PITTSBURGH, Pa. (PPTP) – Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Mark Rozzi finished up his statewide listening tour this week with stops in State College and Wilkes-Barre. The tour, which had its first two stops in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia last week, sought public input on how to overcome partisan gridlock in the state legislature.
“I refuse to continue to do the same thing and expect different results,” Rozzi said in Pittsburgh last Wednesday. “Instead, I want to do something that my colleagues may consider radical, and that is: I want to hear directly from the people of Pennsylvania.”
Speaker Rozzi pledged in Jan., that “the House will consider no other legislation” until it passes a constitutional amendment providing relief for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Both parties agreed to prioritize the amendment, but disputes over tying it to other, more controversial constitutional amendments caused progress to slow to a standstill.
The partisanship is made only worse by the House’s razor-thin margins: Republicans currently hold a slim 101-99 majority over Democrats, but are likely to lose that advantage after three special elections this month.
At the listening sessions, constituents emphasized the importance of bipartisan cooperation and increasing the transparency of the legislative process.
“Right now our representatives can’t represent us because the body’s rules are used not to foster deliberation and debate, but to delay and obstruct,” Doug Webster of Monroeville said at the Pittsburgh session.
After the final session on Thursday evening, Rozzi thanked the public for coming out and making their voices heard.
“Know that everything you’re saying to us, we are taking to heart and we’re going to go back [to Harrisburg] and create what I think are fair, good government rules,” Rozzi said.
