Early next year, the Pennsylvania General Assembly will be launching into a new, two-year session.

So what were the legislative accomplishments of Warren County’s legislators?

State Representative Kathy Rapp was the prime sponsor on three pieces of legislation in the session that ended on Nov. 30.

One of those three became law – a bill aimed at allowing designated caregivers to visit family members in long-term care facilities during disaster declarations. The other two died at committee.

Speaking on the floor in support of the measure, she said that “one of the greatest tragedies” of the COVID-19 pandemic has “been the act of denying family members their ability to visit their loved ones who reside in an elderly care and other facilities.”

The legislation directs the Department of Health and Department of Human Services to establish protocols to “allow a resident … or an individual with decision making authority for the resident to designate an individual as the resident’s essential caregiver during a declaration of disaster emergency.”

The legislation states that the “essential caregiver” will be designated as such during the intake process.

She was also a prime sponsor of two resolutions during the session, both of which were approved 201-1. One called for a study on dental services in rural areas while the other was meant to honor the life of the late William F. Clinger, Jr.

She also signed on to two concurrent resolutions, one of which claimed that the state’s 2020 presidential election results were “unlawful.”

State Senator Scott Hutchinson was prime sponsor for 20 separate bills, two of which were enacted into law.

SB 479 amended the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act and, according to the Local Government Commission, “provides for the responsibilities of coordinators and receivers appointed to assist financially distressed municipalities by requiring compliance with ethics statutes.”

SB 1171, signed into law in July, changed the vehicle code to allow certain heavy haulers to expand the number of axles they use.

“Providing heavy haulers the option of using equipment with additional axles will improve safety while reducing wear and tear on our Commonwealth’s highways,” according to a legislative memo. “Additional axles provide additional breaking power to enable the vehicle to stop more quickly. Increasing the number of wheels in contact with the road spreads the weight of the load over a wider surface area, reducing the wear and tear on road surfaces and bridges.”

He brought forward three resolutions, two of which died at committee. The one that was approved was in response to the death of a state senator.

Of the 18 bills that Hutchinson put forward that were not enacted, 16 died in committee while one each died on the House and Senate floors.

“No matter who is in power in Harrisburg, they all play this little game,” Phyllis Wright with the Warren County League of Women Voters said at a recent #FixHarrisburg event. “They passed the fewest bills of any full-time legislature” in the nation.

A key piece of evidence, she proposed, is the low number of bills that make it through.

In the 2019-20 session, she said over 5,000 bills were proposed and about 320 were passed.