March 2022 recap

The focus this month was on the upcoming 2022 elections as candidates for the PA House and PA Senate had just 10 days to circulate nominating petitions to get on the May 17^th primary election ballot. Candidates typically have approximately 3 weeks to secure enough signatures to get on the ballot. In PA, state House candidates need to get at least 300 signatures and state Senate candidates need at least 500 signatures. The timeline was condensed this year due to the legal battle surrounding the implementation of new district boundaries.

The makeup of the PA Legislature is going to be very different in 2023. We are now up to 37 legislators who have announced that they will not run for their current position. Also, with other candidates having filed their intentions to run for office, there will be at least 43 primary elections in which a sitting legislator is facing one or more contenders. Three of those primaries have an incumbent facing another incumbent – Rep John Hershey (R-Juniata) vs Rep Perry Stambaugh (R-Perry); Rep Ryan Mackenzie (R-Lehigh) vs Rep Gary Day (R-Lehigh); and, Rep Pam Delissio (D-Philadelphia) vs Rep Chris Rabb (D-Philadelphia). Several members of House and Senate Republican leadership will have primary opponents, including House Appropriations Chairman Stan Saylor (R-York).

The Senate Finance Committee has announced a public hearing on Wednesday, April 20 at 10am to discuss the Commonwealth’s Film Tax Credit Program. The hearing will be live-streamed online, but Zoom participation will not be available. Please contact PAFIA if you are interested in attending the hearing in-person for additional details as there are room capacity limitations. The link to watch the hearing online will be shared with PAFIA members closer to the hearing date.