HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Protests over George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police were raging across the country last June when a Democratic lawmaker took to the floor of the Pennsylvania Senate to argue for greater protections against racial discrimination.
Next week, nearly a year after Floyd’s death, voters will decide whether to make those protections explicit in the state constitution. It’s believed to be the first time since last summer’s protests that voters will decide a racial equity question on a statewide ballot.
Its effects, if approved by voters, are uncertain, but civil rights groups say it potentially could lead to policy changes in housing, policing, education and other areas. Pennsylvania would join several other states that make specific references to race in their constitutions’ anti-discrimination provisions.
Pennsylvania voters to decide if protection against racial discrimination should be in state constitution
Updated May 14, 2021;
Posted May 14, 2021
Pennsylvania state Sen. Vince Hughes, D-Philadelphia, poses in the Rotunda of the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa on Wednesday May 21, 2021. State voters next week will decide whether to add a racial equality provision to the state constitution, a measure Hughes introduced last year, two weeks after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo)AP
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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Protests over George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police were raging across the country last June when a Democratic lawmaker took to the floor of the Pennsylvania Senate to argue for greater protections against racial discrimination.
Mark Scolforo
In this Tuesday, June 2, 2020 file photo, demonstrators chant, at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, during a protest over the death of George Floyd, who was killed May 25 by Minneapolis police. State voters next week will decide whether to add a racial equality provision to the state constitution, a measure Pennsylvania state Sen. Vince Hughes introduced last year, two weeks after Floyd died. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) May 14, 2021 - 7:49 AM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) â Protests over George Floyd s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police were raging across the country last June when a Democratic lawmaker took to the floor of the Pennsylvania Senate to argue for greater protections against racial discrimination.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) â Protests over George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police were raging across the country last June when a Democratic lawmaker took to the floor of the Pennsylvania Senate to argue for greater protections against racial discrimination.
Next week, nearly a year after Floyd’s death, voters will decide whether to make those protections explicit in the state constitution. It’s believed to be the first time since last summer’s protests that voters will decide a racial equity question on a statewide ballot.
Its effects, if approved by voters, are uncertain, but civil rights groups say it potentially could lead to policy changes in housing, policing, education and other areas.
1st ballot test of governor s pandemic powers starts in PA
by Marc Levy, The Associated Press
Posted May 13, 2021 8:01 am EDT
Last Updated May 13, 2021 at 8:14 am EDT
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Republican lawmakers across the country have tried to roll back the emergency powers that governors wielded during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they ordered businesses shut, mask-wearing in public and students home for distance learning.
Pennsylvania’s Legislature is now taking its case to the ballot.
In the first vote of its kind since the coronavirus outbreak, voters statewide will decide twin constitutional amendments that would give lawmakers much more power over disaster declarations, to apply whether the emergency is another pandemic or natural disaster.