April 15, 2026 · LOCAL GOVERNMENT · 1,173 words · 19 speakers · 45 segments
Thank you. Thank you. www.themat pizza.it and Good morning, everyone. I'd like to call this meeting of the House Local Government Committee to order. We will begin with a call of the roll.
Christina, Councilman, please call the roll. Sure.
Chairman Freeman.
Here. Representative Sporowski.
Designation. Donahue.
I believe designation. Fleming.
Designation. Haddock.
Designation. Oh, you are here. Sorry.
Hambridge Present Kazim Designation Madsen Designation Monroe Here Probst Designation Procopiac Here Salisbury Designation Sappy Here Smith Designation Chairman Miller Here Representative Zbanta?
Here.
Cooper? Fink? Jones?
By designation.
Kozak?
By designation.
Kuzma?
By designation.
Reichard?
By designation.
Rincavige?
By designation.
Watro?
Present.
Weakneck?
Here.
Wendling?
Quorum being present, we can proceed. Our next order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance. If everyone would please rise, and I'd ask Chairman Miller to lead us in the pledge. Thank you, Chairman Miller. We will next go on to our legislation to be considered. Today we have three resolutions. I don't think any of them are really controversial, and I don't anticipate we will have to spend a whole lot of time going through them, but we'll go through the resolutions. The first one to be brought up is House Resolution 431, sponsored by Representative Guzman, and I will bring that up and ask John Costelli to please give an overview or a summary of the resolution.
okay house resolution 431 sponsored by representative guzman would designate march 11th 2026 as berks county 274th anniversary day in pennsylvania and would commend the residents leaders and organizations of berks county whose contributions make it a vibrant and welcoming place to live work and raise a family okay we do have an amendment to it just a clarifying
amendment, I will call that up. Amendment A-02856, which I am sponsoring and ask Mr. Costelli
to please give us an overview. Okay, the amendment A-02856 offered by Chairman Freeman would revise the resolution to designate the period of March 11, 2026 through March 11, 2027 as Berks County 275th anniversary year. And really the resolution was intended to kick off the anniversary year. And we felt since the date had passed for the original designation of March 11th, it made more sense to make the whole anniversary year. And this amendment is acceptable to the prime sponsor.
Thank you for that summary Are there any questions regarding the amendment Seeing none we proceed with the vote Is a voice vote okay with the exception of those who are voting no we recognize them All those in favor of the amendment, please signify by saying aye.
Aye.
Are there any negative votes on the amendment? None? Okay. Unanimously passes. We will now proceed to the resolution in question, House Resolution 431. and we will now call the question does the committee wish to report the resolution to the floor all those in favor please signify by saying I'm sorry is there any debate or questions I meant to open that to seeing none okay we'll proceed to the vote all those in favor of reporting the resolution please signify by saying aye aye any opposed one nay representative Wendy Fink okay our next order of business Oh, I thought, I'm sorry, I thought we had him. Oh, sorry about that. He has been added to the master roll call, or the roll call, rather. Okay, our next order of business is House Resolution 455 by Representative Rader. I would like to bring that up at this time and call upon Kyle Schaefer to please give an overview of the resolution.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. H.R. 455 by Representative Rader recognizes the week of April 19th through April 25th, 2026 as National Library Week in Pennsylvania.
Is there any discussion regarding the resolution? Being a big fan of libraries, I encourage a yes vote, but it's up to you, obviously. All those in favor of reporting the resolution, please signify by saying aye.
Aye.
Any negative votes? Representative Fink will be recorded in the negative. That brings us to the last resolution, House Resolution 465. I'm the chairman, or the prime sponsor, rather, designating local government day and local government week. And I'll call upon Mr. Castelli to please give us a summary of the resolution.
Okay, House Resolution 465, sponsored by Chairman Freeman, would designate the week of April 13th through the 17th, 2026, as Local Government Week, and April 22nd, 2026, as Local Government Day in Pennsylvania. And the resolution would further commend and thank local government officials for their labor and significant contributions to the Commonwealth as the unsung heroes of government.
Are there any questions regarding the resolution? I think it's very appropriate that this committee recognizes the contribution of our local government officials and employees that keep a lot of the government work here in the Commonwealth running effectively and efficiently We do have members of the Boroughs Association Did you want to make any comment Ron Grezza?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for bringing up this important resolution, recognizing the hard work that all of our not only borough officials, but township supervisors, township commissioners, city council persons. They do amazing work day in and day out serving their communities. So we, again, thank you for bringing this forward and urge an affirmative vote. Thank you.
Thank you. Any comment or questions? Chairman Miller.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm pleased to be a co-prime with Chairman Freeman on this local government. resolution, and I know there's a number of members here in this committee who has served in local government, and for my part as well. I know the work that the folks do, and for that, I just personally want to say thank you. And I thought it would be fitting at least to read one section of this resolution into the record. On page 2, line 10, it says, whereas local government stands as the level of government closest to the people, positioning itself as a keystone to our democracy and political system, and whereas Local Government Week and Local Government Day focused attention on the need for a strong, independent, and responsive local government in this Commonwealth and recognized the valuable contributions made by residents serving their communities. And it goes on. But truly, these servants are to be recognized and thanked for their work. So I urge a yes vote as well.
I thank the chairman for his comments, and we indeed are grateful for the work of our local government officials and employees. I also want to note for the record that the resolution was requested by the Department of Community and Economic Development on behalf of the Governor's Center for Local Government Services. Are there any other comments or debate regarding it? Seeing none, all those in favor of reporting the resolution, please signify by saying aye.
Aye.
Any opposed? One negative vote by Representative Fink. Okay, that concludes our agenda for today. I thank the members for their attendance, and I'll move to adjourn.
Thank you.