2025 Pennsylvania legislative session
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| 2025 Pennsylvania legislative session |
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| General information |
| Scheduled session start: January 7, 2025 Scheduled session end: December 31, 2025 |
| Leadership |
| Senate President Austin Davis (D) House Speaker |
| Elections |
| Next Election: November 3, 2026 Last Election: November 5, 2024 |
| Previous legislative sessions |
| 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 |
| Other 2025 legislative sessions |
In 2025, the Pennsylvania General Assembly is scheduled to convene on January 7 and adjourn on December 31.
The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2024 elections. Republicans won a 28-22 majority in the Senate and Democrats won a 102-101 majority in the House. The Democratic Party controlled the governorship, creating a divided state government. At the start of the 2025 session, Pennsylvania was one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.
Leadership in 2025
Pennsylvania State Senate
- Senate president: Austin Davis (D)
- Majority leader: Joe Pittman (R)
- Minority leader: Jay Costa (D)
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
- Speaker of the House: Joanna McClinton (D)
- Majority leader: Matthew Bradford (D)
- Minority leader: Jesse Topper (R)
Partisan control in 2025
- See also: State government trifectas
Pennsylvania was one of 12 divided state governments at the start of 2025 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.
Pennsylvania was also one of X state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.
The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Pennsylvania General Assembly in the 2025 legislative session.
Pennsylvania State Senate
| Party | As of January 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 22 | |
| Republican Party | 28 | |
| Total | 50 | |
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
| Party | As of January 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 102 | |
| Republican Party | 101 | |
| Total | 203 | |
Regular session
The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2025 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation has met these criteria yet in 2025. This information is provided by BillTrack50.
Legislation trackers
- See also: Legislation Trackers
Ballotpedia’s legislation trackers are your go-to resource for staying on top of key legislative topics. We capture any bill introduced on the topic across all of the 50 state legislatures, and we track the movement of the bill every step of the way. We provide real-time updates and translate legislative legalese into easily understandable language. As of the 2025 session, Ballotpedia provided tracking on the following topics. Click on the links below to view related bills from the 2025 session:
Standing legislative committees
A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.
At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session, there were 51 standing committees in Pennsylvania's state government, including one joint legislative committee, 22 state Senate committees, and 28 state House committees.
Joint legislative committees
Senate committees
- Aging & Youth Committee
- Banking & Insurance Committee
- Communications & Technology Committee
- Community, Economic & Recreational Development Committee
- Consumer Protection & Professional Licensure Committee
- Health & Human Services Committee
- Intergovernmental Operations Committee
- Law & Justice Committee
- Rules & Executive Nominations Committee
- Senate Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee
- Senate Appropriations Committee
- Senate Education Committee
- Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committee
- Senate Finance Committee
- Senate Game & Fisheries Committee
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- Senate Labor & Industry Committee
- Senate Local Government Committee
- Senate State Government Committee
- Senate Transportation Committee
- Senate Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee
- Urban Affairs & Housing Committee
House committees
- Aging & Older Adult Services Committee
- Children & Youth Committee
- Commerce Committee
- Committee On Committees
- Committee On Ethics
- Consumer Affairs Committee
- Gaming Oversight Committee
- Government Oversight Committee
- Health Committee
- House Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee
- House Appropriations Committee
- House Education Committee
- House Environmental Resources & Energy Committee
- House Finance Committee
- House Game & Fisheries Committee
- House Judiciary Committee
- House Labor & Industry Committee
- House Local Government Committee
- House State Government Committee
- House Transportation Committee
- House Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee
- Human Services Committee
- Insurance Committee
- Liquor Control Committee
- Professional Licensure Committee
- Rules Committee
- Tourism & Recreational Development Committee
- Urban Affairs Committee
Legislatively referred constitutional amendments
In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.
The methods by which the Pennsylvania Constitution can be amended:
The Pennsylvania Constitution provides for one mechanism for amending the state's constitution—a legislative process. However, the state constitution does not mention a constitutional convention process, and the legislature has called constitutional conventions in the past. Pennsylvania requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments.
Initiative
- See also: Initiated constitutional amendment
In Pennsylvania, citizens do not have the power to initiate ballot measures at the state level.
Legislature
According to Article XI, the state Legislature can refer constitutional amendments to the ballot for voters to decide. A simple majority vote is required during two successive legislative sessions for the Pennsylvania State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 102 votes in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and 26 votes in the Pennsylvania State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.
When the Legislature finds that a "major emergency threatens or is about to threaten the Commonwealth," a constitutional amendment can be referred to the ballot with a two-thirds vote during one legislative session.
Historical partisan control
The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Party Control: 1992-2025
One year of a Democratic trifecta • Twelve years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
| Senate | R | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | _ |
Historical Senate control
Republicans won control of the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1994. In 2024, they won a 28-22 majority.
The table below shows the partisan history of the Pennsylvania Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.
Pennsylvania State Senate election results: 1992-2024
| Year | '92 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '00 | '02 | '04 | '06 | '08 | '10 | '12 | '14 | '16 | '18 | '20 | '22 | '24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats | 25 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 23 | 20 | 16 | 21 | 21 | 22 | 22 |
| Republicans | 25 | 29 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 29 | 30 | 29 | 29 | 30 | 27 | 30 | 34 | 29 | 29 | 28 | 28 |
Historical House control
Democrats won a 102-101 majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2022, gaining control of the chamber for the first time since 2008. In 2024, Democrats maintained a 102-101 majority.
The table below shows the partisan history of the Pennsylvania House following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.
Pennsylvania House of Representatives election results: 1992-2024
| Year | '92 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '00 | '02 | '04 | '06 | '08 | '10 | '12 | '14 | '16 | '18 | '20 | '22 | '24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats | 105 | 101 | 99 | 100 | 99 | 94 | 93 | 102 | 104 | 91 | 93 | 84 | 82 | 93 | 92 | 102 | 102 |
| Republicans | 98 | 102 | 104 | 103 | 104 | 109 | 110 | 101 | 99 | 112 | 110 | 119 | 121 | 110 | 111 | 101 | 101 |
Analysis
Adopted legislation, 2011-2024
In 2024, Ballotpedia released analysis of bills enacted in each state in the preceding decade. The charts and table below detail legislation passed each year by party sponsorship.
See also
| Elections | Pennsylvania State Government | State Legislatures | State Politics |
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External links
Footnotes
