Harrisburg Lawmakers Passed 0 Laws for Four Months… Then 39 in a Single Week

Pennsylvania’s House Democrats and Senate Republicans kicked off the current legislative session with a show of good will— each chamber passed a bill from the other, resulting in two laws getting signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro on February 6.

They then proceeded to go four months with no bills sent to Shapiro.

Then sent 39 in a single week.

As of this afternoon, Shapiro signed 14 into law. Nine of those were budget related bills, assigning funding to several smaller executive departments.

The time line is revealing of how bills can get caught up in political stratagem, rather than being brought for a vote on individual merit.

Legislative leaders from opposing political parties have gotten acclimated to each other in the past three years. The bills they send to each other (187 from the house and 78 from the senate so far this year) range from politically divisive to blandly uncontroversial.

“This session I will say, the partisanship has gone down, which is very refreshing. But that hasn’t changed the process,” said Rep. Russ Diamond, the Republican chair for the House Gaming Oversight Committee.

It’s common practice for more ideologically charged bills to be used as bargaining chips during annual budget negotiations. For example, Democratic lawmakers are pushing hard for a minimum wage update this year. Republicans want to outlaw any carbon cap and tax programs being put on energy generators in the state.

Still, a bill like SB129 (which updates rules for the veterans homes advisory council) received unanimous support in the House Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee on Feb. 26. It then didn’t get brought to the House floor for a vote until June 26.

Likewise, HB261, which had a Republican sponsor, updated insurance law terminology from “mental retardation” to “intellectual disability”. It got sent to the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on February 20. Then sat there until a committee vote on June 24.

Here is a link to all the bills that were approved in both chambers this week, that could be signed into law by the governor.

Beyond being political bargaining chips— it can be hit or miss on if a bill actually receives deliberate review from the average elected official. Especially when legislation is moved quickly (or ignored) by committee or floor leadership.

"I specialize in this committee because I’m the chairman,” Diamond said, referencing how two bills were brought for a vote before House Gaming Oversight Members without much chance for review. "but they [other members] all serve on 3 other, 4 other committees. And since this committee has not met much at all, they’re not really focused on these issues."

Around 15 bills up for the governor’s signature were initially exchanged between chambers in the month of June— leaving little time for committees to examine the bills.

“Committee process is here for a reason. It's to make sure that things are vetted before they get to the floor,” Diamond said.

On Thursday, the Gaming Oversight Committee called an emergency meeting to pass a house bill that had been published two days prior and a senate bill that dealt with slot machine minimums for casinos. Neither of those bills were part of the bills sent to the desk, but stand as an example of how legislation can be moved quickly.

"I'm afraid what's going to happen with either one of these bills is [it’s] not going to be vetted,” Diamond said. "It's going to be shoved down members throats for a floor vote before we break for summer, and then now we're just going to have bad policy that will be hard to fix in the future."

Legislation Check In

Pennsylvania has the largest, full time legislature in the United States. There are 203 representatives, 50 senators, and one governor all paid over $100k a year to govern the rules and regulations of the Commonwealth.

Deliberating on legislation is their full time job, and lawmakers more than live up to the task. In 2025 so far, state representatives have introduced 1570 bills and state senators introduced 823 bills. Those aren’t even counting all the resolutions— 271 and 130 respectively!

Once a lawmaker introduces a bill, the idea gets tossed to a committee, a smaller group of lawmakers who do the grunt work of the researching/opinion discussing on the legislation. If a bill gets voted out of committee, then it has a shot at getting brought for a full vote on the house or senate floor.

Then if that bill gets a majority vote on the chamber floor it—!

Goes to the other chamber and starts the ENTIRE cycle all over again. It is only once a bill has a majority vote from the house and senate that it can head to the governor’s desk to potentially be signed into law.

(Shapiro has signed 16 bills into law for the 2025/26 legislative session at this time. The first two bills he signed in February were HB324 and SB184. The house bill eases up on the state’s poultry technician licensure law. The senate bill says an international sports team's doctor is allowed to treat team athletes without needing a Pennsylvania medical license.)

For all this legislating and salary making— Pennsylvania elected officials spend a limited amount of time in Harrisburg.

Over the past 8 years, state lawmakers showed up in Harrisburg during the year an average of 53.5 days for senators and 55 days for representatives (if non voting days are not counted).

When asked, multiple lawmakers have said it's important they spend the other 200 working days of the year in their districts, staying in touch with their communities.