SAM JANESCH | Staff WriterA proposal to put the Susquehanna region in the national spotlight got some attention this week in Washington, D.C.
In Harrisburg, a locally supported bill affecting abortion rights got some traction.
And in election news, another potential independent candidate for Congress cropped up.
Here are those updates and more from the political scene in Lancaster County and beyond.
National Heritage Area
A longstanding effort to designate Lancaster and York counties as a National Heritage Area was revived this week in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker is one of two local Republican congressmen who introduced a bill last year that would give the Susquehanna region that title, hopefully leading to more national exposure, tourists and protection of the natural and historic setting.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey first offered the idea in the Senate a decade ago and has reintroduced it without success in every session since.
On Wednesday, Smucker and Columbia Mayor Leo Lutz testified about it in a House subcommittee hearing about the bill and similar measures for other states.
“By being able to mark our area as a national heritage area, we’re going to draw people from the surrounding states and even the surrounding countries,” said Lutz, who also said the Columbia Crossing River Trail gets 200,000 visitors a year.
However, the prospects moving forward are unclear. An associate director for a division of the National Park Service told the committee that funding for national heritage areas is not a priority for the administration, and that it “would be unwise” to establish new ones now.
Abortion bill
Republicans in Harrisburg this week moved forward a bill that would ban abortions solely because of a potential Down syndrome diagnosis.
A version of the proposal introduced by House Speaker Mike Turzai passed the House Health Committee along a mostly party-line vote, positioning it for a potential House floor vote in the near future.
Sen. Scott Martin, who represents the southern half of Lancaster County, introduced an identical bill in the Senate in early February and led a press conference in the Capitol about it last year.
Independent for PA11
Another potential independent candidate has emerged for the Lancaster-based 11th Congressional District.
Michael LaSala, a stormwater infrastructure specialist from Warwick Township, has launched a campaign saying he intends to gather the required signatures to get on the November ballot. A 1992 Lampeter-Strasburg graduate, LaSala helps municipalities in Lancaster and York counties handle regulatory requirements, according to his website.
Republican U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker is seeking his second term this year. LaSala joins two others — Meteorologist Drew Anderson and Richard Griffiths Smith Jr. — who say they also want to run as independents. Others have said they would do the same but have since dropped their bids.
Targeting sexual harassment
Six weeks after sexual and physical abuse allegations against a sitting state House member came to light, Republican lawmakers introduced two measures to comprehensively review and change sexual harassment policies and laws.
The two bills would not take immediate steps to change laws, but instead begin extended reviews of harassment cases in the workplace.
House leaders called for Rep. Nick Miccarelli, a Delaware County Republican, to resign after they reviewed a complaint filed by a female lawmaker and another unidentified woman who Miccarelli previously dated. The female lawmaker, Rep. Tarah Toohil, was granted a protection from abuse order against Miccarelli.
From Lancaster County, Reps. Bryan Cutler, Mindy Fee, Keith Greiner, Brett Miller, David Zimmerman and Steven Mentzer were among the crowd of about 50 Republican lawmakers who joined the press conference introducing the new legislation this week.
