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themollusk OP t1_j0bs6jv wrote

Reply to comment by cashonlyplz in Pennsylvania Rep. Cutler moved $50M from Speaker's account; Democrats cry foul by themollusk

But due to the Democrats not having official control for a few weeks/months into the new season, Cutler is almost certain to be elected speaker on the 3rd and the GOP will use their short term majority to ram through the amendment package onto the May primary ballot.

  • Abortion ban.
  • End of no excuse mail voting.
  • End statewide elections for the supreme court, and have them elected via politically drawn districts. Read: gerrymandered.
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cashonlyplz t1_j0cbpfw wrote

Prediction: The Senate won't pass that because they can't override the inevitable veto from Wolf. It has pass the legislature, which means not merely the House. there is still time for the GOP controlled legislature to do this, apparently. It does not ever see the governor's desk.

Small good news is Cutler will not be speaker in '23. He will be a minority whip.

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themollusk OP t1_j0cl1v3 wrote

Governor has no say whatsoever in the amendment process. That's the entire reason why the state GOP has been machine gunning amendments the last few years is because they can't override a veto. So instead, they package unpopular legislation as amendments specifically because it cuts out the governor's office.

They abused this process to strip the governor's emergency powers, and now they're working on abortion, mail in voting, and gerrymandering the state supreme court. Dave Argall, chairman of the Senate government committee, had also made it clear that the GOP intends to use constitutional amendments to skirt around the governor and ban property taxes.

If the GOP holds a majority in both houses for even a slight bit of time during the upcoming session, they will push the amendment package through. All they need to do is have it pass both the house and senate one more time and then they can put it on a statewide vote. They want this on the May primary ballot because it's the most advantageous for them.

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cashonlyplz t1_j0cxquq wrote

Dang, I didn't realize the Amendment process was that convoluted. Welp, we better not let up, then. Time to harangue, now more than ever.

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themollusk OP t1_j0d8xnz wrote

And the extra pisser about the process?

It only requires 50%+1 vote during each step. Compare that to amending the US Constitution: 66% of both the House and Senate, and then 75% of the states. It's amazingly simple to amend Pennsylvania's constitution, especially so when you have an artificially created majority that isn't representative of the actual people who live in this state.

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cashonlyplz t1_j0gkfkn wrote

Some good news, I guess, care of Stephen Caruso.

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themollusk OP t1_j0gpj2y wrote

Holy shit, that's one spicy meatball!

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cashonlyplz t1_j0gxlh9 wrote

Gotta love when election denialism causes the system to deny the certification of people who ran on or friendly to the idea of denying the results elections.

F*cking golden.

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Illustrious_Air_1438 t1_j0gwq7f wrote

This was partly due to poor strategy on the Democrats' part. Austin Davis and Summer Lee simultaneously ran for higher office and the state house, won both, and now have to vacate their seat in the state house. If they had chosen just one office to run for, the House would have been 101-101 at this point.

However, I still question the ability of Republicans to pass their amendments. They cannot afford any defections, assuming that all 99 Democrats stay united, and I think there may be a few Republicans in the Philly suburbs who are unwilling to support these amendments.

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