In light of statewide strikes happening nationally — as well as three years of labor turmoil at a school district in northeastern Pa. — Sen. John Eichelberger (R-Blair) held a public hearing on teachers' unions collective bargaining Wednesday afternoon.

The House passed one bill that drew fiery opposition and another that won nearly the entire chamber's support during session Monday.

The former, a bill to ban abortion on the basis of a Down syndrome diagnosis, touched on a partisan wedge issue. The latter, having high school students take a civics test at some point before graduation, was a far easier sell.

Rep. Morgan Cephas (D-Philadelphia) has drafted a bill that would expunge school suspensions from students’ records. The idea is to limit the school-to-prison pipeline phenomenon and to give students a second chance. 

The school-to-prison pipeline is the idea that underfunded public schools that have minimal resources with harsh discipline policies lead to students being funneled into juvenile and criminal justice systems. 

Gov. Tom Wolf Tuesday gave his fourth budget address, the last of his current term, that proposes a spending plan ringing in at $33 billion in expenditures and prioritizes education funding and workforce development initiatives while once again calling for a severance tax, agency consolidations, and per capita municipal fee to pay for State Police coverage of municipalities without their own police force.

While budget address week is a time traditionally reserved for governors to set their budget priorities and legislative agenda for the year, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate are making their budget and legislative priorities known in advance of the governor’s budget address, scheduled for Tuesday, February 6, 2018, at 11:30 a.m.