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Centre County Officials Speak Out Against Proposed State Constitution Amendments

A trio of bipartisan Centre County elected officials on Monday voiced their opposition to a bill in the Pennsylvania General Assembly that could put a series of divisive state constitutional amendments related to elections and abortion on the ballot next spring.

College Township Councilman and state House candidate Paul Takac called the content of Senate Bill 106 “a terrible package of proposals” and excoriated legislative Republicans for “weaponizing” the constitutional amendment process to bypass checks and balances to push through their policy agenda.

“Most cynical, however, is the expectation that if the Republicans do retain control of both chambers of the General Assembly and pass SB 106 again in the next legislative session, they will attempt to schedule the public referendum on SB 106 during the May 2023 primary election,” Takac, the Democratic candidate for the 82nd House District in November’s election, said during a press conference outside of the State College Municipal Building. “They will purposely and willfully try to stick a package of unpopular policies, which will curtail abortion and voting rights, on a low-information, low-visibility and low-turnout election in order to try to jam these proposals down the throats of Pennsylvanians.”

Takac was joined on Monday by fellow Democrat and Centre County Commissioner Michael Pipe and Republican Ferguson Township Supervisor Jeremie Thompson.

SB 106 contains five amendments that would, as previously reported by Spotlight PA:

  • Declare the state constitution does not grant any right relating to abortion, including no right to public funding for the procedure.
  • Require government-issued ID to vote.
  • Require the auditor general to audit elections.
  • Allow each major party’s gubernatorial nominee to choose their own running mate, rather than holding a separate primary for lieutenant governor.
  • Expand the General Assembly’s power to reject regulations.

One proposal includes a 90-day residency requirement to vote in elections, as opposed to the current 30 days.

Use of the constitutional amendment process has gained increased traction by the Republican-controlled General Assembly, which has seen its legislative policy efforts often end with a veto by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who is nearing the end of his second and final term. Republican leaders have said the process puts the decisions in the hands of voters.

The tactic saw success in the spring of 2021, when voters approved amendments limiting the governor’s emergency powers after Wolf vetoed several measures to end COVID-19 restrictions in 2020.

Proposed amendments to the Pennsylvania Constitution must pass by a simple majority in the House and Senate in consecutive legislative sessions before they can be placed on the ballot. SB 106 passed in July and a second approval in the 2023-24 legislative session would mean its proposed amendments could be on the ballot as early as the May 2023 primary. The Wolf administration filed a lawsuit over the bill and the case is still pending.

Takac argued that in contrast with amending the U.S. Constitution — which requires passage by two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate before going to the states for ratification — Pennsylvania’s procedure makes it too easy for a party to circumvent the executive and judicial branches to advance its agenda.

He said he supports proposals in Harrisburg to require two-thirds majorities of the state House and Senate in consecutive sessions before moving an amendment proposal to the ballot.

“Our constitutions are supposed to be sacred,” Takac said. “They lay the foundations of our democracy. They are not meant to be easily altered and weaponized against those who oppose the powers seeking to revoke basic, fundamental, democratic and personal rights. It’s important that we defeat SB 106 but is also important that we prevent the next SB 106 from threatening our liberties and freedoms.”

Ferguson Township Supervisor Jeremie Thompson speaks at a press conference while state House candidate Paul Takac looks on outside the State College Municipal Building. Photo by Geoff Rushton | StateCollege.com

While the three largely focused their remarks on the voting-related aspects of the proposed amendments, Takac said he opposes the abortion amendment as well.

“I believe fundamentally that a person may want to seek abortion care but at the end of the day that is a decision that should be between that person and their health care provider, not that person and their legislator,” he said. “As a legislator, my job is to ensure that everyone has the resources they need to access the health care that they want, not to limit their choices, so I would absolutely oppose that portion of Senate Bill 106.

Thompson, meanwhile, expressed concern about how the proposal would give the legislature the ability to prevent any regulation by a simple majority vote that is not subject to the governor’s signature or veto, a move he said “undermines the checks and balances of government.”

He also criticized the voter ID requirement as a continuation of claims of widespread voter fraud that have been widely debunked and noted that ID is already required for first-time voters and those voting at a new polling place.

Shifting the risk-limiting audits of elections from the secretary of state to the auditor general sows distrust in the security of elections, he added.

“The amendment reinforces the lack of trust in our election administration at both the county and state levels and aims to take the power away from actual election officials and place that power under the authority of another agency,” Thompson said.

State House candidate and College Township Councilman Paul Takac speaks at a press conference with Centre County Commissioner Michael Pipe and Ferguson Township Supervisor Jeremie Thompson on Oct. 10, 2022 outside the State College Municipal Building. Photo by Geoff Rushton | StateCollege.com

The officials also voiced worries about language in one of the proposals that refers to the voting age as 21. A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward told KDKA in September that it merely reflects the existing language in the state constitution and that it is superseded by the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which lowered the voting age to 18.

But Pipe argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on an upcoming case involving the so-called “Independent Legislature Doctrine” — which contends that state legislatures have nearly exclusive power to regulate federal elections — could potentially allow Pennsylvania’s voting age to revert to 21, as written in the state constitution, and put other voting protections and fair-election measures at risk.

The cumulative effect of the election-related amendment proposals would deter people from voting, Pipe said.

“We are seeing an erosion of the fundamental right to cast a ballot freely in this society,” Pipe said. “In this country we should be encouraging people to get involved, principally, young people. Centre County has the honor of being the main campus of University Park here at Penn State. We have excited young people who want to get involved, make their voices heard and have an effect on local, county, state and federal government.

“We want to encourage more people to vote, not less.”