HARRISBURG, PA − June 24, 2020 − The Pennsylvania Senate today unanimously passed two major pieces of police reform legislation, both sponsored by members of the Senate Democratic Caucus: Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, Jr. (D-Allegheny) and Senator Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia).
Senator Costa’s bill, Senate Bill 459, mandates that all police departments maintain records of use of force incidents that detail the event, including the reason for the use of force, detail of the injuries inflicted, as well as property damage or death. Those records are to be forwarded to the Pennsylvania State Police, and reports issued to the General Assembly.
“As a former law enforcement officer, I understand the pressure that our policemen and women are under, and I know that we can make common sense reforms to our justice system to make it better and improve its outcomes,” said Senator Costa. “Today’s accomplishments are just a piece of the law enforcement reform that our caucus and our constituents believe is necessary. Our efforts will continue through the summer.”
Senator Street’s bill, Senate Bill 1205, bans the use of chokeholds in an officer’s efforts to detain an individual and would require every municipal police department to adopt a use of force policy, publish that policy for the public and train its officers to that standard.
“The murder of George of Floyd was a flashpoint that has forced us to reimagine public safety,” said Senator Street. “People from all walks of life converged on cities across America to declare simply “Black Lives Matter.” Prohibiting chokeholds and mandating development of established Use of Force policies for every Law Enforcement Agency in our commonwealth are essential reforms long overdue. I’m proud to join my colleagues from across the aisle to ensure our communities expressions of frustration, pain and protest do not ring hollow.”
Members of the Senate Democratic caucus released a comprehensive package of police reform legislation on June 10 that includes measures to:
The bills to be introduced by the Senate Democratic Caucus will:
- Improve Municipal Police Officer Education and Training
- Institute “8 Can’t Wait” to ban deadly police practices
- Appoint an independent prosecutor for cases of officer involved shootings
- Require civilian review boards and provide grants and technical assistance to improve their performance
- Improve police pay
- Improve standards for the use of deadly force
- Demilitarize law enforcement
- Fund a regional policing incentive program and study
- Ban consent while in custody
- Create a professional oversight and policy development board for police officers
- Enhance civil asset forfeiture protections
- Penalize false reports of “criminal activity” based on race or ethnicity
Details on each of those proposals are included here.
Work on those proposals will continue through the summer and fall session.
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Harrisburg, PA June 18, 2020 – Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, Jr. Announced that the Senate Democratic Caucus offices will be closed on Friday, June 19th to recognize Juneteenth.
Juneteenth, also known as Jubilee or Liberation Day, the holiday celebrates the end of slavery in the United States.
“Over the last month, people across this country have made an effort to address prejudice; they’ve marched in remembrance and outrage over the death of George Floyd; they’ve demanded equity from every level of their government and law enforcement,” Senator Costa said. “The Senate Democrats join those calls and that work, and one of our steps will be honoring Juneteenth as a caucus-wide holiday.”
The Senate Democratic Caucus has been at the forefront of acknowledging Juneteenth for decades. Under the leadership of former Senator Shirley Kitchen (D-Philadelphia) for 20 years, followed by Senator Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) in the past four, a member of the caucus has always offered a resolution in the Pennsylvania Senate marking this holiday.
June 19 is celebrated as the end of slavery, rather than the date of the Emancipation Proclamation because there were hundreds of slaves through the South who did not know they had been freed by President Abraham Lincoln’s earlier decree. On June 19 of 1865, Major General Gordon Granger of the Union Army reached Galveston, Texas and was finally able to announce to slaves in the southern-most region of the country that they had been freed. Celebrations began almost immediately when General Granger’s order was read:
“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.”
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HARRISBURG – June 16, 2020 –The Pennsylvania Senate & House Democratic Caucuses will join workers for virtual press events “based” across the state to highlight that Pennsylvania needs a just recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and justice for black lives.
“As we create the new normal that is the post COVID-19 world, we must not only help out our friends and neighbors who have faced deep economic, health, and safety struggles due to the pandemic, but we also must respond to the historic nationwide protests against racial inequity in this county and the calls for justice,” Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa (D – Allegheny) said. “These events will discuss the steps that we need to take as a legislative body to achieve a just recovery from this pandemic for all Pennsylvanians.”
COVID-19 has affected every community in Pennsylvania, but it has disproportionately affected Black Americans. According to data from the CDC, Black Americans are more likely to have the coronavirus and to die from COVID-19. This is due to the historic systemic disparities that the Black community faces in accessing quality healthcare, housing, and education.
“We can’t afford to return to normal as it was, because that normal simply wasn’t working for thousands and thousands of Pennsylvanians,” said House Democratic Whip Jordan Harris (D-Philadelphia). “We must demand real reforms that will ensure the health and well-being of our residents, strengthen our small businesses and protect our communities, specifically our communities who are often marginalized and overlooked when it comes to recovery plans.”
A Just Recovery for all Pennsylvanians includes:
- racial justice and police reforms;
- making sure that Pennsylvanians returning to work have the resources they need to protect themselves from COVID-19;
- instituting additional small business stimulus packages;
- making sure schools and students have the resources, including internet access, to facilitate proper socially distant learning;
- working towards providing quality housing for every Pennsylvanian;
- instituting tax fairness initiatives;
- and continuing to ensure that all Pennsylvanians have access to the vote so their voices can be heard.
Senate and House Democrats will be hosting events in Philadelphia, Allegheny County, Montgomery County, Delaware County, Bucks County, Chester County, Dauphin County, Lehigh County, and in the Northeastern PA region. These events will bring together members of both legislative chambers to discuss the issues that constituents in their regions have brought to them as the major areas that they want to see change and assistance in as we create our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information follow the PA Senate Democrats and PA House Democrats on all social media platforms, and visit pasenate.com/COVID19.
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Pittsburgh, PA − June 10, 2020 − Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, Jr. today announced the award of more than $1.7 million in state grants to fund programs in victims services, addiction treatment and local forensic science improvement.
The awards were made through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD).
“While addressing COVID-19 related needs and budget gaps remains a priority, many essential services never had an interruption and have continued their critical work,” said Senator Costa. “Today’s grants will help them keep up and improve their services to our community.”
- The University of Pittsburgh’s Program Evaluation Unit will receive $1.6 million for statewide work on the Pennsylvania Opioid Overdose Reduction Technical Assistance Center.
- The Center for Victims will receive $96,000 for Child Advocacy at CAC UPMC Children’s Hospital.
- Allegheny County will receive $27,000 to improve its forensic science work through advanced training and maintenance.
For more information on these grants and others that are available through PCCD, visit their website at pccd.pa.gov/Funding.
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HARRISBURG – June 10, 2020 – Today, members of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus announced plans for a comprehensive package of legislation to reform policing in Pennsylvania.
Two years ago, members of the caucus introduced police and community relations reform bills in the wake of Antwon Rose’s death, but those bills did not move. George Floyd’s murder, caught on tape, has awakened national attention and brought to light systemic racism in our criminal justice institutions.
In the past year, 1,042 people have been shot and killed by police and the rate of black Americans killed by police is more than twice as high as the rate for white Americans
“We have to end racism that permeates our culture, and we have to reform our system of policing,” said Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, Jr. “For the past two years, I have been trying to reform this system, but my legislation stalled. We cannot let that happen again. The Pennsylvania Senate Democrats have expanded our package of bills to include critical reforms and we must pass them this session.”
The bills to be introduced by the Senate Democratic Caucus will:
- Improve Municipal Police Officer Education and Training
- Institute “8 Can’t Wait” to ban deadly police practices
- Appoint a special prosecutor for cases of officer involved shootings
- Require civilian review boards and provide grants and technical assistance to improve their performance
- Ban chokeholds
- Improve police pay
- Improve standards for the use of deadly force
- Demilitarize law enforcement
- Fund a regional policing incentive program and study
- Ban consent while in custody
- Create a professional oversight and policy development board for police officers
- Enhance civil asset forfeiture protections
- Penalize false reports of “criminal activity” based on race or ethnicity
Details on each of those proposals are included here.
The Senate is expected to review several police reform measures in its Judiciary and Law & Justice Committees in hearings and voting meetings during the month of June.
The Senate Democratic caucus has taken a clear, hard stand against hate and racism in a joint statement that is backed up by their policy proposals announced today.
Like many of you, we in the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus are struggling with the death of George Floyd and working to understand what equity is and how it is understood by different people. The events in Minneapolis unfortunately represent a pattern of violent incidents resulting from the fundamental misunderstanding of what equity means: from the lynching of Emmett Till to the beating of Rodney King to the shooting of Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin. All were victims of an unjust and unequal society that fails to see the humanity of every person regardless of their race or ethnicity.
As a nation, we will never be able to deliver equity or justice to a family or a community if we do not understand their lived experience. Feeling the same moral outrage after witnessing multiple similar events over the last few years, many of us joined you in the streets for peaceful protests and calls to action. Unfortunately, many of us have also witnessed these peaceful and Constitutional gatherings turn dark, as the messages of peace and unity were supplanted by people seeking to wreak havoc and sow discord. We have condemned the theft and vandalism while protecting our own homes and communities.
No one who believes in the equity of human beings can justify what happened to George Floyd, nor can they justify the disproportionate response with which many peaceful protests were met over the past several days. Nor can anyone who has examined the state of our union over the last several years disagree that racial inequity has been allowed to fester and grow throughout the country. From law enforcement to education to health care, institutions of government cannot be allowed to willfully close their eyes to the plight of others. We know racism, prejudice and bigotry have no place in public policy, and must act like it. This moment of tragedy has given us yet another opportunity to dismantle and replace mechanisms that perpetually lead to negative outcomes for so many. PA Senate Democrats continue to aggressively pursue legislative change to bring equity in the face of injustice. Our humanity will lift us out if this moment of profound pain, and we can move toward a future where everyone is treated with the dignity they deserve.
Please find additional information, updated regularly, at pasenate.com/reform.
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HARRISBURG – June 8, 2020 – Members of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus announced the direction of $225 million in federal CARES Act funding to aid small businesses across the commonwealth. This funding was authorized by the recently enacted COVID-19 Emergency Supplement to the General Appropriation Act of 2019 and was a centerpiece of the caucus’ PA CARES Plan.
The aid will be distributed as follows: $100 million is set to go to the Main Street Business Revitalization Program, $100 million to the Historically Disadvantaged Business Revitalization Program, and $25 million for loan payment deferment and loss reserves for loans impacted by COVID-19. The aid will be directed by the Department of Community and Economic Development to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI), which are intimately familiar with the needs of the most vulnerable small businesses in our communities.
“I want to thank Governor Wolf for engaging leadership in the General Assembly to inform the process of moving federal aid out to those who have been most harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. I also want to thank the leadership of the Senate Democratic caucus who worked with our members to formulate a strategic plan for the deployment of nearly $4 billion in federal assistance,” said state Senator John Blake (D-Lackawanna). “The Main Street Business Revitalization program is a reflection of that cooperation and leadership and it will meet Pennsylvania’s small business owners where they are, on Main Street, after nearly three months of lost or no sales. It will enable small business owners throughout the commonwealth to meet their insurance payments, rents, health insurance premiums, local taxes and other expenses that they otherwise could not meet due to lost sales. Finally, I want to thank the 17 CDFIs throughout the state as well as DCED for their professionalism, agility, urgency and dedication to getting this federal funding to the small businesses who need it most as quickly as possible.”
Eligible businesses will apply through one of the CDFI Network partners and will have to have been operating on or before February 15, 2020, and must have paid taxes to state and federal governments. Qualifying main street and historically disadvantaged small businesses must have 25 or fewer employees and experienced losses as a result of Gov. Tom Wolf’s March 19 stay-at-home order. Organizations seeking grants from the historically disadvantaged small businesses program must also be 51 percent owned and managed by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.
“The announcement of the Main Street and Historically Disadvantaged Business Revitalization Programs will provide welcomed relief for mom and pop businesses in neighborhoods across the commonwealth,” said State Senator Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia/Montgomery). “Since this pandemic began, we have heard the needs of the auto body shops, the barbershops, the beauticians, the pizza shop owners, the soul food establishments and other businesses in our communities. The needs of these businesses that were unable to get much needed help from other state and federal programs were a priority in our Senate Democratic Caucus’ April 29 PA CARES Program announcement. For months, my office has worked with a network of trusted community organizations that have a proven track record of working with our small CDFIs to find a solution to assist our neighborhood businesses. I believe these programs are that solution. There is still more work to be done, but these programs are a win for Pennsylvania and its small businesses.”
Businesses will be eligible for up to $50,000 in grants. Grants can be used to cover operating expenses during the shutdown and in the transition period to reopening, technical assistance and training, debt payment relief for CDFI borrowers and loan loss reserves.
“Our small businesses all across the state made sacrifices so that we could flatten the curve of COVID-19 and save lives,” said Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, Jr. “Now as we begin to recover, our businesses will need and deserve assistance to reopen their doors, rehire their staff and serve our communities again. We thank them for their patience through this difficult time, and are ready to offer the programs, loans and assistance they need.”
Businesses will be required to submit proposals for review documenting sales losses, projected revenues, the duration of closure as a result of COVID-19, and relief receipts for other federal, state and local government aid. Eligible businesses will apply directly through a local CDFI.
“One of the goals of the pandemic-recovery stimulus plan that I offered in March, was to jump-start business operations and speed the economic recovery by making resources readily available to get more men and women back to work quicker,” Brewster said. “Using federal CARE dollars to bolster business and smooth the back-to-work transition is critically important. The caucus CARES initiative includes one piece of the plan and will be especially useful to small businesses as they cover expenses and manage start-up costs. Plus, it will usher in help for small businesses who may not have been able to access other state or federal business assistance programs.”
Distributed funds will be monitored by DCED to track the total number of grants awarded under these programs including county, the number of jobs saved by the grants, the total amount of loan payment and deferment, administrative costs and more.
“Thank you to Governor Wolf and his administration for recognizing the need for our Main Street Business Revitalization Program and incorporating that proposal into the Commonwealth’s plan to support our small businesses, which represent nearly half of the private sector workforce in Pennsylvania – 2.5 million jobs,” said Senator Iovino (D-Allegheny/Washington). “Small businesses are the job creators in our communities, the revenue generators for our Commonwealth, and the cornerstone of vibrant main streets. As small business owners are struggling to hang on, this $225 million grant package is exactly the kind of lifeline that these economic drivers need to support our recovery.”
For more about the caucus’ comprehensive, people-focused COVID-19 recovery plan, visit pasenate.com/pacares.
