HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania legislators are poised to have one of their least productive sessions in at least a decade, in terms of the number of bills passed.
Split government, heightened partisanship, and the concentration of power in the hands of legislative leaders are to blame, according to Spotlight PA interviews with some of the lawmakers who introduced the most bills this year.
“We're in so many days, and some days we just passed bridge-naming bills, road-naming bills,” state Sen. Lisa Boscola (D., Northampton), who has introduced more than 40 bills this year, told Spotlight PA. “There are tons of bills out there that should be considered, and it's amazing to me why we can't even get them out of committee.”
Pennsylvania has the largest full-time legislative body in the country, with 253 lawmakers in the state House and Senate. They receive salaries with annual cost-of-living adjustments, reimbursements for travel to Harrisburg, and generous pensions, all funded by taxpayers.
Despite being full-time, lawmakers have passed only 65 bills this year — an all-time low for at least the past decade. There are no more session days scheduled for the state Senate from now until the end of the year, while the House has two more voting days scheduled. Both chambers could still schedule days if needed.
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has frequently noted that Pennsylvania’s divided state government is rare. Democrats control the state House, while Republicans control the Senate. That means, as Shapiro said in one budget address, “nothing gets done unless it has the support of members of both parties.”
And this year, a lengthy budget impasse took up a lot of time and energy. But in the face of seemingly long odds, some lawmakers have introduced dozens of bills. They say their output stems from them communicating with constituents and doing the political calculus to position their bills.
As lawmakers look forward to 2026, there are a slew of unfinished priorities, including funding for mass transit agencies and regulating skills games, that legislative leaders have singled out for next year’s budget negotiations. Coupled with major elections, such as the gubernatorial race and the reelection of all state House seats and half of those in the Senate, that could set the scene for a high-stakes legislative year.
Here's what some of the lawmakers who sponsored the most bills had to say about passing legislation and what's holding them back:
Winds can shift
State Sen. Vincent Hughes (D., Philadelphia) introduced more than 50 bills this year, ranking third in his chamber. His proposals range from mandating pay for sick leave to increasing penalties for making false reports to public safety agencies.
He says part of the reason he introduces so many bills is uncertainty — he never knows which issues will pick up traction and when. By introducing many proposals, Hughes said, he knows that they’ll be ready if the political winds shift in Harrisburg.
The timeline for legislating can vary from months to years, Hughes added. He pointed to the CROWN Act, legislation that prohibits discrimination based on hair texture and style. Hughes was the sponsor of the state Senate’s version of the bill this year, but first introduced the bill in 2020. The companion bill in the state House was signed into law just last month.
“We always hope that something's going to pass, but we always know that we're not going to give up on it if it doesn't pass,” Hughes said.
Spotlight PA spoke with lawmakers who were the prime sponsors of the highest number of bills this session, based on data provided by LegiScan, a legislative tracking service. While many lawmakers can sign onto a bill as a co-sponsor and co-sponsors can play a large role in getting bills passed, Spotlight PA’s analysis was based on which lawmaker was listed as the bill’s “prime sponsor.” That approach mirrors how the legislature itself tracks this information.
Lawmakers varied widely in the number of bills they introduced as the prime sponsor. For some, it was none or just one, while others introduced close to 60.
The sponsorship data cover the start of the year through the end of November.
Though the number of bills passed is not the definitive metric to measure productivity, the 65 bills that Pennsylvania lawmakers passed this year is the lowest in the past decade. By comparison, the legislature passed 162 bills last year and 77 bills the year before that. The figures include general legislation and budget bills.
Spotlight PA reported last year that the previous legislative session was the least productive in recent history. Lawmakers and legislative leaders countered that the number of laws passed and session days held is not the only way to assess productivity. At the time, state House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) said that “the impact on regular people in Pennsylvania” is a better metric.
State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) recently told Spotlight PA that his chamber is very efficient, “when we do find areas of common ground.”
“We focus on quality, not quantity, and the number of bills passed is much less important than the valuable substance of the issues addressed,” Pittman said in a written statement.
A spokesperson for Shapiro did not directly address the number of bills passed but said that despite the divided nature of the legislature and "the Senate’s attempts to play politics and delay the budget," the governor stayed at the table for budget negotiations and “delivered significant wins for Pennsylvanians."
Leaders from both parties praised the budget that passed in November — and took credit for how they shaped the final deal.
Multiple paths to success
Many of the lawmakers who spoke with Spotlight PA added that legislation isn’t solely enacted via the passing of bills.
State Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R., York) introduced about 40 pieces of legislation this year. She said that figure is rooted in problem-solving for her constituents.
Phillips-Hill also noted that bills will sometimes get merged into other pieces of legislation or absorbed into the budget process, which may lower the total number of bills passed, but still creates results.
She sponsored legislation this year that would change teacher certification levels to make it easier for them to work in different-level classrooms. While the bill was never considered by the state Senate, the change was included in this year’s education code bill — budget-enabling legislation that directs how money is spent.
“You're able to get a lot accomplished if you don't care who gets the credit,” Phillips-Hill said. “If I get to sit at the table when it gets signed into law, that's great. But if I don't, that's great too. Because back home, there's somebody who is depending on me to make government work better for them.”
Boscola also mentioned the issue of who gets credit and how the "politics of it all” can influence decisions in the legislature. She added that leadership can be a hurdle to passing legislation, because “the last thing a committee person wants is to send a bill out that leadership isn't supporting.” She’s in the minority party in her chamber.
“I would say that the Republican Party isn't always necessarily going to be like, ‘Yay, we'll pass out a Boscola bill,’ because I'm in a swing seat. And that plays into it as well,” she told Spotlight PA.
Doing the district work amid the budget impasse
State Rep. Joe Ciresi (D., Montgomery) added that another measure of productivity is the work that lawmakers do in their districts, such as meeting with local business owners and talking with constituents.
Though he wishes the legislature had approved more legislation in 2025, Ciresi said passing bills doesn’t always capture the work he’s done. While the budget impasse was "frustrating for all of us,” he said, lawmakers were still active in their districts.
“It should be much higher. Absolutely, should be much higher,” Ciresi said of the number of bills passed. “We were still in our offices, we were still working with constituents, we were still out at events.”
Ciresi was the prime sponsor of more than 50 bills in the state House this year, one of the highest totals. He said that many of the bills he focused on were administrative or changes he considers common sense. Even if the bill doesn’t get passed, he added, the conversation or additional spotlight on the issue could cause change.
He introduced a bill to create a pilot program for schools to use scratch cooking — cooking foods from raw, whole ingredients, rather than prepackaged and processed foods.
“The law may not pass, but the conversation has become so overwhelming that people are really saying, ‘Why aren't we doing this? Why aren't our schools having healthier choices?’” Ciresi said.
Ideas to make things more productive
All lawmakers who spoke with Spotlight PA blamed the state’s split government for the slow pace of legislating.
State Rep. Liz Hanbidge (D., Montgomery) was the prime sponsor of about 40 bills this year. She attributes the low number of bills passed to the partisan makeup of the state, saying that “there's a relatively high level of dysfunction that's brought on by partisanship” that lawmakers need to move beyond.
“The House is moving a lot of legislation that [would] be really impactful to improve Pennsylvania's lives. And we're not seeing the Senate follow through on that legislation,” Hanbidge told Spotlight PA.
State House Democrats passed a range of policy priorities that have yet to be voted on by the Republican-controlled Senate, including raising the minimum wage.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans say House Democrats send over legislation that they know will not pass in their chamber.
“Most House Democrat bills are advanced from the House chamber with little, if any, collaboration from Republicans and are terrible for the people of Pennsylvania, so it should come as no surprise they do not see consideration in the Senate,” Pittman said in a written statement to Spotlight PA.
Boscola said she thinks the legislature has become less productive during her time in office. She was first elected to the state House in 1994 and later ran for the Senate. She attributes part of the decline to the lack of personal relationships in the legislature compared to when she first started.
Boscola said shrinking the size of the General Assembly could be a solution, arguing that despite being “one of the largest legislatures, we’re not getting as much accomplished.” She said the smaller legislature could make seats more competitive and would at least lower the cost to taxpayers.
Along with six-figure salaries that increase annually, Pennsylvania legislators can also receive a per diem payment for days that they travel to Harrisburg.
“You have to pay their salary, their benefits. But it's more than that, it's every time you go to Harrisburg, there's a per diem, there's mileage, and it just adds up,” Boscola said. “If you're not passing bills, what are we doing? Is it worth it, right?”