Law & Justice 2025-2026
The Senate Law & Justice Committee met on Tuesday, October 21, 2025to consider the following bills and recorded the associated votes:
SB 49 (Laughlin) – Establishes a Cannabis Control Board to oversee the Medical Marijuana Program and hemp derived intoxicants.
- 10 yes and 1 no. Senator Keefer voted no.
SB 765 (J Ward) – Amends the Liquor Code to allow for allow for grocery stores to sell beer and wine from any aisle in the store that can then be paid for at any register.
- The Committee went over the bill.
SB 912 (Farry) – Amends Title 44 (Law & Justice) to expand the collection of DNA samples for inclusion in the State DNA Database to arrests for offenses covered under that statute and to include criminal homicide.
- 9 yes and 2 no. Senators Keefer and Fontana voted no.
The Senate Law & Justice Committee met on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 to vote on referring the following bills. All of the bills were referred unanimously.
SB 83 (Argall) – Amends Title 44 (Law and Justice), Chapter 71 (Constables) to provide for increases in the fees and surcharges collected for educating, training, and compensating constables.
SB 307 (Fontana) – Amends the PA Amber Alert System Law to establish the Purple Alert System to notify the public if an individual with intellectual disabilities is reported missing.
SB 344 (Pennycuick) – Amends the Special Ad Hoc Municipal Police and Firefighter Postretirement Adjustment Act to provide a tiered cost of living adjustment for municipal police officers and firefighters based on their retirement date.
The Senate Law & Justice Committee met on Tuesday, February 6, 2025 to vote on the following bill:
The votes were all unanimous in favor of referring the bills from the committee, except as provided for SB 241.
SB 241 (Coleman) – Amends the Liquor Code to expunge the citations of licensees that failed to comply with an Executive Order or Public Health Order during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Vote was 8-3, with Senators Fontana, Flynn and Tartaglione voting against the bill.
SB 327 (Gebhard) – Amends Title 53 (Municipalities Generally) to allow for a Fort Indiantown Gap police officer to retain MPOETC certification even if an officer had a MPOETC certification lapse but was serving at the Gap.
HB 467 (Deesy) – Amends the Liquor Code to 1) expand the definition of an “eligible entity” for the purpose of getting a special occasion permit and to 2) provide that an event held under a catering permit for an “end-of-life memorial” can provide notice to local law enforcement, PSP and the PLCB within 24 hours of the event.
SR 94 (Langerholc) – A resolution to require the Joint State Government Commission to establish a Task Force on the Recruitment and Retention of Law Enforcement.
Senator Wayne Fontana
Committee Chair