Kayden's Law, Assault Weapons Ban Among Priorities For Bucks Senator

DOYLESTOWN, PA — State Senator Steve Santarsiero outlined an ambitious legislative agenda for the coming session during a legislative coffee and conversation at the Central Bucks Senior Activity Center in Doylestown on April 14.

Speaking to a room full of seniors and local politicians, Santarsiero spoke first about his legislative agenda and then fielded questions from the audience on a wide range of topics, from the Central Bucks School District to the issue of PFAS.

Chief on his agenda in 2023 will be the reintroduction of his 30 by 30 bill, the passage of Kayden's Law along with gun violence prevention legislation.

His 30 by 30 bill would expand clean energy use in Pennsylvania by 30 percent by the year 2030 and sets a goal for the Commonwealth to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Pennsylvania is currently at 8 percent renewable.

“The Governor has highlighted that in his budget address this year as a priority. It’s very important to reach our goals on climate change,” said Santarsiero.

Santarsiero also will be working with his Republican counterpart on the Senate Judiciary Committee on the passage of Kayden’s Law, a rewrite of the state's child custody statute to better protect children in child custody situations.

The bill arises from a tragic case in Lower Makefield in 2018 when Kayden Mancuso, a first grader at Edgewood Elementary School in the Pennsbury School District, was the subject of a custody dispute between her mom and her biological father that ended with her murder.

The court awarded unsupervised visitation with the father despite a history of violence on his part, said Santarsiero, and over a weekend in August 2018 while with her father in an unsupervised situation in Philadelphia he murdered her and committed suicide.

"The bill, named in her honor, would make it clear moving forward that the safety of the child is the paramount concern for any court reviewing a custody dispute," said Santarsiero. "And if there is a threat of violence or abusive behavior, the most the court would be able to order is supervised custody with a preference on professional supervised custody so that a child could never be in the situation that Kayden was in."

Two years ago, the bill passed the senate, but it was not moved forward in the House.

With Democrats now in control in the House, Santarsiero said he's hopeful that this spring he'll be able to once again move the bill out of the senate, get it through the House and to the Governor's desk for a signature.

Also on his list of priorities this session is gun violence prevention legislation.

Santarsiero is one of the prime sponsors of a universal background check bill that would close a loophole that allows private, non-licensed sellers to sell long-barrel guns, including assault rifles, without conducting a background check on the buyer.

“It's a simple piece of legislation. We need to get it passed," said Santarsiero.

Another bill that he proposed last year and will be reintroducing this year is an assault weapons ban. His legislation would ban assault rifles and high capacity magazines in Pennsylvania.

"I feel strongly that the time has come for this," he said to applause from the room. "These weapons have no place in our communities. They are military-grade weapons and they do not belong in our communities. We will continue to push for that as well," he said.

Back in the district, Santarsiero reported that good things continue to happen at the Pennsylvania Biotech Center in Doylestown.

"The center is an incubator for biotech companies and it has been very successful," said Santarsiero. "We're very fortunate to have it here in Bucks County. I've gotten a number of grants for them to continue their work. And they continue to spin off companies here in Bucks that employ people with good wages."

Santarsiero also updated the gathering on a number of road projects in the district, including the milling and resurfacing of River Road.

"That's on the list," he said. "Hopefully that will happen in the next few months, but we're going to continue to push for that."

The lawmaker also fielded a question from the audience about the worsening condition of the Route 202 and Route 611 bypass around Doylestown.

"We are known as a premier living community, but our roads are third world," a Doylestown Township resident told the lawmaker. "I know they are very expensive projects because of the concrete situation, however it doesn't get cheaper as time goes by."

Santarsiero agreed with the resident's description of the roadways, calling them "absolutely horrible.

"You're absolutely right in how you describe it. It's like a developing country. It should not be that way," he said. "We're going to see if as soon as this budget cycle maybe we can get something in the budget to help address that," he continued.

"It will probably be part of a larger capital project that includes the bridges, which are starting to age. I would also like to see it include sound barriers for some of the communities along 611 as well. I have raised it with the secretary. He's open to having that discussion. But it has to get done. It's a disgrace," he said. "And it's been like that for as long as I can remember."

In one of the more controversial questions of the morning, Santarsiero was asked by a resident to weigh in on the politics taking place in the Central Bucks School District.

"The school district has spent a lot of money for lawyers and public relations and depending upon where you sit on the political side there's a lot of money being spent that has nothing to do with education so we can tell our kids what they can read and what they can't read and to stop transgendered children from expressing themselves properly," said the resident. "Is the state going to do anything about discrimination? I know the ACLU has filed a complaint, but what's your posture politically?"

"Discrimination in any form is unjust," responded Santarsiero. "I have been pretty vocal about my support for the LGBTQ youth. It's hard enough to be a teenager, but when you're a teenager and you've come out as gay or you're trans, which is an even harder thing to face in our society, the last thing you need are adults running a school district trying to marginalize you. We have to do better as a community," he said.

"We have to do better as a society to make sure we're providing appropriate supports for these kids and protecting these kids from bullying and other kind of behavior that can be disruptive," he said. "I am really distressed about what I see happening in that school district. Ultimately it will be the courts that will determine where we are in protecting individual rights. I'm hopeful that the courts will ultimately side with the kids by protecting their rights and against attempts to marginalize them."

Santarsiero also fielded a question from Doylestown Borough Council President Jack O’Brien on the impact of PFAS contamination on water systems throughout the Commonwealth and on municipal budgets.

"We recently did a study to look at what it would take for Doylestown Borough to treat our wells below the MCL (Maximum Contaminant Level). We were shocked at the capital costs. Five wells would cost more than $9 million. I'm wondering what the state can do with grants or any kind of help," asked O'Brien.

"First we need to figure out what the level ought to be and then trying to get our arms around what the cost of that would be throughout the state," said Santarsiero. "If it's $9 million in Doylestown, you multiply that throughout the Commonwealth you get into billions of dollars. What probably needs to happen is some kind of pilot program initially. And there needs to be more studies as well to make sure we have the limits correct."

Steve Santarsiero represents the 10th senatorial district of Pennsylvania. To visit his website, click here. You can also find the senator on Facebook. He has an office at 3 Terry Drive, Suite 200, Newtown 18940. Call 215-497-9490. He also has a satellite office at Doylestown Borough Hall, 10 Doyle Street, Doylestown 18901. Call 215-489-5000.