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Future Legislative Initiatives

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Proposed Big Tech Legislation  (posted 8/10/26)
 

DATA CENTERS

  1. Remove Data Centers and associated regulatory oversight from the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA) and create a which would develop grid standards, oversee economic development and associated job growth, and provide local control assistance.

This committee would be comprised of:

  • Cabinet Secretaries from Commonwealth agencies

  • Representation from each legislative caucus

  • Representation from the Public Utility Commission (PUC)

  • Representation from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania

 

   2. Propose a three-year moratorium on all Data Center development

   3. Protect National and State Parks from Data Center development

   4. Increase energy protections for local municipalities

   5. Ensure zero tax exemptions at both the State and Local level

 

FLOCK CAMERAS

  1. Create legislation banning or strictly regulating the use of Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR) otherwise known as FLOCK CAMERAS.


This legislation would be designed to protect your data and privacy with regulations that include:

  • Limiting data retention to hours or days, not weeks, month or years

  • Limiting data sharing with or providing access to any other government entity unless they have a warrant for a felony crime recognized by State/local laws

  • Limiting usage to felony investigation, missing person cases, identifying unregistered vehicles and toll collection (specific non-law enforcement activities)

  • Requiring annual usage reporting and placing limits on the availability of ALPR data via open records request to help prevent stalking or the release of film footage for the sole purpose of public humiliation
     

  *See draft blueprint provided by ACLU: ALPR draft privacy bill

Proposed Converse-1983 Legislation

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Due to the recent abuse by federal agents, many residents in Cumberland and Adams Counties are afraid to go to work, get groceries, even worship, for fear that their constitutional rights will be violated. PA state legislatures must pass critical laws that allow people to take federal agents to court for violating their rights.

 

Over the past year, federal agents have arrested U.S. citizens, dragged children from their beds in the middle of the night, smashed car windows, and shot, sometimes fatally, those they encounter. We have watched in horror as they trample the constitutional rights of immigrant communities and others, acting as though they are immune from accountability.

 

However, current court doctrines and congressional inaction make suing federal agents under federal law extremely difficult. But Pennsylvania can fill that gap. I propose a Converse-1983 bill that will empower residents of the 193rd and throughout the Commonwealth the ability to take legal action against federal officers for violating the Constitution and answering for the harm they cause.

 

There is currently a federal statute (Title 42 of the U.S Code Section 1983) that lets people seek justice when state and local officers - but not federal agents - infringe on constitutional rights. Passing a Converse-1983 Bill (law) restores a basic promise: if your rights are violated, you can seek justice through the courts.

 

Under the current administration, federal agents have been told repeatedly that they can operate with total immunity. And we've seen the horrifying results.

 

As the federal government's actions strike at the heart of our rights and freedoms without consequence, Pennsylvania cannot afford to delay. By passing converse-1983 laws, PA state legislatures can help restore accountability, prevent abuse, and protect every community from unchecked governmental violence.

 

An example of a converse -1983 bill as suggested by Akhil Reed Amar in the University of Colorado Law review could be as simple as:

 

“Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of the United States, subjects or causes to be subjected, any citizen of this state or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the [United States] Constitution, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.”

 

We must protect our constituents.

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For more information:  https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2034&context=lawreview

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