My Campaign For Anti-Bullying Laws in Pennsylvania

[Jordan Gwendolyn]

Hello, this is my first topic I am starting, and I am proud to say that anti-bullying legislation, which I am working on with a State Senator's office, will quite possibly be released this Tuesday, March 15. There is an amazing story of how this came to be!!!

I am a PA resident, now living in Philly, who was born in New Jersey. After hearing about the suicide of Brandon Bitner and how New Jersey passed its Anti-Bullying Bill Of Rights, I decided to create a Facebook page "Support A Pennsylvania Anti-Bullying Bill Of Rights". What started off as a pipe dream may turn into reality soon.

I began to research PA's laws relating to bullying, and began to see a lot of deficiencies. Like, the law requires schools to have an anti-bullying policy, but it doesn't put minimum standards. Furthermore, don't get me started on LGBTIQ policy and the fact that there is no suicide prevention certification requirement for teachers/admins in PA (there is in NJ, IL, and MD).

So, I begin writing sample legislation, reporting on bullying related coverage, and even wrote a sample policy for school districts across Pennsylvania. I start to get a following, thanks to networking with bullycide victim's families. When lo and behold, I am contacted by an aide to State Senator Leanna Washington, who wanted to pick my brain about bullying policy.

So I give her my recommendations and they get to work. Then, on March 1, Representative O'Brien (crazy story, I ended up in his district by coincidence) puts out a tough new anti-bullying bill. Though it is great and is what I would like to see in terms of policy, I felt a lot was missing, including...

1. SUICIDE PREVENTION CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS
2. Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity Non-Discrimination
3. A requirement for a campus climate survey throughout PA

I have vocalized this to the aide, as well as the Philly gay news, and after some delay, this disabled transwoman who has no marketable skills may be saving many children's lives. Expect a press release by this Tuesday.

For more information, including if you have a personal story and would like to participate in the hearings, my email is [e-mail]. My blog is also below.

-Jordan

[femmocrat]

1. K&R

Welcome to DU, Jordan! :hi:

I'm not familiar with the "suicide prevention certification" for teachers, but I wish you much success in your work. It is greatly needed.

[Jordan Gwendolyn]

3. To Clarify

Many states (NJ, IL, MD) have laws requiring teachers/administrators to undergo suicide prevention training. PA is not one of those states.

[Divernan]

2. Good work! Be prepared for the long haul.

I worked for the PA House for 10 years, and I learned that it can take a LONG time to get legislation through the process, even when the majority of legislators pretty much agree with it. The kicker is it has to be passed by both chambers, the House and the Senate. You may know all of this already, in which case I apologize for wasting your time.
My main point, is that I think this can be a great improvement to Pennsylvania law, and don't get discouraged if the process drags out.

The easiest and quickest way is to get a House bill and a Senate bill with identical language introduced at the same time, and the best time is the very beginning of the House's two year session. A proposed bill is assigned to a committee, which may or may not choose to hold hearings on it. Prime sponsors LOVE hearings because it gets them a lot of publicity. Typically you'll have 3 - 5 hearings: Pittsburgh, Phillie, Harrisburg, and the prime sponsor's home town. Hearings are usually held during the summer recess.

Once the hearings are done, the bill is called up for committee consideration. There is one person in charge of this and that is the Committee's Majority Chairman. If he/she, or his/her party's leadership doesn't like a bill, they refuse to call it up. They have total power to block a bill. The bill must be voted out of committee to be presented to the whole chamber, be it House or Senate. Any bill which hasn't made it out of committee and been presented to and passed by the full House will die at the end of the two year House session, and then you have to start the process all over again at the beginning of the next two year session. There are literally thousands of bills submitted every session, and only a few hundred of them become law.

If you get nearly identical bills working their way through both chambers, and passed individually by each chamber, then the bills go to reconciliation by a joint group of Representatives and Senators, known as a Conference Committee.

WHAT IS A CONFERENCE COMMITTEE?

Differences of opinion over legislation between the two houses of the General Assembly are committed to conference committees for settlement. This usually happens when a bill passes one house with amendments that are unacceptable to the other house.

The house that disagrees with the amendments will ask for a conference, and the presiding officer then appoints the conference members, or "managers." Three members of the House and three from the Senate are named to the committee-two from the majority party and one from the minority. After deliberation, an identical report is signed by at least two of the committee members from each house and must be accepted or rejected as a whole by both chambers.

If accepted by both houses, the bill is signed by the presiding officers and sent to the Governor. Sometimes, however, the conference committee fails to reach an agreement. Unless all differences are finally adjusted, the bill fails.

Really, every high school student should learn all of this in civics class. I sure didn't.

Good luck!

[Jordan Gwendolyn]

4. I'm committed to this

...and I hope to see it through.

However, I'm wondering, what if a person from the lower house decided to introduce legislation with identical language from the Senate, could this speed things up.

[Divernan]

5. Yes.

Each bill would have its own number, i.e, SB 27 vs. HB 304 (hypothetically). Each bill would have to jump all the hurdles(hearings, committee vote, full chamber vote, passage) in its respective chamber, and might progress at different rates. But once each of them has been passed, then they could zip through the conference committee. You might find the bills had been amended, and there could be a little quibbling about that. But it's far faster to have fairly similar bills introduced around the same time in each chamber. The key thing is to get the House bill approved there in time for a conference committee and to the governor for signature before the end of the two year house session. If the House Bill misses that deadline, you have to start all over again at the next 2 year session. The bill is reintroduced as if it's brand new - gets a different number assigned; even if it's assigned to the same committee, that committee could have a new majority, and/or new chairman, and or new committee members.

And of course, you never use the term "lower house" when talking to someone from the House of Representatives. I can understand that's how Senators/staff refer to the House of Representatives in private, but I never heard that term used once in 10 years of working in the House. You cannot overestimate how prickly elected representatives are about their status. LOL.