A state senator that represents part of Lower Bucks County is introducing legislation to allow counties to pre-canvass mail-in ballots and provide a minimum of one drop box for every 20,000 residents.
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, a Democrat from Lower Makefield Township, recently announced the two planned pieces of legislation to expand access to voting.
BUCKS COUNTY, PA — The state senator representing most of Bucks County has introduced a bill that would expand access to ballot drop boxes in future elections.
Sen. Steve Santarsiero, a Democrat, has filed what he’s calling The Safe Drop Act. The bill would require Pennsylvania counties to provide at least one ballot drop box for every 20,000 residents.
In a local story with national implications, Republicans and Democrats in the state Senate are waging legal war over a regional reguiatory agency’s decision to impose a de facto moratorium on natural gas drilling in the Delaware River basin.
A total of $98,000 in funding from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) that will help local religious schools and houses of worship make security improvements has been awarded through the commission’s Non-Profit Security Grant Program.
The following local nonprofits receiving funding are: St. Mark A.M.E. Zion in Newtown, $24,995; Abrams Hebrew Academy in Yardley, $24,975; Temple Judea of Bucks County in Furlong, $21,847; St. Andrew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Perkasie, $13,346; and Jewish Center of Eastern Bucks/Chabad Lubavitch of Yardley: $12,838.
The first round in the ongoing lawsuit challenging the Delaware River Basin Commission’s authority to ban fracking in its jurisdictional waters has gone to the State Democratic Caucus.
A knockout blow could be landing as soon as April.
“About two weeks ago in New Hope, we announced the filing of our initial motion” to be added to the case as interveners, said State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-12 of Lower Makefield, during a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “The court has granted that motion and entered that order last Friday.
HARRISBURG >> New legislation introduced by Senators Katie Muth (D–Montgomery/Chester/Berks), Steve Santarsiero (D–Bucks) and Nikil Saval (D–Philadelphia) will ensure Pennsylvanians are able to stay safely housed for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis and economically secure throughout the recovery period that follows.
The Housing Security Act (Senate Bill 466) creates a framework for mortgage deferment and rent forgiveness, benefitting property owners and renters alike.
While there is growing discontent in the Philadelphia suburbs over vaccine distribution, Gov. Tom Wolf visited Bucks County Friday to announce vaccination efforts for school staff was going well.
Earlier this month, Wolf’s administration and the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force designated that Pennsylvania’s initial batch of 94,600 single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines would be administered to school staff. The state received another 13,000 doses, bringing the total to 107,600 doses.
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-10) was joined by Democratic colleagues Friday in New Hope to announce their action to protect clean drinking water from environmental hazards of fracking.
Their action was in response to a lawsuit filed by Republican senators against the Delaware River Basin Commission to allow natural gas drilling in the basin in Pennsylvania.
SOLEBURY TOWNSHIP, PA — Solesbury Township is getting money from the state to help buy body cameras for its police officers.
The township will receive $16,155 through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, state Sen. Steve Santarsiero announced. He said the funds will go toward the purchase of body-worn camera systems.
Racism, land acquisition costs and health care are just a few of the grave issues facing farmers in Bucks County, with several county farmers airing their concerns during state Sen. Steve Santarsiero’s recent virtual agriculture roundtable.
The roundtable, co-hosted by Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding, also touched on the ever-changing industry and how to best market Pennsylvania’s status as the country’s top producer of organic goods.
NEW HOPE BOROUGH >> Standing on the banks of the glistening Delaware River Friday afternoon, State Senator Steve Santarsiero and the Senate Democratic Caucus fired back against a federal lawsuit filed by their Republican counterparts seeking to overturn a fracking ban imposed by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC).
The fracking debate took center stage Friday, when the state Senate Democratic Caucus, led by Sen. Steve Santarsiero, filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit seeking to stem Republican attempts to again open up the Delaware River basin to fracking.
Hydraulic fracturing, also referred to as “fracking,” is the process of drilling into host formations such as shales and tight sandstones, and injecting fluids and sand under pressures great enough to fracture the rock formations to allow the extraction of oil and gas, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
BUCKS COUNTY >> The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) has announced $98,000 in local funding that will help local houses of worship make security improvements through its Non-Profit Security Grant Program.
The following religious institutions in Bucks County will be receiving grants:
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick on Thursday renewed calls to permanently ban mining at a controversial quarry in East Rockhill where naturally occurring asbestos was discovered over two years ago.
The Republican lawmaker from Middletown urged the newly confirmed head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Michael Regan, to review recent geological tests and order permanent closure of Rockhill Quarry.
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-10) highlighted the historic Pennsbury Manor in Falls Township, hosting a Community Conversation video discussion about the site, the many educational offerings and how it has stayed active through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ahead of Charter Day on March 8, Santarsiero sat down with Historic Site Director Doug Miller, to talk about William Penn’s estate and its legacy in Bucks County and Pennsylvania.
Residents of the 10th Senatorial District in Bucks County who need help signing up for the coronavirus vaccine can call the offices of State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-10, in Doylestown and Newtown townships from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m Thursday to receive assistance.
Santarsiero sent out a recorded phone message Tuesday to residents eligible in the 1A category for the vaccine to urge them to call or stop in either of the offices if they need help registering for the Bucks County vaccine distribution plan or don’t have a computer to register online. These include people age 65 and older and those with some pre-existing medical conditions.
HARRISBURG — The future of a state park system that has seen record visits during the past year but faces a backlog of infrastructure work was a key topic Tuesday during a Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing.
A proposed $427 million budget will help the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources continue to meet the higher visitor demand at the state parks, said agency Secretary Cindy Dunn.
Paul Witte, 94, of New Hope, a creative industrial and product design engineer, local philanthropist, and cofounder of the 30-year-old Hepatitis B Foundation, died Saturday, Feb. 13, of complications from dementia at Buckingham Valley Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Newtown.
Mr. Witte ran his own design business, Originetics, Inc., out of his home until 2000 and focused for two decades on designing orthopedic knee and hip implants. In 1991, he and his wife, Jan Witte, joined Tim and Joan Block to start the Hepatitis B Foundation, now the nation’s leading nonprofit research and disease advocacy organization for hepatitis B.
State Sens. Steve Santarsiero, D-Bucks County, and Michele Brooks, R-Mercer County, will reintroduce legislation that will allow children to stay on their parents’ health insurance until age 26.
Under current Pennsylvania law, a child can stay on his or her parents’ insurance until he or she reaches age 19. Senate Bill 53 seeks to increase that age to 26 to bring the commonwealth in line with federal law.
BUCKS COUNTY, PA — State Senators Steve Santarsiero (D-Bucks) and Michele Brooks (R-Mercer) are reintroducing legislation that will allow children to stay on their parent’s health insurance until age 26.
Under current state law, a child can stay on their parent’s insurance until they reach age 19. Senate Bill 53 weeks to increase that age to 26 to bring Pennsylvania in line with federal law.
NEWTOWN BOROUGH >> BC Discoveries Dance & Theater Arts Company celebrated the opening of its new 3,500 square foot home on Sunday with an open house and a little dancing in the rain.
Company director Kristina Tuxhorn joined State Senator Steve Santarsiero, Newtown Borough Councilor Nicole Rodowicz and leaders of the Newtown Business Association in cutting the ribbon on the studio’s new home at the Stocking Works on South State Street.
This week, ‘the walls came tumbling down’ as an exterior wall of the decades old YMCA building in Fairless Hill was demolished as part of a year-long renovation and revitalization project. On Friday, February 26, the community celebrated in virtual format with a Zoom call featuring dignitaries, videos and photos of the demolition, impact statements and more.
BRISTOL TOWNSHIP >> An exterior wall at the decades old YMCA in Fairless Hill came crumblin’ down last week as part of a year-long renovation and revitalization project.
On Friday, February 26, the community celebrated a virtual groundbreaking with a Zoom call featuring dignitaries, videos and photos of the demolition, impact statements and more.
Hydraulic fracking has been permanently barred in the Delaware River basin.
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), which is overseen by the governors of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and a representative from the federal government, voted 4-0 Thursday to approve a final rule prohibiting high-volume hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking. U.S. Army Corps Brig. Gen. Thomas Tickner, who represented the federal government, abstained from voting.
WEST TRENTON, N.J. >> The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) on Feb. 25 approved a final rule prohibiting high volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) in the Basin.
In a separate action, the commissioners directed its executive director to propose amendments to update the commission’s rules concerning importation of wastewater from outside the basin and exportation of basin waters.
