Tuesday advanced a plan to expand the state’s popular property tax and rent rebate program and gave the green light to Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s plan to eliminate some cell phone taxes.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
PA Senate Advances Bill To Overhaul Probation System. “Pennsylvania’s state Senate on Tuesday approved legislation that is designed to reduce the number of people on probation and in jail, by limiting the length of probation and preventing people from being sent back to jail for minor violations.” (AP)
Around The Commonwealth
3. Poll: Young Voters Consider Moving Out Of PA, Wanting Lower Taxes
“Bread-and-butter issues may be causing young Pennsylvanians to seek greener pastures, according to recent polling. A survey conducted last month suggests that more than half of all voters younger than 45 have considered leaving Pennsylvania, or know someone who has, because of political policies.” (PhillyBurbs.com)
Related
Why Moms For Liberty Was Designated An ‘Extremist’ Group By The Southern Poverty Law Center. “Moms for Liberty calls itself a parent empowerment group. But as the polarizing organization arrives in Philadelphia this week for its annual summit, it’s being identified as something else: an “anti government extremist group.”” (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Cherelle Parker Has ‘Reunion’ In Harrisburg Ahead Of State Budget Deal. “The Democratic nominee for Philadelphia mayor spent the day meeting with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders — some of whom she worked with previously and some whom she met for the first time.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Philadelphia Teachers Fear School District Is Wasting Time And Money On A New Curriculum. “When the Philadelphia Board of Education voted to purchase $70 million in new teaching materials for next school year, Lou Lozzi and his fellow teachers started downloading and saving in Google Drive whatever they could from their current materials.” (Billy Penn)
Williams Says Lifeline Scholarships Promote Fairness By Rescuing Kids ‘Trapped’ In Underperforming Schools. “State Sen. Anthony Williams is firmly backing the notion of Lifeline Scholarships, a school-choice voucher plan that has seized the political conversation in Harrisburg after Gov. Josh Shapiro said last week he supports the idea.” (Broad + Liberty)
What Does It Mean To Receive A Key To The City In Pittsburgh? “Let’s answer the obvious question right away — no, the key doesn’t actually unlock a door to the Fort Pitt tunnel or a secret chamber in the mayor’s office. It’s basically an oddly shaped plaque, with a bunch of history.” (WESA)
Editorial
4. What They’re Saying
- Constitution Still Applies. (Times-Tribune)
- Feds Continue To Treat Marc Fogel As Second-Class Concern. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
- Marc Fogel Act Is Important Step Forward In Bringing Detainees Home. (Tribune-Review)
- I Will Never Abandon Marc Fogel. (Rep. Guy Reschenthaler)
- It’s Foolhardy For The Biden Administration To Start Phasing Out PA-Made Army Helicopters. (David McCormick)
- Education Savings Accounts Give Parents More Choice Than Vouchers. (Marc LeBlond, Ed Tarnowski)
- Pardon Me? Why Biden Should Pull A Gerald Ford When It Comes To Trump. (Bruce Ledewitz)
- State Senate Should Approve Indigent Defense Bill. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
- A War Ordinary Americans Will Win. (Jerry Shenk)
- Legal Immigration Is Key To Continued Growth, Success. (Nick Jacobs)
- It’s Time To Blow Up The Minority Contract Status Quo. (Teresa M. Lundy)
- State Has Duty To Fund Public School Repairs. (Pottsville Republican & Herald)
1 Thing
5. Canadian Code Red
Smoke from wildfires in Canada is again impacting air quality in Western Pennsylvania.
The state is advising young children, the elderly and people with respiratory problems to limit outdoor activities Wednesday in Western Pennsylvania because of unhealthy pollution levels.
Twenty-three counties are forecast to have an average air quality in the Code Red range, including Butler, Armstrong, Indiana, Beaver, Allegheny, Westmoreland, Washington, Greene, and Fayette, the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection said. Code Red warns of unhealthy pollution levels for all people, the state said. (Tribune-Review)
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One Response
Anybody who quotes ACB for the good law is an idiot. Why isn’t she upset about the States that criminalize conduct in other States, where it is legal?