May. 02, 2019
HARRISBURG – Currently, whenever a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state statute is filed, the attorney general’s office receives a formal notice. No such notice is required to be delivered to the General Assembly.
Rep. Torren Ecker (R-Adams/Cumberland) introduced
House Bill 1020 to require the attorney general to share any notice received with the governor and leaders of the General Assembly, together with a brief description of the allegations and a statement indicating whether the Attorney General will defend the case or authorize another agency to defend the challenged statute.
Rather than wait for the legislation to be signed into law, Attorney General Josh Shapiro saw Ecker’s commonsense piece of legislation and decided that his office will be taking the steps necessary to comply with the notification requirements through an inter-agency agreement. House Bill 1020 will now be removed from the table.
“I am pleased to report that Attorney General Shapiro agreed with my legislation and has decided to update his office’s policies so that the General Assembly will be fully aware of any lawsuits in the future,” said Ecker. “We thank the attorney general for working with us on this important issue and look forward to working with him in the future.”
The House Republican Caucus has put forth several bills this week aimed at increasing government transparency and repealing outdated and burdensome regulations. Find out more about the
#GovtDoneRight legislative agenda at
pahousegop.com.
Representative Torren Ecker
193rd District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Alison Basley
717.772.9843
abasley@pahousegop.com
RepEcker.com
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Twitter.com/eckerrep
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