The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled yesterday the state’s congressional map was gerrymandered to favor one party over the other.

Currently, five of the state’s 18 seats are held by Democrats, 12 by Republicans, and there is one vacancy where there is a special election on March 13.

The court ordered a new map be submitted by February 15, but the state Legislature plans to challenge the decision in federal court.

House Speaker Mike Turzai announced special elections to fill two vacant seats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Special elections for the 48^th and 178^th districts will be held on May 15, which is the same day as the primary election.

The winner of the special election will serve until November 30. The winner of the general election will be sworn into a two-year term in December.

House Speaker Mike Turzai announced a special election will be held for Pennsylvania’s 35th House District on January 23, 2018.

Rep. Marc Gergely resigned the seat on November 6 after pleading guilty to corruption charges for his role in an illegal gambling machine ring.

Democrats and Republicans will each select a nominee to appear on the ballot.

House Speaker Mike Turzai announced a special election will be held for Pennsylvania’s 35th House District on January 23, 2018.

Rep. Marc Gergely resigned the seat on November 6 after pleading guilty to corruption charges for his role in an illegal gambling machine ring.

Democrats and Republicans will each select a nominee to appear on the ballot.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced a special election for the 18^th U.S. House District will be held on March 13, 2018, in order to fill the remainder of Rep. Tim Murphy’s term.

There is no special primary election, so each party will select a candidate to run in the special election.

Rep. Murphy resigned last week after it was revealed he had an affair with a married woman and urged her to get an abortion.

House Speaker Mike Turzai announced a special election will be held for House District 133 on December 5, 2017.

Rep. Dan McNeill, who was in his third term, passed away on September 8, creating the vacancy.

Each political party will designate their respective candidate to appear on the ballot.

District 133 includes parts of Allentown and Bethlehem, as well as several townships.

A measure to increase penalties for violations of Pennsylvania lobbying laws made it out of committee this week.

House Bill 1175 increases the amount a lobbyist may be fined from $2,000 to $4,000, and establishes a graduating scale of daily fines for failure to register or report.

If passed, the per day fine will be $50 for the first 10 days, $100 for days 11 through 20, and $200 for each day thereafter.

The bill now moves to the full House for consideration.

The Commonwealth’s new treasurer, Joseph Torsella, banned the use middlemen to assist in connecting investment houses with public agencies.

Torsella, in his first act after being sworn in, issued a policy directive banning the continued or future use of placement agent agreements for contractors entrusted with the investment of public funds.

These placement agents are typically paid a finder’s fee for obtaining business for the investment house. Placement agents are also used to circumvent a federal pay-to-play law prohibiting investment houses from giving campaign donations.

Last year, former treasurer Pat McCord was embroiled in a bribery scandal with one such placement agent. Richard Ireland, a wealthy Chester County resident, is accused of offering McCord $500,000 in campaign donations in exchange for using his clients for investing.

Speaker of the House Mike Turzai announced a special election will be held March 21, 2017, to fill a vacancy in House District 197.

The vacancy was created on January 3 when Rep. Leslie Acosta resigned after pleading guilty to federal money laundering charges. Party nominees to run in the special election will be selected according to each party’s respective process.

District 197 consists of part of North Philadelphia.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives cancelled a non-voting session day scheduled for Nov. 22, 2016, effectively ending the 2015-2016 legislative session.

Adjournment sine die does not technically take place until Nov. 30; however, both chambers have completed their work. Lawmakers will reconvene for the next legislative session on Jan. 3, 2017.

Mayor Jim Kenney signed an executive order this week making changes to the city’s ban on gifts to executive branch employees.

Executive Order 10-16 specifically mentions lobbyists as a prohibited source of gifts, whereas the previous administration’s order only mentions persons seeking business with the city or those seeking legislative or administrative action. Furthermore, gifts are now prohibited for a 12-month period from anyone seeking official action to the specific officer or employee from whom action was sought.

The new order does, however, carve out several exceptions to the prohibition, including the acceptance of food, beverage, and entertainment at a reception open to the public. These changes are effective immediately.

Photo of Mayor Jim Kenney by Jeff Meade on Wikimedia Commons.

The Philadelphia Board of Ethics has voted to approve, for public comment, proposed amendments to the city’s lobbying regulation.

The proposed changes to Regulation 9 include a substantial reorganization as well as more substantive changes such as increasing the lobbyist registration fee from $100 to $200 and clarification on what must be disclosed on quarterly reports.

A public hearing for the proposed amendments is set for November 16, 2016, at 1:00 p.m. at the Board of Ethics.

A joint legislative session is tentatively scheduled to begin September 28, 2016. During the session, lawmakers will focus on legislation to assist with the opioid crisis affecting the state.

Gov. Tom Wolf initially contemplated a special session earlier in the summer, but opted for the joint session instead in hopes getting legislation to his desk before the November election.

While there are several bills in the pipeline already, new legislation could be introduced as well.

A special election has been set for November 8, 2016, to temporarily fill the seat of U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah.

The 2nd Congressional District seat was vacated when Fattah resigned after being convicted in federal court on 22 counts, including money laundering, bribery, and fraud.

The winner of the special election, held on the same day as the general election, will hold the seat for exactly eight weeks before the 115th Congress is sworn in on January 3.