Senate Republicans in Harrisburg today announced they would not convene a “lame duck” session after the Nov. 4 election. While GOP leaders are hailing this decision as another step in government reform, it ups by one month the deadline for a profound amount of legislation - mainly Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposals for health care and alternative energy and infrastructure improvements.
Lame-duck sessions have come under fire in the past because outgoing legislators can push for new laws before leaving office, thus making them unaccountable to the public. In Pennsylvania, you can hold a lame-duck session up until Nov. 30.
Once the two-year legislative session comes to an end, which the current one will this year, all bills which weren’t acted upon will die on the vine and have to be re-introduced next year. But who knows how the General Assembly will look. Republicans will probably hold onto the Senate, but Democrats have just a one-seat lead in the House, making within the realm of possibilty for the GOP to regain that chamber. If you thought Rendell’s agenda has slowed to a crawl, guess what gridlock will look like.
Today’s decision by the Senate Republicans ups the ante for Rendell to get his agenda approved.
