Three Days in the Capitol, Three Big Wins for Our Clients
For our clients and the DCS team, last week was Busy with a capital “B.”
Or should we say Capitol B? Because with both the PA House and Senate in session, our team worked with clients to execute not one, not two, but three back-to-back Capitol Days in Harrisburg – each resulting in a major win.
Students for Ballot PA Rally in the Rotunda
Students in the Capitol Rotunda with legislative champions (front row, L-R) Rep. Chris Rabb, Rep. Jared Solomon, Rep. Marla Brown, and Rep. Scott Conklin (photo credit: Jamie Emig).
On Monday, October 16th, the DCS Team kicked off our week in Harrisburg by joining a rally on the Capitol Rotunda steps led by Students for Ballot PA, the youth initiative of our clients Ballot PA. The rally preceded the advancement of House Bills 976 (Rep. Marla Brown) and 979 (Rep. Jared Solomon and Chris Rabb), which both moved out of the State Government Committee the next day.
The students were there to call for the repeal of Pennsylvania’s closed primary election system. What made the rally remarkable was the commitment of the 50+ university students from diverse backgrounds and colleges across the Commonwealth who converged at the Capitol. Their enthusiasm and dedication was inspiring to witness, as the next generation of voters called on our lawmakers to stop shutting nearly 1.2 million registered independent and unaffiliated voters out of our primaries (some of these students woke up as early as 4 am to make it to the rally on time, underscoring their dedication to the cause!)
Following the rally, the students broke into groups and set off to visit a dozen key legislators, before receiving recognition for their efforts on both the House and Senate floor.
With HB 976 and HB 979 advancing through the House State Government Committee the next day, we were excited to be part of a historic moment: the first time open primaries legislation has moved out of committee in the Pennsylvania House.
We are also proud to share that not one, but two of our interns, Isabel Lam from the University of Pittsburgh and Parker Wadding from Carlow University, were among those early-rising students who rallied in the rotunda!
PCNP Welcomes Introduction of Full Practice Authority House Bill
Sen. Bartolotta (center, at podium) speaks at the PCNP press event welcoming the introduction of the House Bill.
Hot on the heels of that big win, on Tuesday, October 17th the DCS team joined our clients at the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners (PCNP) and State Representative Nancy Guenst (D-Montgomery) for a press conference announcing the introduction of parallel legislation to Senate Bill 25 in the PA House of Representatives.
If adopted, the new legislation will expand health care access by ending the restrictive collaborative agreement between Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and physicians currently required by PA state law. Representative Guenst was joined by Representatives Tarik Khan (D-Philadelphia), and Mike Cabell (R-Luzerne), along with the prime sponsors of Senate Bill 25 – Senators Camera Bartolotta and Lisa Boscola – who came out to show support for their House colleagues.
Currently, Pennsylvania requires NPs to have collaborative agreements with not one, but two physicians in order to practice anywhere in the Commonwealth. This puts NPs in a uniquely difficult situation: often, they must pay these physicians, and face having to shut down their practice if one of the physicians decides to retire or move out of state. Over 130 studies support the argument that granting NPs full practice authority maintains, or in some cases, increases favorable patient outcomes. Twenty-seven other states allow NPs to exercise full practice authority, and doing so in PA will both increase quality of care and help alleviate the pressure of our severe health care shortage.
You can learn more about PCNP here, and the fight for full practice authority here.
MAMMB: Protect Sick Babies at the Capitol AS SB 500 ADVances
To round out the week, DCS team members Darya Kharabi and Anna Havrilla, along with our dear friend and strategic partner Donna Malpezzi, also spent Wednesday, October 18th in the Capitol for yet another critical client cause: ensuring equitable access to lifesaving medicine by establishing Medicaid coverage for pasteurized donor human milk (PDHM).
The team kicked off a busy day with a House Health Committee meeting, which saw a unanimous vote to advance Senate Bill 500 (Brooks/Schwank) out of committee! That passage merits a special kudos to the many legislators who have kept this vital legislation as top priority: Majority Chair Rep. Dan Frankel; Minority Chair Kathy Rapp; Rep. Donna Oberlander; and of course, our Senate sponsors Sen. Michele Brooks and Judy Schwank.
Following the hearing, our DCS team was joined by our clients at the Mid-Atlantic Mothers’ Milk Bank to visit key legislative offices and share vital information on the importance of PDHM access for PA’s smallest residents. Even as a small-but-mighty group, they stopped in to speak with staff and legislators in well over 100 offices across the Capitol complex.