The Senate State Government Committee on Monday unanimously advanced a vehicle bill for any redistricting plan that may or may not be agreed to in the coming days.

 

The positioning of the bill on Monday was said to be important due to the tight timeline given by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the order they issued just a week ago giving the General Assembly until February 9, 2018, to get to the governor a new map based on the criteria used for the drawing of state legislative districts, in order to prevent the court from using a newly-appointed special master to draw a court-approved map based on non-partisan criteria.

The main disagreements that broke through the steady pace of questioning were mostly over whose background was best suited to joining city council.

The Senate Veteran Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee said Monday it is closer to updating emergency codes for the first time in over 20 years. 

Title 35, the law that explicitly states emergency protocol, has not been updated since 1996.

On January 10, 2018, Gov. Tom Wolf took what many saw as the dramatic step of issuing a statewide disaster declaration over the opioid epidemic currently gripping the commonwealth.

 

Since that time, Pennsylvania’s governmental entities—from the executive and legislative branches, all the way to local governments—are continuing to step up the fight against opioid abuse and overdose deaths.

Rep. Dawn Keefer (R-York) joined The PLS Reporter to talk about her bill, House Bill 1939, which would abolish the Office of Lieutenant Governor.

Find out how soon this could take place, what would happen to his duties, and who would replace the Governor if something would happen.