From Common Cause (http://www.commoncause.org):
Our state legislative leadership is using the constitutional amendment process to get around the governor’s veto power and pass their partisan agenda.
In July, state lawmakers passed SB106, a sweeping set of proposed amendments to our Commonwealth’s Constitution that would fundamentally reshape our elections infrastructure and impact our individual rights.
They rammed this bill through the legislative process late at night, under the cover of darkness — leaving no time for any public comment.
If you agree that’s not right, sign the petition today at https://act.commoncause.org/petitions/take-action-say-no-to-sb106 to demand that our state lawmakers STOP this partisan attempt to rewrite our Commonwealth’s Constitution.
If passed by voters, the proposed constitutional amendments in this bill would:
- Declare that the state constitution does not guarantee any abortion rights, including the right to publicly-funded abortion
- Require that Pennsylvanians have a government ID to vote
- Change the way the lieutenant governor is chosen
- Give the General Assembly more power to reject regulations
- Create an expansive new election auditing bureaucracy — even though we already have robust election audits
We know that each of these topics is worthy of careful consideration, but they are too important to have been all rolled into one piece of legislation in the dark of night and out of the public eye. But that’s exactly what happened.
It’s important for voters to be able to voice their opinions on these amendments — the problem is, these lawmakers aren’t putting these measures on the November ballot, but rather the much lower turnout municipal primary elections, so most voters won’t even be consulted.
And they’re spending millions of dollars to do this. Each constitutional amendment costs about $2 million in advertising costs just to get it on the ballot, where maybe one-in-five voters will see it and be able to voice their opinion on it. And with SB106 they’re trying to add SIX amendments to the ballot, at enormous cost to taxpayers.
This isn’t over yet — the law requires that state lawmakers pass the same bill during the next legislative session if they want to get it on the ballot.
We have a chance to strike this bill down before it goes any further — but we have to act fast. These constitutional amendments could be on the ballot as soon as next Spring’s municipal primary elections — elections which have historically had the lowest turnout in PA.
Now is the time to add your name to speak out against this dangerous abuse of our amendment process.
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