PA House State Government — 2026-09-29

Chairwoman Hill-Evans. Here.

Brennan. Here.

Green. Designation.

Howard. Here.

Kenyatta. Designation.

Sanchez. Designation.

Waxman. Here.

Chairman Roy. Here.

Bonner. Here.

Diamond. Here.

Schaefer. Designation.

Weakneck. Designation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. House Bill 349, sponsored by Representative Bonner, would amend Title 71 to provide for the buyback of up to five years of service by members of the Pennsylvania State Police, who previously served as a municipal police officer.

A04344 is a largely technical amendment that amends the definition of municipal policeman in the bill to ensure that it encompasses all Pennsylvania municipal police service It also adds a provision clarifying that the bill does not affect pension forfeiture provisions found elsewhere in law

Thank you, Madam Chair, Chairman Roy, and distinguished members of the committee. I'll just speak briefly to the bill.

Relative to the amendment, Madam Chair, I don't have any additional comments to add, but I'll reserve my remarks for the bill itself. Thank you.

It's a good amendment. All the Republicans will be yes.

Thank you, Madam Chair. House Bill 349 will allow state troopers to purchase service time from their municipal police pension plan for up to five years of service time. And we have found it to be very difficult and competitive to recruit new hires into the Pennsylvania State Police. It's a very rigorous program, including 28 weeks of academic training in order to enforce the law. And there's great competition for law enforcement officers, not only in Pennsylvania, but across the United States. Governor Shapiro has wisely promoted in this current budget the hiring of 1,600 new troopers, which is a very challenging goal to meet in this particular environment, when many other governmental agencies are also looking to hire new police officers. So with that, the state police believe that they can be more competitive if they allow their new hires, as well as their existing troopers, to purchase up to five years of municipal police time if they served as a full-time officer in those departments. And with that background, I'd request your support for this bill. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Madam Chair. House Bill 744, sponsored by Representatives Solomon and Rigby, would prohibit a public official, a public employee, nominee, or candidate for accepting any gift, regardless of the amount. They would also not be permitted to accept non-cash gifts worth more than $50 in total from any one person in a calendar year. The bill also establishes exceptions to the gift ban and expands financial disclosure requirements.

thank you madam chair i i i pretty much familiar with this and i see that in bold on the summary that i have it says light food or refreshments such as hors d snacks desserts or baked goods in a group setting and intended for mass consumption and not intended for consumption by a specific individual I just wanted to ask if anybody can clarify this. We are often invited to a dinner like after session. And we only find sometimes it's like through another member. sometimes it's through a chairman of a committee and we don't actually find out that it's actually being paid for by someone else until like when we're at the dinner so would this bill actually disqualify us from like attending a dinner like that

Okay, thank you so much.

Yes, thanks, Chairwoman. I wanted just to address how powerful and important this first step is in reigning in the power and influence of money in Pennsylvania politics. So this is absolutely urgent. I'm a strong yes. I think many of You know I have a similar bill. This is the one to go. And I just want to make sure we say it over and over. The long list of other issues in Pennsylvania, whether it's education, health care, affordability, the things that we really need to fix for our constituents all run into the influence and power of money in Harrisburg. And there's other things we have to do, but this is a great first step to making sure that state representatives, senators, that political elected officials are representing their constituents and not the influence and the interests of very powerful money to individuals. Thank you much.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I'm pleased that this bill is being brought before this committee for a vote today. Yesterday, some colleagues and I filed a discharge resolution to make sure that we would discuss this important legislation. I agree with my colleague that one of my constituents' biggest concerns with state government, in fact, all government, is the corrupting influence of money in government. whether that influence comes by way of gifts or by way of granting processes that favor some members over others or whether it is inappropriate use of campaign funds. All of these influences of money in the political process separate the representative from the people they represent and put them in a kind of beholden position to the people who are giving gifts and donations, which I think is wrong, and we ought to be on guard against that kind of thing. I think it's important to start somewhere, and this is a good place to start, to at least discuss as an entire body, do we think it is wise to allow legislators to receive gifts, gifts, sometimes very large gifts, from people who are looking for them to vote a certain way. I don't think it's wise. Even if it's not initially corrupting, it has a potential of being corrupting. And that, I think, is concerning. I agree. This bill doesn't solve every aspect of this issue. It certainly doesn't. But it gets at it. and I do think it puts the issue in front of our constituents. Think about these things. This is what we're saying as we discuss this bill. Think about whether or not money is corrupting legislators in the state government federal government wherever it might be We want to be on guard with it There a passage in scripture to me that is often overlooked and that is when discussing church leaders, that church leaders ought to be above reproach, meaning we ought to live our lives in such a way that it's hard to accuse us of wrongdoing. I think it's reasonable to apply that same standard to elected officials. even if it's not technically illegal we ought to behave ourselves in a way that it's hard to accuse us of wrongdoing well it is easy to accuse us of wrongdoing if it's a regular part of doing business in harrisburg that we're accepting gifts from people who want us to vote a certain way so i am an enthusiastic yes on this bill and encourage my colleagues to be the same here roy

Yes, I'm happy to support this bill, too. It's a step in the right direction, and I really wish we'd see a total, you know, no corporate money in politics, because that's what really sways the representative or the senator or whoever from really doing the people's work. So this is a good step in the right direction. Let's take it even further and ban corporate donations, and let's start working for the people and have the people pick our politicians, not the other way around. So I appreciate this bill coming up. It's a great start. It doesn't even go far enough. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for calling this bill up. I support this bill. For several years, we've been kicking around a gift ban, and I think what mostly happened is just no agreement on the exact details. There's been proposals that have been very, very strict where if you pulled out a pack of gum, you couldn't even give somebody a stick of gum. And there's been other bills that the exceptions were so wide you could drive a truck through them. And I think this one's pretty good as far as the exceptions that are in here. And overall, it's just a really bad look. If a governor or a legislator gets tickets to the Super Bowl or something like that, it just looks like, oh, gee, I wonder what's supposed to come next. And it's just it's just a bad look. And hopefully this will pass unanimously. Our committee, we didn't get a chance to review this. So we're going to have to do a roll call vote. I'm hoping all the Republicans are yes. And I'm going to be a yes. I just think it's a good thing to do. And I think 100 percent of the public would agree with this, that legislators shouldn't be able to take gifts. So I hope we pass this unanimously. But but we are going to need a roll call, I think, just to make sure.

Chairwoman Hill Evans.

Representatives Boyd. Brennan.

Davidson.

Green.

Genst.

Howard.

Kenyatta.

Yes.

Yes.

Sanchez.

Waxman.

Webster.

Chairman Roy.

Representatives Banta.

Yes.

Barger.

Bonner.

Diamond.

Yes, by designation.

Yes, by designation.

Yes by designation

Yes by designation

Yes by designation

Yes by designation

Thank you, and the bill will be reported as committed.

Thank you.