News & Brews September 28, 2026
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Shapiro forced to abandon DOH rules … for now
Facing intense public backlash for his proposed Department of Health rule changes that would have allowed the government “to enter schools, businesses, and homes without a warrant; impose mask mandates; and undermine constitutional restrictions—all without a declared public-health emergency,” Gov. Shapiro’s administration announced Friday that it was rescinding the proposal—for now.
The Inquirer reported on Friday, “The department will withdraw the regulations, incorporate feedback, and resubmit the public health rules ‘once Pennsylvanians’ feedback has been adequately incorporated,’ Neil Ruhland, a spokesperson for the department, said in a statement.” Of course, this could simply mean Shapiro will re-propose the same thing in different wording post-election. We’ll see.
Under Shapiro, watchdog group stops meeting
In 2017, “The state’s widely touted first-of-its-kind Performance-Based Budget Board was formed by law … with bipartisan support and a simple purpose: to evaluate in public hearings how state departments and tax credits performed and fund them based on whether they met certain goals instead of just automatically updating previous years’ budget numbers, which is what Harrisburg lawmakers were doing at the time,” PennLive reports.
The budget secretary, appointed by the governor, “is responsible for selecting which agencies to review.” But shortly after Gov. Shapiro took office, the board stopped meeting. And Shapiro’s budget secretary “declined an interview request and did not respond to questions on why he hasn’t created the list [of agencies and credits to review] yet.” Sure sounds like Gov. Shapiro’s administration doesn’t want anyone looking into spending.
Here’s what a Democrat trifecta would do in Pa.
As Democrats aim to flip the state Senate this year and gain a governing trifecta—control of the state House, state Senate, and governor’s office—Broad + Liberty Managing Editor Kyle Sammin looks at a couple “worst of the worst” things they would do. This isn’t speculation. Sammin writes that Democrats “have given us ataste of things to come in some of the legislation currently bouncing aroundthe state house committees.” This story is the first in a series of several that will focus on this topic.
Op-Ed: Restore buses for these students
In January, the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court ruled that school districts don’t have to provide school bus transportation to certain public schools. Sounds crazy, right? Well, those “certain schools” are public charter schools, and it’s all part of an effort to undermine school choice in Pennsylvania. Now, the Rev. Darryl Canady, founder of LIFE Male STEAM Academy in Pittsburgh, has an op-ed in PennLive explaining how the district’s yanking of transportation has impacted his students. He calls on lawmakers to “pass legislation that guarantees public school buses for public charter school students.”
Dual Pa. House hearings today on Flock cameras
As Flock cameras face growing backlash, this morning at 11:00 a.m. the House Republican Policy Committee will hold a hearing titled “Protecting the Fourth Amendment: Establishing Guardrails for Automated Surveillance.” The hearing will “examine automated license plate reader technology and its implications for public safety, privacy, and the Fourth Amendment.” The event will be live streamed here.
Preceding this at 9:00 a.m. this morning, the state House Judiciary and Transportation Committees held a “joint informational meeting on the use of Automated License Plate Reader System.” That meeting was live streamed here.
