Groundhog Day in Harrisburg
Supporters of Fair Districts PA (FDPA), the League of Women Voters of PA (LWVPA), and fellow good-government advocates gathered in the Capitol Rotunda on Groundhog Day to call for an end to Pennsylvania’s cycle of legislative inaction.
The choice of date was no coincidence. Activists noted that Groundhog Day symbolizes a repetitive cycle — in this case a cycle of reform efforts introduced session after session only to stall without a vote.
A Mascot for Inaction
After calling attention to a 2022 bill designating the groundhog as the official state rodent, Fair Districts PA Chair Carol Kuniholm proposed instead a bill to make the groundhog the official mascot of the Pennsylvania legislature. As she said: “for years the PA General Assembly has allowed the vast majority of bills to die without a final vote.”
Like Phil, ranked by NOAA in the bottom 10% of weather-predicting groundhogs nationwide for accuracy, the PA General Assembly passes fewer than 10% of introduced bills introduced. This lack of movement places Pennsylvania in the bottom 10% of legislative effectiveness nationwide.
Kuniholm referenced the 1993 movie, Groundhog Day, and the Bill Murray character concerned solely about his own career, with little interest in the fate of those around him. “In that film … Bill Murray found himself in a continuous doom loop, repeating the same day in Punxsatawney again, and again, and again, with growing anger and frustration. No one knows for sure how many times that one day was repeated before Bill Murray’s character finally broke free by listening to and caring about the people around him.
In the same way, it’s hard to tell how many times, and across how many years, many of Pennsylvania’s bills have been introduced - and ignored. We have no way to count the number of bills, the needed solutions to acknowledged problems, that have been handed on from one legislator to another, session after session, decade after decade, without ever reaching a final vote.” (Read the full proposal here)
FDPA volunteer Duncan MacLean in his Lebanon Larry groundhog hat, AKA Lebanon Larry, urged lawmakers to look ahead to the next redistricting cycle in 2031. “We are tired of the gridlock on issues that matter to everyday Pennsylvanians,” MacLean said.
Decades of Dysfunction
Kathy Cox of the League of Women Voters of Centre County talked about the League’s history and mission. She explained that for 40 years the League has been calling attention to Pennsylvania’s unaccountable legislative redistricting process and advocating for changes to ensure electoral maps that reflect PA voters and communities. For the past ten years LWVPA and FDPA have worked together at the state and local level for nearly 10 years to empower voters and defend democracy through redistricting reform.
Jodi Reese, a leader in the FDPA Fix Harrisburg research team, cited numerous examples of proposed legislative solutions to urgent statewide problems ignored repeatedly by leadership. There is no way to know for sure the number of substantive bills handed on from one legislator to another, again and again, session after session, decade after decade, without ever reaching a final vote. As Reese explained, “It doesn’t need to be this way.”
The Declaration of Democracy
Kuniholm returned to the podium with a reminder that 2026 is the 250th anniversary of both the the Declaration of Independence and Pennsylvania’s first constitution. As she reminded listeners, “Pennsylvania’s constitution, the second among the colonies to be ratified, was the most radical of its day, a model for many other states and nations in its affirmation that power originates in the people themselves, and that the people have the right to alter or reform their government.”
Yet, despite that radical promise:
The event concluded with Fair Districts PA - Chester County Coordinator Kathy Dale reading a “Declaration of Democracy,” first presented on Independence Mall in Philadelphia on January 17, 2025.
It’s time to give the bills a vote!
Following the press conference, attendees scattered to visit legislators’ offices, asking for a hearing and votes on House Bill 31 and Senate Bill 131. Just as Bill Murray finally escaped the doom loop of repeated wintry Groundhog Days, legislative leaders could restore trust and free PA from the doom loop of dysfunction by giving important bills a final vote.
Call and ask them to give House Bill 31 and Senate Bill 131 a vote, and ask your own legislators to lend their support to make that happen.