Opaque school tax credit gets big budget boost

"We have zero quantitative data to see if it’s effective, and we don’t even get additional accountability in exchange for the largest increase to the program."

—State Sen. Lindsey Williams (D., Allegheny) on a major budget increase for a private school tax credit that lacks basic transparency

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In late June, as Pennsylvania’s legislature was frantically trying to meet the deadline for enacting a new budget, state Sen. Katie Muth was pulled aside on the floor of the chamber by top aides in her caucus.

The Montgomery County Democrat was told Republican leadership was upset about a post on her official social media accounts. It featured a clip of state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R., Franklin) speaking in support of a ban on transgender athletes — professing he sounded “more like a feminist than the so-called feminists do” — followed by Muth’s rebuttal.

Muth said she was shown a printout of some of the state Senate’s operating rules, and one, in particular, was highlighted in yellow: a directive that senators only post video clips of themselves on the floor. Posting other senators delivering public comments during session is forbidden.

For violating the rule, Muth was told she could face a GOP-led sanction — even a public reprimand.

“I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Muth told Spotlight PA. “It's ludicrous to me that as a member of the Senate, I can't post a clip of a debate on the Senate floor. This is taxpayer-funded government. We have an obligation to let people know what happens legislatively.”

Such is the nature of the legislature’s impactful yet little-known rules. They are often crafted by the party in power and adopted by both chambers at the start of every new two-year legislative session.

The rules spell out everything from how debate should proceed on the floor to what legislators should wear when they are there (“a coat, tie, and trousers or slacks for men, and appropriate dignified dress for women” in the state Senate). In recent years, there has been grumbling (largely by rank and file lawmakers and good government groups) about how constrictive some are — and how they can and do hinder effective government.

In the state Senate, the rules also go into great detail about filming floor action, as well as video and audio broadcasts of the chamber’s session. For instance, the rules state that “to the extent possible, only the presiding officer and the persons actually speaking shall be covered by the video cameras and microphones.”

That is why, for instance, the public never sees panoramic views of the floor — and which senators are in (or out of) their seats at any given moment.

Tucked in that same section on filming is the directive that senators only post video or audio of themselves. It was added to the rules nearly a decade ago, according to chamber officials, although it is not clear what inspired it. 

Legislative leaders have defended the rules as necessary to maintain decorum during official proceedings. Jason Thompson, spokesperson for Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R., Centre), said his office would not comment on Muth. (A separate floor fight in 2019 between Corman and Muth — one that featured both of them in the same clip — ended up going viral.)

Muth was among the many Democratic senators who voted against the rules in January 2021.

“I think that they limit democracy and severely restrict what the public has access to,” she said. 

A Democratic caucus leader told Muth she would not be punished if she removed the post from her social media accounts, she said. She swapped out the video on her Facebook and Instagram accounts to show only her speaking and deleted a tweet.

Her actions should not, she said, be interpreted as agreeing with the rule.

“It’s a total violation of the constitution,” she said. “Why should I not be able to post a floor debate link? It's public session.” —Angela Couloumbis, Spotlight PA

LAW 'REWRITE': 

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