We are at a crossroads as a commonwealth and a nation as we battle the most serious and deadly surge of coronavirus cases to date. Despite a White House that has focused all its attention on making baseless claims to undermine election results, the CDC continues to urge Americans to avoid gathering this holiday season to slow the spread and save lives. It’s a tall order and significant sacrifice for all of us as we grapple with the thought of not seeing friends and family members. It truly didn’t have to be this way if our leaders had worked together from the start. We know the pandemic has been grossly mismanaged at the federal level with disastrous effects. Here at home, Republicans who have held the majority in our state legislature for the last decade have spent 10 months trying every trick in their book to undermine our governor, our health professionals and a preponderance of the medical and scientific evidence that has guided Pennsylvania's pandemic response. Most recently, many have joined President Trump in his fruitless quest to disenfranchise Pennsylvania voters -- landing themselves, once again, on the wrong side of history. Even in Georgia, where President-elect Biden won by a much slimmer margin than in Pennsylvania, GOP legislators resisted the urge to pander to an inflamed mob and, instead, discharged their constitutional duty responsibly and faithfully. They didn’t take part in the Rudy Giuliani traveling COVID super-spreader Read more
HARRISBURG, Dec. 11 – Following news of the governor’s most recent mitigation efforts and hearing Republicans rebuke these safety efforts, Pennsylvania House Democratic leaders released this statement today: “As cases of COVID-19 surge throughout Pennsylvania and our hospitals become increasingly strained, the decision made by Governor Tom Wolf was a difficult but necessary choice that will undoubtedly save lives. We understand the economic impact this will have on many local businesses and are angry and frustrated that our Republican colleagues, who have held majorities in the House and Senate for years -- and through this pandemic -- continue to choose political gamesmanship over providing meaningful relief to this commonwealth. “We had an opportunity to provide $1.3 billion in relief to those impacted by this pandemic -- to provide relief to farmers, childcare providers, veterans, local restaurants, frontline workers, wineries, breweries, distillers and more. Republican leaders did not bring a single one of those bills to the floor for a vote. Relief funding should be used to set up contingencies for if and when virus mitigation efforts will need to be implemented. Instead, Republican leaders chose to use it to close funding gaps in the budget. “Unfortunately, what was left undone by our colleagues has left these industries floundering again, this time wondering how they will make it through the holidays during a deeply strained time. Read more
State Rep. Jordan Harris, D-Phila., House Democratic whip, today applauded the $100 million donation pledged by the University of Pennsylvania to the School District of Philadelphia to help remediate environmental hazards over the next 10 years. “First and foremost, our students deserve a safe, healthy environment to learn and grow, and our educators and support staff deserve the ability to provide an education in an environment that isn’t detrimental to their health,” Harris said. “Unfortunately, far too many of our schools don’t provide that as their failing infrastructure leaves too much risk for students and teachers. Read more
Pennsylvania State Rep. Jordan Harris, a Democrat representing part of Philadelphia, talks to NBC10 @Issue’s Tracy Davidson about why he is making the push for Pennsylvania to legalize recreational marijuana as a way to make money after coronavirus losses. Read more
HARRISBURG, Nov. 12 – The 90 members of the House Democratic Caucus who won election last week to serve during the 2021-22 session today chose their caucus leaders. Due to the high risk of Covid-19 transmission a number of lawmakers participated in the meeting virtually. Read more
State Rep. Jordan Harris, D-Phila., House Democratic Whip, praised House Bill 440, legislation that passed the House today and will open Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate program to hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians. Read more
Following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, supporters of the Affordable Care Act across the U.S. have become incredibly anxious about the federal law, which has been argued several times in court in attempts to deem it unconstitutional. Read more
Stay updated with Rep. Harris' Summer 2020 Newsletter. Read more
The Police Reform Working Group, a collection of local and state elected officials and advocates, issued the following statement in response to a Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee hearing on law enforcement interactions with the community:“We appreciate the House Republican Policy Committee shining a light on how law enforcement interacts with communities around the state. This is a necessary discussion that is long overdue and it’s encouraging to hear presenters today acknowledge that police reform is necessary. Read more
This week on Face the State we are taking a deeper dive at the reopening of Pennsylvania schools, as part of our Project Education Initiative. Later in the show, Rep. Jordan Harris joins the program with what’s next in the state’s response to COVID-19 and police reform. Read more
In response to Vice President Mike Pence visiting with the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5, the Police Reform Working Group, made up of state and county elected officials and advocates, released the following statement:“As members of the Police Reform Working Group, we believe that the path to achieving community safety and racial justice in Pennsylvania must be two-fold. First, we must improve our current system of policing through accountability, oversight, and tangible policy changes that will diminish instances of police brutality against all citizens, but especially against the Black community. Second, we must work with communities to transform and re-envision policing itself through bold systemic changes that center around those most impacted by police violence and structural racism. Read more
For almost 36 straight hours, Justin Stineman said, he lived and partied like a rock star.Stineman, 23, a local rapper from Lititz, Lancaster County, who performs under the name Nexus The League, said his parents were away in Italy. So he decided to play a show and host an after-party, which finally wrapped up on Jan. 22, 2018.Next, Stineman said, he and others dropped his friend off at work in Harrisburg at 7 a.m. Stineman said he was falling asleep on the way back. Later, he said, he went to take a 10-minute nap in the car, which was parked across from his home on East Lincoln Street. Read more
Starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday, the window opens for applications from Pennsylvania small businesses to tap a $225 million grant program that is intended to help them recover their losses from the COVID-19 pandemic and reopen their doors.The COVID-19 Relief Statewide Small Business Assistance program announced earlier this month by Gov. Tom Wolf, will accept applications for 10 days before closing until the second of four rounds of grant distributions begins in early August. Read more
Pennsylvania lawmakers endorsed bills Wednesday that would overhaul law enforcement hiring, training and use of force procedures in the wake of a national reckoning over police brutality and systemic racism.House Bills 1841 and 1910 sailed through the lower chamber with unanimous support after several impassioned speeches from members of the Black Legislative Caucus – whose floor protest two weeks ago put legislative action into motion. Read more
Pennsylvania is taking a first step toward responding to cries for police reform. The bipartisan action comes amid the unrest over the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police.The calls for police reform and accountability are being heard loud and clear as thousands of protesters continue to demonstrate in Philadelphia and throughout the commonwealth. Read more
PHILADELPHIA, June 18 – Philadelphia lawmakers today held a virtual news conference to lay out the steps the Pennsylvania legislature must take to create a just recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure the calls for racial justice demanded by Pennsylvanians across the state are acted on. State Sen. Vince Hughes and state Reps. Jordan Harris and Jason Dawkins each addressed aspects of a plan to ensure a living wage and a fair return to work for all Pennsylvanians, great schools and a superior education for all from pre-school through college; career and technical training; access to quality health care and testing; a roof over every head; tax cuts for working families to ensure no one is taxed into poverty; and safe voting options and integrity to guarantee every voice is heard and every vote is counted. The lawmakers said all of these things should be available to all Pennsylvanians, especially marginalized communities that have suffered most during the COVID-19 pandemic and at the hands of a systemic system of bigotry and racism in not just law enforcement, but also in education, health care, housing, wages and working conditions. “The current crisis, both the COVID-19 pandemic and the civil unrest stemming from systemic racism, have shown that the way things were simply wasn’t working for too many Pennsylvanians,” Harris said. “We can’t go back to a broken system. Instead, we must reform nearly all aspects of our Read more
The Police Reform Working Group, a collection of elected officials and advocates working to bring accountability and transparency reforms to law enforcement, released the following statement in response to Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney’s commitment to police reform: “To bring about true and meaningful law enforcement reform, we must work together with leaders at all levels of government so the voices of those we represent can be heard and forward-thinking change achieved. We’ve already had several conversations with Mayor Kenney’s administration and those discussions have been promising. We appreciate the mayor’s willingness to listen and believe that his announcement today is the first step in what will be a long, but productive, journey to reform. Read more
The Police Reform Working Group, a collection of elected officials and advocates working to bring accountability and transparency reforms to law enforcement, released the following statement on Gov. Tom Wolf’s adoption today of their request for a state-level deputy inspector general aimed at improving law enforcement conduct, as well as Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s, along with the Fraternal Order of Police’s, support of a confidential database to track complaints against police officers: Read more
In the midst of civil unrest across Pennsylvania ignited by the murder of George Floyd, elected officials from Philadelphia introduced a series of much-needed reforms aimed at improving community/police relationships. Read more
In the midst of a rally calling to end the government closure of non-essential business due to COVID-19, state Rep. Jordan Harris, D-Phila., House Democratic Whip, issued the following statement:“In just 45 days, over 33,000 Pennsylvanians have tested positive and over 1,200 Pennsylvanians have lost their lives to COVID-19. This virus is disproportionately impacting our frontline health care workers, our vulnerable seniors in nursing homes, and our minority communities. Read more
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