The bill to establish a fair and reasonable way to draw state legislative districts is dead. The Republican leadership and Republican lawmakers in the state House of Representatives killed it. Since the 2020 census will be used to draw the new lines, and since a constitutional amendment must be passed by two sessions of the legislature and then passed in a referendum, this means we are stuck with the current system for another 10 years, until 2030.
The fair districts bill, HB722, had the support of a majority of legislators. Amazingly, House Speaker Turzai, who refused to hold hearings on the bill or allow it to be discussed, now blames the Democrats for the bill going down.
He was aided and abetted by a number of Republicans, some from our area. In the Senate, Dave Argall, who always pretends to be reasonable and moderate, was not a co-sponsor. In the House my own Representative Doyle Heffley never signed on as a co-sponsor.
I’m not surprised at Heffley. Even though a clear majority of his constituents favor districts that are fairly drawn, Heffley himself has benefited from the Republican gerrymander. If there is a bill to improve Pennsylvania, Heffley will invariably oppose its passage, although he will always have some lame excuse to explain his vote.
No comments:
Post a Comment