Our community always steps up + Aqua proposed merger

Rep. Joseph Ciresi November 7, 2025 | 2:11 PM

Dear Neighbor,

It has been amazing to witness volunteers and businesses across the state step up to help feed their neighbors in need.

Our office has taken up a non-perishable food collection, which will be distributed equally between Project Outreach (Royersford) and the Cluster (Pottstown). Thank you to everyone who has already contributed!

At no point in SNAP’s history – until this month – have payments been missed. According to the Associated Press, a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration Thursday to find the money to fully fund SNAP benefits for November, a decision that the administration promptly appealed.

Our office in Royersford is open Monday – Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Aqua merger proposed

I strongly oppose the proposed merger of Essential Utilities (Aqua) and Pennsylvania American Water. If approved, this merger will impact 4.7 million customers across 17 states and will likely accomplish little to slow-rising utility prices for my constituents.

As your state rep since 2019, I have witnessed the economic harm caused by Act 12 (approved by the Legislature in 2016). In Limerick Township, where I live, water and wastewater rates increased 19 percent last year. In 2022, Aqua received a rate increase, raising water rates by 10 percent and wastewater rates by 50 percent. The private, for-profit company also received an increase in 2019, increasing water rates by nearly 10 percent and wastewater by nearly 35 percent.

The frequency and percentage of these increases cannot become the new normal. This is water, after all!

Patrick Cicero, former Consumer Advocate and current attorney with the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, estimates that $1 billion has been added to the utility rate base since the passage of Act 12 – about $100 million more per year. I am a co-sponsor of House Bill 1954, which would enact a one-year moratorium on any new sales of public water or wastewater systems.

Stay tuned for opportunities to offer public comment and testimony on this proposed merger. I will be contacting the Public Utility Commission and Governor’s office in the coming days to push back on this merger.

LIHEAP Update

Gov. Josh Shapiro and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission have secured commitments from utility companies operating in the state that they will not turn off heat or electricity in November for LIHEAP-eligible Pennsylvanians impacted by the federal government shutdown.

This commitment will protect people who receive home-heating assistance from the federal government and bridge the gap until the regular moratorium on utility shutoffs begins in December. The start of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program has been delayed due to the federal shutdown and Republican inaction in Washington, D.C.

Pennsylvanians who need immediate assistance should connect with a utility assistance program.

PUC Suggestions for Heating Bills

Due to rising costs, weather and uncertainty/delays with federal assistance programs like LIHEAP, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) is urging consumers to act now if they are worried about winter heating bills. Here’s a checklist from the PUC on what you can do to prepare and stay connected to essential utility services.

House Communications & Technology Committee discusses AI transparency and digital content provenance

As Majority Chair of the House Communications & Technology Committee, I am taking the lead in the legislature to develop legislation that will protect and empower Pennsylvanians regarding new technologies.

One of the big topics we are dealing with this term is artificial intelligence. As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly sophisticated, it’s getting harder for consumers of digital content to tell what’s real and what was generated or altered.

Misinformation spread by AI threatens society so we need to take necessary steps to protect the public from misleading, fabricated content.

Last week, we held an informational meeting on the importance of maintaining digital content provenance to combat misinformation, safeguard intellectual property, and preserve consumer trust.

With AI developing and spreading at a rapid pace, it’s more important than ever for there to be easy, standardized ways for content creators to verify the work they make and for users to be able to confidently tell what’s real and what was digitally altered.

In the meeting, we were encouraged to learn from Santiago Lyon, head of Advocacy and Education for the Content Authenticity Initiative that companies’ innovative use of metadata to label content provides a way for consumers to tell what content was or wasn’t generated or edited using AI. This knowledge would both empower and protect the average internet consumer from misinformation.

The meeting was the third that the House Communications and Technology Committee held on AI this term.

Route 422 updates

Motorists are advised of the following travel restrictions:

Monday, November 10, through Monday, December 1, Sanatoga Road will be closed and detoured between Linfield Road and High Street for demolition of the westbound side of the bridge over U.S. 422. Motorists will be directed to use High Street, Evergreen Road, and Linfield Road.

Monday, November 10, through Friday, November 14, from 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM, lane closures will be in place on westbound U.S. 422 between the Sanatoga (Evergreen Road) and Armand Hammer Boulevard interchanges for roadway reconstruction.

Monday, November 10, through Friday, November 14, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, lane closures will be in place on eastbound U.S. 422 between the Armand Hammer Boulevard and Sanatoga (Evergreen Road) interchanges for roadway reconstruction.

Motorists are advised to allow extra time when traveling near or through the work areas because backups and delays will occur. All scheduled activities are weather dependent.