HARRISBURG, Pa. (ErieNewsNow) - In less than a week, state lawmakers will reconvene in Harrisburg for the new legislative session. Democratic Representative Ryan Bizzarro is looking forward to representing the people of Pennsylvania's third district during what he says should be a successful session. 

Bizzarro has served the people of Erie County since 2013. This past session, he says there have been unprecedented wins for the region. 

“In the 21-22 session alone, I was able to bring $92 million back to the region. That is an unprecedented amount of money through Erie County,” said Bizzarro.

Bizzarro was also proud to bring historic education funding to Erie County and to the entire state in this year’s budget.  

“In our most recent budget, where we had an influx of education funding like this state has never seen- all with no tax increases to Pennsylvanians,” said Bizzarro.  

Bizzarro says legislation cracking down on fireworks was another policy win, after listening to complaints and concerns from across the commonwealth.  

“We fixed and addressed the Fire Work Law. We had a lot of problems, a lot of complaints. We took that on the policy trail and we were able to come up with a bipartisan piece of legislation to address that subject,” said Bizzarro.  

As Chairman of the House Democratic Policy Committee, Bizzarro hosted over 100 committee hearings throughout the state to hear about the issues impacting everyday Pennsylvanians.  

“I built it to empower my members, and I took the Democratic message across Pennsylvania. And quite frankly, we've seen the fruits of that now that we are going to be in the majority of the 102 members of the House of Representatives,” said Bizzarro. 

If, or when, House Democrats officially take the majority, Bizzarro plans to push initiatives that address constitutional amendments and help first-time homebuyers.  

“I'm hoping that right off the gate to get one of my bills signed into law, that requires a two-thirds majority vote in the House in order to pass any constitutional amendment,” said Bizzarro. “I'm also hoping to continue to help fight for young people to stay in Pennsylvania by establishing this first-time homebuyer savings account. It's been a bipartisan piece of legislation that I've worked on for several terms, and I think we're going to get it across the finish line this time,” he added.  

Bizzarro adds that his doors are always open to help the people of the third district with any state-related issues they have. 

“We have the busiest district office in the entire Democratic caucus. We've helped over 28,000 people this year alone,” said Bizzarro. 

The 207th Pennsylvania House session will kick off with its swearing in ceremony on Jan 3, 2023.