PA State and Federal Government Legislative Info and Bill Tracker

Just a billJust Harvest is always working to support or oppose bills in the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the U.S. Congress that would significantly affect hunger in Allegheny County if they became law.

We focus our legislative advocacy on bills in these issues areas:

  • basic living standards and safety net program access
  • child nutrition and community food access
  • fair taxes and budgets
  • supports for working families

Further down this page you’ll find the current slate of bills we are following.

For a bill to become law each legislative chamber must pass it. (Bills are titled “SB” and “HB” in State Senate and House; “S” and “HR” in U.S. Senate and House.) State bills must be signed by Governor Wolf (D), federal bills by President Biden (D). If the governor or president vetoes a bill, it cannot become law unless 2/3 of the legislators in each chamber then vote to override the veto.

Republicans have held the majority in the PA General Assembly since 2011. Democrats have held the majority in the U.S. House since 2019. There is now an equal number of Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate; the vice president, whose constitutional duty is to preside over the Senate, is allowed to vote whenever there is a tie.

STATE FEDERAL
Chamber Pa. Senate Pa. House of Representatives U.S. Senate U.S. House of Representatives
Bill Name S.B. H.B. S. H.R.
# Total Legislators 50 (5 for Allegheny County) 203 (22 for Allegheny County) 100 (2 for PA) 435 (18 for PA; 2 from Allegheny County)
# Yes votes to pass most bills* 26 102 51 218
# Yes votes to override veto* 33 136 67 290
*Number of votes required to pass a bill or override a veto depends on total number of legislators voting at that time.

What You Can Do

Concerned about the bills below? Want to join us on a future lobbying visit to your legislator to speak your mind?

orange arrowSign up here. No experience required.

Note: The bills Just Harvest supports are shaded green; those we oppose are red. They are otherwise in no particular order. If you’ve visited this page before, you may need to clear your browser cache/browsing data to see recent updates to this spreadsheet.


* These legislators represent districts that are at least partially in Allegheny County.

** We provide links to online actions when possible, but it is always a good idea to contact your legislator directly. A quick phone call is the most effective way to do that. You can also use email: