On Monday, May 1st, Pennsylvania’s state senate passed a bi-partisan bill (by a vote of 41-9) to ban supervised injection sites anywhere in Pennsylvania. The bill was sponsored by State Senator Christine Tartaglione (D., Philadelphia) in response to an effort to establish a supervised injection site in Philadelphia. To become law, the general assembly needs to pass the bill as well and Governor Josh Shapiro (D) needs to sign it (he has indicated he is against supervised injection sites).
After the senate voted, Tartaglione offered the following:
Across this Commonwealth, Pennsylvanians are struggling with addiction,” said Senator Tartaglione. “When my community came to me asking me to introduce Senate Bill 165, I knew it was imperative to build a bipartisan coalition of senators from across Pennsylvania to support the bill. The vote today shows it doesn’t matter how rural or urban, liberal or conservative, or far east or far west your district is, addictions affect every square inch of Pennsylvania, and we need to prioritize recovery and sobriety.
How did your local state senators vote?
If you live in Conshohocken, Whitemarsh, or a portion of Philadelphia (view district), you are represented by State Senator Vincent Hughes (D). He voted against banning supervised injection sites.
If you live in West Conshohocken, Upper Merion, Bridgeport, Norristown, East Norriton, West Norriton, or several communities on the Main Line (view district), you are represented by State Senator Amanda Cappelletti (D). She also voted against banning supervised injection sites.
If you live in Plymouth Township and other nearby communities (view district), you are represented by State Senator Marie Collet (D) and she voted with the majority to ban such sites.
In the general assembly, whether the bill is considered for a vote is up to another suburban politician, State Representative Matt Bradford (D) who is the majority leader. Bradford represents East Norriton, Perkiomen, Skippack, West Norriton (Districts 01, 02, & 04), Whitpain (Districts 08, 09, 10, & 11), Worcester the Borough of Schwenksville.
In a Philadelphia Inquirer article from May 1st, Bradford would not commit to a vote. From the article:
The bill now goes to the House, which has a one-seat Democratic majority. Beth Rementer, a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery), did not commit to vote on the bill and said the Democratic caucus will review it once the legislation moves to the House.
We emailed Hughes and Cappelletti and asked them to comment on their votes and where in their districts they felt would be an appropriate location for a supervised injection site and did not receive back a response from either.
Photos – Each state senator’s Facebook pages