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It appears Republicans in Harrisburg are seeking to replace Punxsutawney Phil with a new Pennsylvania mascot. Make way for the Pennsylvania Porcupine. Their first step in establishing a new state varmint is to “porcupine” the Pennsylvania state Constitution by adding so many amendment “quills” the document will look like a fully armed porcupine with its barbed extremities raised and ready. Harrisburg Republicans believe they have found a way to circumvent the checks and balances established in our Constitution and take Governor Wolf and future Democratic governors out of the process by using constitutional amendments to put their right-wing agenda items they cannot pass in the regular order of the legislature on the ballot. To make the process as undemocratic as possible, they seek to manipulate the schedule to have the amendments voted on in low turnout election cycles such as municipal elections and primaries when voter turnout for Democratic voters is low and the hardcore, right-wing zealots can impose their minority points of view on the Commonwealth. How the amendment scheme works Legislation cannot become law in the Commonwealth unless it passes by a simple majority in both the Pennsylvania House and Senate and wins the signature of the Governor. In the event the Governor vetoes a particular bill, the checks and balances system in our constitution establishes a veto override process that requires a two-thirds supermajority vote to override. However, constitutional amendments only require a simple majority vote in two consecutive sessions of the legislature to place the amendment on the ballot. When this occurs in the lowest turnout elections, it is possible for constitutional amendments to pass with as little as 15% or less of registered voters favoring passage. The Republicans have learned that they can distort our constitution with a plethora of rightwing amendments. For example, they succeeded in passing two amendments in the 2021 municipal election that put strict limits on the Governor’s exercise of emergency powers. The amendments in 2021 passed with roughly 54% of the votes cast in the election. The turnout in the 2021 municipal election was approximately 23%, meaning the amendments limiting the Governor’s emergency powers passed with only about 12% of Pennsylvania registered voters favoring the change. Compare that to the turnout in the 2020 Presidential election of 76.5% and you can see how the system can be manipulated simply by timing the vote on constitutional amendments to coincide with the lowest turnout elections, especially elections where Democratic turnout usually lags. Money talks Since 1968, the year Pennsylvania’s present constitution was passed, voters rejected only six of 49 proposed amendments that made the ballot. Only 14 of those ballot referendum questions were voted on during presidential or gubernatorial election years, races that consistently see higher turnouts. History suggests that constitutional amendments are generally seen favorably by voters because most of them made the ballot without much controversy. However, some amendments have garnered more attention because special interest groups have invested large sums of money to influence results. That is what happened in 2021 when the conservative pro-business Commonwealth Foundation invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to win passage of the amendments to limit the Governor’s emergency powers. There was no political counterpart with resources to match the spending to oppose the amendments, making it clear that a well-funded minority can manipulate the system. What’s at stake At first glance, this effort to torpedo our system of checks and balances may not be on the radar screen of most Pennsylvanians. However, when we see what is lurking in the undemocratic depths of the dark seas of Republican chicanery, it presents a much different threat level. To date, the radical wing of Republican lawmakers has more than a dozen amendments in the works to circumvent what can be accomplished in the established legislative process. The amendments include efforts to ban abortions, privatize liquor stores, change the judicial election process so more conservative judges can be elected, restrict municipalities’ ability to regulate guns, stop efforts to curb greenhouse gases and more. None of these initiatives can become law presently without changing our constitution. We have to stop this effort in its tracks. We can risk fighting them issue-by-issue, amendment-by-amendment or we can elect a Democratic majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and stop them cold. Thanks for reading, Kristine |