PA HOUSE DEMOCRATS DISREGARD RULES IN PURSUIT OF PROGRESSIVE AGENDA
Harrisburg, PA- Upon returning to session last week, Pennsylvania House Democrats caused a legislative debacle surrounding HB300 and HB950 while members of the Pennsylvania Freedom Caucus continued the fight against the liberal agenda with every legislative ability available to them. HB300, sponsored by Democrat Rep. Malcom Kenyatta, (Philadelphia), would amend state law to create exclusive and special rights for a select few at the expense of the core constitutional freedoms of all people. The special rights created in HB300 are specifically for a protected class of sex based on “gender identity”. The bill is a complete affront to women, as it would force women and girls to give up their rights to women-only sports, shelters, and bathrooms. Additionally, the bill opens the flood gates for legal action to be taken against religious institutions, non-profits, and doctors exercising their rights of conscience.
Fearful of a lack of votes, Democrats ignored the very rules they authored and passed for the House and amended HB300 in the Appropriations Committee with substantive language long after it had already received second consideration. House Rules as dictated by the Democrats, only allow non-appropriations bills passed on second consideration to be amended only for fiscal soundness or technical drafting issues, but once again, Democrats act as if the rules don't apply to them. Democrats were able to pass HB300 out of the House with the help of two Republicans who were willing to launch women back decades and compromise our fundamental constitutional rights.
"HB300 is an attempt to redefine freedom. This bill fails to recognize the equally important rights of people with legitimately held religious beliefs, which originate through their First Amendment-ensured free exercise of religion," said PA Freedom Caucus Chair, Representative Dawn Keefer, (R- York County) "Discrimination must never be tolerated, but different does not equal discrimination. Sadly, this bill divides, rather than unites, our Commonwealth and its citizens - we're better than this." Keefer continued.
Similarly, HB950, another constitutional amendment bill, was fast tracked after receiving a statutorily required hearing that included just sixty-five seconds of testimony from the opposition. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (Philadelphia), proposes to amend the state constitution to allow union collective bargaining agreements to trump state and federal laws and the Supreme Court precedent set in Janus v. AFSCME. This dangerous amendment would also undermine laws that protect workers from harassment and lead to workplace violence.
House Democrat’s disdain for Pennsylvania’s workers was on full display when State Representative Dave Delloso (D-Delaware) called non-union workers “freeloading scabs”.
“Rep. Delloso’s reprehensible comments about the hardworking men and women who built the Commonwealth shows the true motivation behind this amendment, to pad the pockets of the government unions that line the coffers of the Democrat caucus,” said PAFC Vice Chair, Rep. David Rowe (R-Snyder), “the Pennsylvania Freedom Caucus will continue to stand with ALL workers.”
Who were the 2 traitor Republicans that voted with the Liberal Leftists? This is NOT the
Pennsylvania I remember. The people of Pennsylvania are NOT speaking up and as a result
are being run over. Because, the PA Supreme Court bowed to Fetterman, many votes
should have never been counted for him. He is incapable of doing the job. The other
US Leftists Senators baby him along like he has brains in his head.
In "standing with ALL workers", has the Pennsylvania Freedom Caucus taken a look, not only at the transcript of Shivaram Rajghopal's 6-June-2023 testimony before the [Federal] "House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs" (published, on-line, under the "Forbes" banner, with the headline "ESG Is A Response To A Broken Reporting Model"...
...but, also, HAS THE PENNSYLVANIA FREEDOM CAUCUS TAKEN A LOOK at the TEXT of the enabling [Montgomery County, Maryland] legislation which established the [former] "Enterprise Zone", in Silver Spring, Maryland (apparently, only in effect until shortly after I started raising a stink, in 2006 or 2007, or so, about the fact that:
a) the law [as I recall] defined a "full-time job", in that "Enterprise Zone" as a "25-hour/week" job, rather than as a "40-hour/week job, with benefits"; and
b) provided tax credits 1spread 10 years?] equal to 80% or so, of the INCREASE in "assessed 'fair-market value'", if a property-owner would renovate, enhance, or build on any commercial-real-estate parcel in that Zone)?
THE REASON IT MATTERS is, that, IF (as Mr. Rajghopal testifies, in the above-mentioned transcript) COMPANIES ONLY HAVE TO REPORT THE NUMBER OF FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES, rather than the wages paid to those employees (or to any other classification of employees or [MetaCapitalism-style] "gig-workers" and "independent contractors"),...
...CAN THE REPORTED STATISTICS BE RELIABLE, if Counties, in States nation-wide, should decide to pass laws that "redefine" part-time work as "full-time", as part of some local, job-creation or "pump-priming" operation or strategy?
What do the Unions have, to say, about 25-hour-per-week jobs being designated "full-time"?
What did the Unions that existed, in Montgomery County, Maryland, 1995 - 2010, actually say, at the time, regarding the Silver Spring Enterprise Zone and its enabling legislation?