Wolf Administration failed to publicly advertise a proposed constitutional amendment
HARRISBURG – Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York) unveiled legislation today that would require the Pennsylvania Department of State to publicly post to an online tracker the steps they take to comply with proposed constitutional amendments.
Phillips-Hill said the bill addresses the Department of State’s failure to advertise a proposed constitutional amendment that would retroactively extend the timeline for victims to file litigation against their abusers.
The Pennsylvania Office of State Inspector General noted in its report that “internal systemic failures” and lacking “consistent communication” led to the failure of the Wolf Administration’s role to carry out the constitutional amendment process.
Senate Bill 738, also known as the Constitutional Amendment Accountability Act, would require the Department of State to create a publicly accessible website that will provide a detailed account of each action taken to publish a proposed constitutional amendment.
“The Wolf Administration failed victims on this proposed constitutional amendment. The only way to address the internal failures is to allow every Pennsylvanian to monitor the constitutional amendment process from start to finish in a very transparent manner,” Phillips-Hill said.
“The private sector already has similar trackers available for consumers to track an order from start to finish. On something as consequential as this, the state clearly needs to have a similar program in place to provide maximum accountability and avoid future failures in this administration, as well as future administrations,” she added.
Phillips-Hill’s legislation was recently referred to the Senate State Government Committee.