Disconnected assembly
The resignation Friday of state Sen. Ed Helfrick, a Republican from Northumberland County, reminds us that not all legislative deadlock can be blamed on his party and his chamber. Yes, Senate Republicans have been roundly roasted and hoisted on the pole of tsk-tsking for vacating town before negotiating a budget with the governor and House. But the Senate did some work that has gone ignored by the House.
In June, the Senate passed Helfrick’s bill, that was co-sponsored by both sides of the aisle, to prevent the execution of mentally retarded. This isn’t so much a statement on the death penalty as it is an admission that Pennsylvania law does not conform to the law of the land as handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Granted this isn’t an urgent matter for most Pennsylvanians, nor is it really a pressing life-and-death matter for inmates currently on death row, but it does establish the legal framework for judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys to work with for those of limited intelligence accused of a capital crime.
More importantly, failure by the House to pass a bill that does little more than comply with the nation’s highest court shows one more facet to the lack of cooperation in Harrisburg.