HARRISBURG, Nov. 17 – In a step to increase school safety for students and teachers, the PA House Communications & Technology Committee held a public hearing Monday on legislation ( H.B. 634 ) introduced by state Rep. Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz, D-Berks, that would require schools to consider implementing silent panic alarm buttons in classrooms during the annual review of their safety and security practices. The alarms would be linked directly with law enforcement responders and could be used to signal a life-threatening emergency. The legislation is modeled after “Alyssa’s Law,” named for 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, who was murdered along with 17 others in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018. In the wake of the shooting, Alyssa’s parents and fellow advocates have fought for the passage of laws to require or permit schools to install silent panic alarm buttons in classrooms. “At today’s hearing, Alyssa Alahadeff’s mother, Lori, movingly advocated for the implementation of silent panic alarms in our schools as a necessary step to prevent the unthinkable—the murder of a child in a school shooting,” said state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-Montgomery, who chairs the House Communications & Technology Committee. “At a time when it seems like there is a school shooting every day in our country, we must take concrete steps to make our schools as safe as possible. Read more

POTTSTOWN, Nov. 12 – After four months of stalemate in Harrisburg, state Rep. Paul Friel today announced that he voted for the newly passed 2025-26 Pennsylvania state budget, calling it a bipartisan and responsible compromise that delivers many results for Pennsylvania families. The budget was signed today by Gov. Josh Shapiro. “This budget isn’t perfect, but it moves Pennsylvania forward,” said Friel, D-Chester. “It puts students, working families and local communities first – while holding taxpayer-funded programs to a higher standard of accountability. I’m pleased to have voted for it. “We were able to increase basic education funding from the state by more than $100 million, special education by $40 million, and additional funds for facilities, mental health and school safety – without raising state taxes – helping take pressure off local property tax, saving local homeowners and renters money in their pockets. The budget also included this year's installment of $565 million for adequacy payments to underfunded schools, continuing to address the Commonwealth Court ruling, which required the commonwealth to address its education funding disparities.” Under this budget, the following school districts will all receive state funding increases above last year’s levels: Owen J. Roberts School District 3.7%. Phoenixville School District 2.9%. Spring-Ford Read more

HARRISBURG, Nov. 12 – After his vote to approve the 2025-26 state budget today, state Rep. Joe Ciresi said he was proud to support the budget because without raising taxes or reducing the Rainy Day Fund, it makes historic investments in education with record savings in cyber charter school funding, thanks to legislation he championed, and critical funding in mental health services in schools. Pennsylvania’s 2025-26 budget increases total funding for K-12 education by more than $700 million. A longtime champion of cyber charter school funding reform, Ciresi said he was pleased to see that there would be $178 million in cyber charter savings statewide. School districts in the 146th Legislative District alone will save $1.18 million, reflecting savings from adjusting cyber tuition to better reflect the actual costs of teaching kids. Ciresi most recently proposed significant cyber charter funding reforms in his H.B. 1372. “This budget’s record investments in public education are an investment in Pennsylvania’s future, funding more than a billion new dollars in our schools which help relieve overburdened property taxpayers,” Ciresi said. “The $100 million for school safety and mental health services for our students will help schools provide critical services to kids so they don’t slip through the cracks and help foster safe and secure learning environments.” Locally, the budget increases funding for Montgomery Read more

The Chester County Delegation sent a letter to the Pa. Department of State requesting an investigation into the poll book errors that took place Election Day 2025 in Chester County. Read more

HARRISBURG, Nov. 3 – As AI deepfakes and fabricated content proliferate across media, the PA House Communications and Technology Committee, chaired by state Rep. Joe Ciresi, held a timely informational meeting last week on the importance of maintaining digital content provenance to combat misinformation, safeguard intellectual property, and preserve consumer trust. “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,” Ciresi, D-Montgomery, said. “Misinformation spread by AI threatens the social fabric, and we need to take necessary steps to protect the public from misleading, fabricated content.” Santiago Lyon, head of Advocacy and Education for the Content Authenticity Initiative, gave a presentation to the committee on how technology can be used to combat misinformation and what leaders in the industry are doing to allow for the labeling and identification of AI-generated or modified content. “At Adobe, we believe transparency is essential to trust in the age of AI,” said Lyon. “As AI becomes a more powerful creative tool, people deserve to know the origins of the content they see online and how it’s made. That’s why we’re proud to work with industry partners, policymakers and creators to advance open standards that protect creative rights, encourage greater Read more

Pennsylvania’s budget impasse is only the newest matter of life or death facing the thousands of people confronted with domestic violence across our commonwealth. The state budget, even during an impasse, helps fund what we typically associate with public safety – police and emergency services on the street – but the just-as-important groups that lose all their funding during an impasse are our rape crisis and domestic violence support centers across Pennsylvania. Administered in all 67 counties, Pennsylvania’s nonprofit coalitions that support abuse survivors with intervention, counseling, rehousing, legal services and medical advocacy save countless lives. They help victims become survivors and are vital to the administration of our good public health. In Pennsylvania, one person dies every three days in an act of domestic violence. Domestic violence homicides disproportionately affect women, with firearms being the most common method of killing. Knowing all this firsthand while watching lifesaving services be cut off during the impasse literally keeps Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence CEO Susan Higginbotham up at night. She told me so while pleading with legislators in their Harrisburg offices – in October – to end the 2025-26 state budget impasse so that PCADV and groups like it can continue providing crisis support for people in harm’s way. Domestic violence programs are struggling to borrow Read more

HARRISBURG, Oct. 28 – The state House Tourism, Recreation and Economic Development Committee today advanced a bill to train Pennsylvania employees of hotels, motels, online lodging and reservation companies, and other establishments to identify and report signs of human trafficking. House Bill 1286, sponsored by state Rep. Regina Young, D-Phila./Delaware, would provide for mandatory human trafficking awareness training for Pennsylvania workers in the hospitality industry, including online lodging and reservation companies. “We’ve heard loud and clear for years now that one of the best ways to combat human trafficking is to increase training and awareness with the people who are most likely to notice it,” Young said. “I’m glad that for the first time we’re including online reservation sites for short- and long-term lodging in this legislation, as that has become an identified way of avoiding visual contact. I’m thankful for this committee taking the time to hold a public hearing about this in my district and that powerful testimony moving us to a positive vote today. Human trafficking is an evil across Pennsylvania that we can defeat by shining a light on the warning signs and indications of danger.” A hearing was held on the bill earlier this month in Essington. Testimony can be watched at https://youtube.com/live/MoNweqGt3eo . The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts in Read more

HARRISBURG, Oct. 22 – The Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee today approved a joint resolution sponsored by state Reps. Danielle Friel Otten, D-Chester, Liz Hanbidge, D-Montgomery, and La’Tasha D. Mayes, D-Allegheny, that would add a Reproductive Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania constitution. The proposed legislation, introduced as H.B. 1957 , comes at a pivotal moment in the national conversation on reproductive rights. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the authority to regulate reproductive health care has shifted to individual states, prompting a wave of legislative and voter-led efforts across the country. In response, voters in states such as Ohio, Michigan, Vermont and California have approved constitutional amendments or ballot initiatives to enshrine reproductive rights in their state constitutions. These actions reflect a growing recognition that state-level protections are now essential to safeguarding access to abortion and other reproductive health care. Pennsylvania’s proposed amendment seeks to join this national movement by ensuring reproductive freedom is permanently enshrined in the state constitution. The Otten, Hanbidge and Mayes bill proposes an amendment to the Pennsylvania constitution that would reaffirm and protect every Pennsylvanian’s right to privacy and ensure that the state shall not deny or Read more

HARRISBURG, Oct. 22 – The Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee today held a public hearing on a proposed state constitutional amendment (H.B.1957), followed by a voting meeting to advance significant women’s health measures designed to protect medical privacy, strengthen reproductive freedom and safeguard health care providers and patients from out-of-state interference. The committee heard testimony from advocates, medical professionals and policy experts on H.B. 1957, which would enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution, and the members voted on other women’s health legislation, including the following House bills sponsored by Women’s Health Caucus Co-Chair Mary Jo Daley and state Rep. Melissa Shusterman . H.B. 1640 – Would protect health care records related to reproductive services from disclosure in Pennsylvania civil and criminal actions or investigations, ensuring patient confidentiality. H.B. 1641 – Would instruct insurance companies to not take adverse action against health care providers that offer reproductive services to out-of-state residents. H.B. 1643 – Would prohibit Pennsylvania courts from enforcing judgments from other states in cases involving reproductive health care services, preserving Pennsylvania’s legal independence. H.B. 1966 – Would prohibit Pennsylvania courts from cooperating with out-of-state civil and criminal cases involving reproductive Read more

HARRISBURG, Oct. 17 – A bill, H.B. 1926, prohibiting trespassing with a drone was introduced this week by state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-Montgomery. The bill would strengthen criminal trespass laws in Pennsylvania. “Although state law in Pennsylvania forbids someone from physically trespassing on another person’s property, it has not been adapted to include the use of drone technology,” Ciresi said. “My legislation would update state laws to prohibit trespass by drone, bringing Pennsylvania in line with other states such as Utah and Virginia , which already expressly prohibit it.” Ciresi was alerted to the issue by a constituent whose property had been repeatedly trespassed by a drone and found that the local police had difficulty filing charges because of limitations in existing state law. House Bill 1926 would prohibit the use of a drone if a person uses it to enter or remain over the property of another person with the intention of coercing, intimidating or causing annoyance, damaging property, or defying an order to leave or not enter the property as presented to the offender by the owner of the property, another authorized person or a law enforcement officer. “This bill would update state law to account for proliferation of the use of drones and hold bad actors accountable when they misuse this technology,” Ciresi said. Read more