Dear Friends,
I want to begin by reflecting on the tragic events that unfolded in Minnesota this past week. My heart goes out to the families of Representative Hortman and Senator Hoffman, and to the communities they so faithfully served. Politically motivated violence, against any person or party, is an attack on all of us and on the very foundation of our democracy. There is no place for violence in our schools, our places of worship, our streets, or in our democracy.
Representative Melissa Hortman’s children released a statement expressing their loss and thanking law enforcement. They commented, “hope and resilience are the enemy of fear... Hold your loved ones a little closer. Love your neighbors. Treat each other with kindness and respect. The best way to honor our parents' memory is to do something… to make our community just a little better for someone else.” Representative Hortman is widely considered one of the most influential Speakers in Minnesota history. In 2023, she was instrumental in passing legislation referred to as the “Minnesota Miracle” which expanded early childhood education, increased public school funding and special education support, set clean energy goals by 2040, strengthened voter access and worker protections, increased the state’s earned income tax credit and child tax credits, made affordable housing more available, enshrined women’s bodily autonomy, instituted paid family leave, and invested in rural broadband and mental healthcare access. She worked across the aisle in a bipartisan fashion in a deeply divided legislature with very tight majorities. Her work was instrumental in ensuring that school-aged children in Minnesota have access to free breakfast and lunch if they need it: her efforts ensured that food security became a classroom right for tens of thousands of children.
While the recent events in Minnesota are unspeakable and tragic, they give us all cause to pause and reflect on things that are said or done which impact the potential for violence around us and how we can all do our part in defusing violence. As a caucus, my colleagues have been discussing things which we feel increase the risk of violence and one which always strikes me is the othering and dehumanizing of those with different viewpoints or cultures. While making allegations intended to incite passionate or vitriolic responses in others is typically free and protected speech, it doesn’t make it a good idea, nor is it free from consequences. I’ve seen it here in the House, and notwithstanding the obvious safety risks involved, taking cheap shots at others doesn’t further us as a society or make for good governance. I hope all of us in the House and Senate reflect on the impact our words have on others, and that all of us, no matter our role in democracy, will take a moment to look at how our social media and conversations with others further or detract from us having fair, peaceful, and free society.
On a brighter note, I’m please to share that one of my bills, HB 1250, which seeks to protect residents of manufactured home communities from financial exploitation passed the House last week with strong bipartisan support (144-59) and now makes its way to the Senate!
Since I was elected State Representative, I have introduced legislation similar to HB 1250 in each of the terms I have served, and it has been met with various obstacles along the way. I have been working with various groups to ensure that this a strong bill, and will make a significant impact for residents of manufactured home communities. As you may recall, manufactured home communities are essential to Pennsylvania’s affordable housing infrastructure, providing homeownership options for more than 55,000 households. As I told my colleagues, there are manufactured home communities in every corner of the commonwealth, including two here in the 61st District.
While manufactured homes make home ownership a reality for many, private investors are now acquiring the property on which manufactured homes are placed and drastically increasing lot rental costs. While some might imagine that it’s possible for someone in a manufactured home to move it to another location, the vast majority of such homes would cost tens of thousands of dollars to move and doing so would risk the structural integrity of the home. Since residents own their home but not the land on which it sits means that while manufactured homes make the dream of homeownership attainable for many Pennsylvanians, the way this specific form of home ownership is structured puts buyers at risk of financial exploitation.
Across the commonwealth, various communities are seeing exorbitant rate increases, and ultimately making financial decisions difficult for families. In authoring this bill, I have heard from many people from across the commonwealth that this form of price gouging is forcing them to make choices between paying the lot rent or paying for essentials like medication or food. As I hear the stories of lot increases of 67%, 89%, 102%, 104%, 105%, I don’t know how anybody can take the side of private investors who are taking advantage of our seniors, veterans, persons with disabilities, widows, and others who essentially trapped in their situation because rents are too high for anyone to sell, it is too expensive to move their home, or because they cannot find another community to move to. Ask yourself the choices you’d have to make if the cost of living in your home went up 60%, 80%, 120%.
In an increasingly unaffordable housing market, this bill protects those in manufactured housing communities and seeks to provide stability. I remain hopeful that this bill will start further conversations about making housing affordable and attainable for those living and serving our communities, as well as protecting vulnerable populations at risk of financial exploitation.
As a legislature, we do have the opportunity to protect consumers from price gouging. Laws like HB 1250 are a form of price regulation where the legislature can act to protect consumers. Courts have found such legislation to be an appropriate exercise of the legislature’s police powers to protect consumers.
I am very appreciative of my House colleagues on both sides of the aisle who supported this bill and I hope this bill continues along the legislative process. It is very unusual to have so many Republicans speak in the chamber on a Democrat-led initiative and I am honored that so many of my colleagues stood in support of this bill and their constituents living in these communities. I hope this means the Senate will give this bill fair consideration. While I have heard a few grumbles from some Republican senators, I sincerely hope the bipartisan nature of the bill’s passage in the House will give it a fair shot. Please contact your senators and urge them to call this bill up for a vote and to support it. If you live in North Wales Borough, Upper Gwynedd or Towamencin Townships, Senator Tracy Pennycuick represents you. If you are in Lower Gwynedd or Whitpain Townships, Senator Maria Collett represents you. If you have friends you think would be interested in contacting their representatives and senators to ask them to support this bill, they can write them directly through this link: Take Action and write to them here!
As budget negotiations continue, I will continue to keep you informed on what bills are advancing through the legislative process.