Dear Friends,
As we enter the final year of the 2025-2026 legislative session, I want to take this week and next to give you a consolidated status update on some of the bills I have been working on for the first half of this two-year session. While I have addressed many of them in my weekly emails over the last year, I want to provide an update on legislation I’ve introduced to improve the lives of folks in our community and across the commonwealth. This week, I will discuss bills that have passed the House and await a vote in the Senate.
You’ll recall that, in Pennsylvania, bills are introduced by a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate. After introduction, a bill is assigned to a committee where staff and lawmakers review it, hold hearings if needed, and choose whether it should be amended or advance in its original form. Once bills are approved in committee, they are debated and voted though the full House or Senate chamber and are typically amended on second consideration before third and final passage. Bills require a majority vote to pass.
Once a bill passes in one chamber, it then moves to the other chamber of the General Assembly, where the same review, debate, and voting process takes place. If both the House and Senate approve the same version, the bill will be sent to the Governor. The Governor may sign it into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without a signature. If vetoed, the legislature can override the veto with a two-thirds vote, after which the law takes effect on the date specified or, if none is listed, 60 days later. If a bill is amended by the second chamber, it returns to the first for concurrence on the amendments before going to the Governor. So far this session, 60 bills have become law. Of the 282 bills that have passed the House, 48 have seen action in the Senate and, of those, 47 became law (one was re-referred).
Eight of my bills have passed the House and one has become law. I was fortunate that House Bill 378 passed the House and Senate early last year 252-1, to become Act 11 of 2025. Act 11 updates the Domestic Relations Code to reorganize and streamline the custody factors judges must consider, reducing the list from 16 to 11 by combining overlapping considerations while keeping the core protections for children intact. The goal was to make custody decisions clearer, more consistent, and easier for courts and families to understand while retaining a strong emphasis on child safety. Act 11 also adds a transparency measure by requiring courts to provide parties with a written copy of the custody factors early in the case, helping litigants better understand how decisions will be made.
Children’s Literacy Program – HB 1663
I introduced HB 1663 to strengthen literacy support across the commonwealth by funding the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program. Launched in 1995, the Imagination Library provides free, age-appropriate books to children from birth to age five, mailed directly to their homes each month. The program has a strong track record, with 42 independent studies showing positive impacts on family reading habits, kindergarten readiness, and early grade reading achievement.
The need for early literacy support in Pennsylvania is clear. In 2024, 44.2% of third graders and 48.6% of fourth graders scored at the “basic” or “below basic” level in reading on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, signaling significant academic challenges. At the same time, nearly half of public schools report teacher vacancies in special education and elementary grades, further straining early learning environments. Expanding access to proven programs like the Imagination Library can help address these challenges by building strong literacy foundations before children enter school, protecting and enhancing the considerable investment we make in children’s k-12 education.
HB 1663 was amended in the House on second consideration to establish the Pennsylvania Children’s Literacy Program, ensuring that other providers offering similar matching programs for children from birth to age five can also qualify for funding. The bill passed the House on third consideration 116–87 and is currently under review in the Senate Education Committee.
Protecting Children When Custody Orders are Modified – HB 1412
I co-sponsored HB 1412 with Rep. Melissa Shusterman (D-Chester) to better protect children from repeated and unnecessary custody litigation. Under current Pennsylvania law, a parent may petition to modify a custody order by claiming the existing arrangement is no longer in the child’s best interest, without having to show that circumstances have meaningfully changed. As a result, some parents repeatedly file modification petitions after unfavorable rulings, forcing children back into court time and again. In extreme cases, families accumulate hundreds or even thousands of docket filings, leaving their children perpetually entangled in litigation.
HB 1412 would address this problem by requiring a parent seeking to modify a custody order to demonstrate a material change in circumstances since the prior order was entered. This standard would help limit repetitive filings while still preserving judicial discretion where it matters most. Importantly, the bill ensures courts can continue to modify custody orders when there are allegations of abuse or when a judge determines that a change is necessary to protect the best interests of the child, even if no material change in circumstances has been shown.
Protecting Residents of Manufactured Home Communities – HB 1250
I introduced HB 1250 after hearing about residents being priced out of their homes when private equity firms buy manufactured home communities and sharply raise lot rents. Manufactured home communities are not a niche housing option. They are a cornerstone of affordable homeownership in Pennsylvania, serving more than 55,000 households across the commonwealth, including families right here in our area. For many residents, these homes represent their largest investment and are an important path to stable housing.
HB 1250 would take direct aim at predatory practices by placing reasonable limits on rent increases and strengthening protections for manufactured home residents, while still respecting the legitimate rights of community owners. The bill is about fairness and stability, ensuring that families are not forced from their homes simply because ownership has changed hands. Although questions have been raised in past sessions about constitutionality, courts have consistently upheld consumer protection laws like this as a proper use of the legislature’s police powers. HB 1250 passed the House with strong bipartisan support 144–59 and is now awaiting consideration in the Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee.
Reducing Photocopying Fee’s for Next-of-Kin – HB 937
A 2018 law change instituted by the General Assembly means that we now require individuals who have lost family members to pay a $500 photocopying fee for an autopsy report, a $100 photocopying fee for a toxicology report, and a $100 photocopying fee for a coroner’s report. A local resident made me aware of the undue burden of these costs on grieving families seeking answers about the death of a close loved one. It sickens me that counties are required to charge greiving family members such exorbinent amounts for photocopies of existing reports.
House Bill 937 would revert the photocopying fee for the next-of-kin of a deceased person back to the previous amount allowed before the 2018 law change. It would allow coroners to charge no more than $100 for photocopying an autopsy report, $50 for a toxicology report, and $50 for a coroner’s report. Burying a loved one is often heartrending. While we can do nothing to alleviate that pain, we can help by reducing these families’ financial burden while they seek answers and closure. My bill passed on a nearly party-line vote, with two of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle voting for it. It is currently in the Senate Local Government Committee.
Protecting Access to Pre-K Counts – HB 1505
HB 1505 would ensure that Pennsylvania’s youngest learners can continue to access high-quality Pre-K education through Pre-K Counts. Pre-K Counts is a statewide program designed to ensure quality pre-kindergarten education is accessible to economically disadvantaged 3- and 4-year-olds in Pennsylvania. Pre-K Counts has served nearly 27,000 children across the state through funding grants to various eligible entities that provide Pre-K services, such as school districts, licensed childcare facilities, private licensed nursery schools, and most notably, Head Start. Under current law, Pre-K Counts programs cannot be run by IUs without a connected Head Start Program. House Bill 1505 would remove that requirement, guaranteeing that IUs can continue offering Pre-K Counts if Head Start is suspended or defunded. Nationally, Head Start provides essential pre-kindergarten programming to over 750,000 children and families each year, however, recent federal budget proposals and administrative downsizing have threatened its long-term sustainability. Without this law change, as many as 2,500 children could lose access to essential early learning opportunities. This bill passed the House and is currently in the Senate Education Committee.
Correcting an Omission to Ensure Child & Dependant Care Tax Credits are Available to All Qualifying Families – HB 1534
In 2023, Pennsylvania took a huge step forward in making childcare more affordable for working families by expanding the child and dependent care enhancement tax credit. Now, families can receive an amount equal to 100% of their federal credit, which helps offset the rising costs of childcare for parents and caregivers who otherwise wouldn’t be able to go to work. Unfortunately, one group has been mistakenly left out: those who are not able to receive the federal child and dependent care tax credit because of their participation in a dependent care FSA. Money put into a dependent care FSA doesn’t count toward taxable income and provides another convenient option for paying childcare expenses that has benefited many families. Because our state credit is linked to the federal credit on the state tax form, these working parents are unable to receive the state credit. House Bill 1534 would fix that issue and would allow all Pennsylvanians equal access to the tax credit, regardless of their federal tax planning. This bill passed the House and currently sits in the Senate Finance Committee.
Reproductive Rights Amendment – HB 1957
Last month we took the first steps in moving a constitutional amendment that would allow Pennsylvanians to decide whether access to contraception, fertility care and abortion should be a protected right in the commonwealth. I introduced H.B. 1957, along with Reps. Danielle Friel Otten and La’Tasha D. Mayes, to protect reproductive freedom and ensure that decisions about personal health care remain private and free from government interference.
While the Pennsylvania constitution already provides protections against sex discrimination – and our state Supreme Court has affirmed that restricting access to abortion is a form of sex discrimination – it’s time to make it unmistakably clear: reproductive freedom, including access to contraception, fertility care and abortion, is a protected right in this commonwealth. This amendment would ensure that those rights are no longer left vulnerable to political interpretation or attack.
Should any of these bills be of particular interest or meaning to you, I hope you’ll reach out to your state senator and ask that they write a letter, copying you, to their leadership and the committee chair asking that the bill be run, and that you consider reaching out to your senator by phone. You can also find a list of committee chairs here, should you be inclined to advocate to the chairs directly about specific bills. Thank you for your advocacy and I look forward to sharing more progress with you on these bills and others over the course of this year.