Almost a month into the legislative year, the State House still has not met in session while the Senate has been working on business as usual.
The holdup in the House is because the Democrats have refused to show up, preferring to wait until three special elections are held to fill vacant seats, which they expect to go Democrat as they are all from Allegheny County.
The Speaker of the House is Mark Rozzi, who was chosen as a compromise with the support of Democrats and a few Republicans upon his pledge to switch from a registered Democrat to a registered independent, and his promise to not caucus with either party. But he has not switched and has remained aligned with the Democrats. Rozzi this week canceled the session until February 27th, twenty days after the special elections in Allegheny County.
State Representative Jim Struzzi last week signed on to a Republican-crafted letter seeking to force Rozzi to call the House into session, but it came up one signature shy of the needed number to bring House members back to Harrisburg.
The failure to open the House has jeopardized the chances of three Constitutional amendments getting onto the spring primary ballot.
Meanwhile, Struzzi emphasizes that it is “business as usual” in the 62nd District and he says he will continue to do all he can to get the doors of the House reopened again.
Comments