After being elected to the Pennsylvania state House just nine months ago, Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell (D-Philadelphia) was arrested Wednesday after an investigation determined that she had stolen over $500,000 from her own nonprofit for personal uses, according to Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

 

Johnson-Harrell, who has announced she will resign, was charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, perjury, tampering with public records and reporting by candidate and political committees. Shapiro said Johnson-Harrell turned herself in Wednesday morning and will plead guilty to the charges. 

Two leading members in the Pennsylvania Senate expressed interest in overhauling the state’s campaign finance laws on Friday, just days after an investigative report found that state lawmakers have used a campaign finance loophole to mask spending on dinners, travel and other expenses. 

The new proposal from Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) would drastically update Pennsylvania’s campaign finance guidelines by setting limits on contributions to political candidates in the state for the first time. The legislation would also require greater transparency of independent expenditures from corporations and unions, while also requiring political candidates to include credit card statements alongside their regular campaign finance reports. 

A perfect storm of grievances sunk the final remaining piece of the state budget Thursday evening, as the House voted down the School Code bill over what Democrats called broken promises, while Republicans expressed concern over a provision to alter the compulsory school.

By a vote of 77-121, a bipartisan group of lawmakers voted against the bill, which was unveiled in the Senate late last night.

The House voted Tuesday to approve a $33.9 billion spending bill for the 2019-20 fiscal year despite the repeated objections of many Democrats, who pushed to turn the debate towards a raise to the state’s minimum wage.

Citing concerns ranging from eliminating the General Assistance program to the lack of a minimum wage increase to support for public education that didn’t go far enough, all-in-all, 62 members, including seven Republicans, voted not to support the budget. 

The House voted Tuesday to approve the $33.9 billion General Appropriations budget, sending it to the Senate, who are set to follow suit later in the week.

The budget bill is agreed to by both chambers, as well as by Gov. Tom Wolf. But there are still no shortage of loose ends to tie up outside that bill, with lawmakers and the Wolf Administration still in discussions on a range of issues present in the numerous code bills set to be passed in the coming days.