News & Brews May 14, 2025
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Dem rep. tells girls he’ll block bill to protect them
Following a press conference in favor of the Save Women’s Sports Act, which would protect girls from being forced to compete in sports against biological males and change in locker rooms alongside them, Democrat state Rep. Peter Schweyer (Lehigh County) reportedly told a group of teenage girls participating in the presser that he would block the bill in his committee. (Schweyer chairs the House Education Committee, where the bill now sits after being passed by the Senate.) So, just to give you the full picture, Schweyer opposes school choice meaning he wants to trap children, including young girls, in government run schools. And then he wants to force those girls to change in locker rooms with men.
Justices grill lawyers over RGGI participation
Yesterday the state Supreme Court considered whether Gov. Shapiro (and former Gov. Wolf) had the unilateral authority to force Pennsylvania into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) absent legislative approval. The progressive Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports, “In its 2023 decision, the … [Commonwealth Court] said that Pennsylvania’s participation in RGGI must be approved through the General Assembly and that the Department of Environmental Protection does not have the authority to impose a tax.” At issue before the Supreme Court is whether the lower court “incorrectly determined the requirement to buy carbon credits was an illegal tax.”
DNC/Hogg feud could give Pa.’s Kenyatta the boot
Democrat National Committee Vice-Chair David Hogg has drawn the party’s ire for threatening to support primary challenges to Dem incumbents. Now, the DNC isn’t so sure Hogg’s election was valid, and some members want to replace him. The “front” complaint being used against Hogg is that his election violated the DNC’s rules on gender diversity, as a woman lost to Hogg. But if the DNC voids Hogg’s election, as a panel recommended doing, it would also void the election of another DNC vice-chair, Pa. State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta. Kenyatta describes himself as an “openly LGBTQ+ person of color.” It’s beyond ironic that the DNC may oust him in the name of “diversity.”
Pa. Senate committee votes down marijuana bill
Yesterday, the Pa. Senate Law & Justice Committee, chaired by Republican state Sen. Dan Laughlin (Erie), voted 7-3 against advancing House-passed legislation to legalize recreational marijuana and have state liquor stores oversee its sale. Laughlin, who has supported legalizing recreational marijuana and even introduced legislation to that end, was staunchly opposed to the state store model and had previously said the bill would be “dead on arrival.” One Democrat committee member joined Republicans in opposing the legislation.
Pa. House Dems pass election bill but no voter ID
Yesterday, Pa. House Democrats passed an election bill without a single Republican vote and without another key provision: Voter ID. Spotlight PA reports that changes stemming from the bill “would include creating in-person early voting, giving counties more time to process mail ballots, and requiring counties to use mail ballot drop boxes.” But Republicans in the Senate see voter ID “as crucial to any election law deal.” The House had advanced another extremely loose voter ID bill—which would allow voters to have someone vouch for them if they don’t have ID (because, ummm, that’s election security?)—but “that bill was pulled from this week’s voting calendar because some Republicans in the chamber weren’t going to vote for it. Given the limited House Democratic support, the proposal would have been short of the 102 votes needed for final passage.”