Harrisburg is leaving work undone

HARRISBURG HAS BEEN FLUSH with work to do in 2026. Legislators in Pennsylvania, like those in the federal government, do not function in a single-year calendar. They work in two-year cycles as the House of Representatives resets each midterm. Because of that, there is a sunset for proposed legislation. It must be passed before the end of session or the process must start over with new lawmakers. State legislators proposed a lot of laws over the past two years. In the House, the 203 representatives introduced 2,734 bills. They include everything from a requirement for specialized smoke evacuation systems for operating rooms to establishing a database for public utility rates. In the Senate, the 50 senators introduced 1,360 bills, ranging from nursing licensure to displaying the preamble to the U.S. Constitution in schools. About 150 became law. Only one of the examples above — the smoke systems — passed and was signed. For the mathematically minded, that’s about 4%. But law isn’t math, so maybe the percentage doesn’t matter. People could introduce all manner of bills that should never be law. Maybe not passing them is a good thing. But the real problem isn’t how many bills failed. It’s the important issues lawmakers left unresolved. Yes, the General Assembly took action on banning cellphones in schools and Gov. Josh Shapiro signed that this week. With the midterms just days away, a lot that needed to get done was not completed. Where is the fix to the skill games issue that pulled machines out of businesses and clubs and prevents an estimated $2 billion in revenue from being collected? Where is the action on data centers, an issue that is so much larger in impact and regulation than local governments can handle alone? Where is clarification on sentencing guidelines for second-degree murder, something that leaves inmates and judges in limbo? These are just a few of the issues lawmakers should be addressing. In not finishing the work before the session ends, they are abdicating the job only they can do. The people have appealed to them for help. The courts have outlined what must be done legislatively in some cases, like the skill games and sentencing.