Government of Pennsylvania | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the Pennsylvanian government  | |
| Polity type | Presidential System |
| Constitution | Constitution of Pennsylvania |
| Legislative branch | |
| Name | General Assembly |
| Type | Bicameral |
| Meeting place | Pennsylvania State Capitol |
| Upper house | |
| Name | Senate |
| Presiding officer | Austin Davis,President |
| Lower house | |
| Name | House of Representatives |
| Presiding officer | Joanna McClinton,Speaker |
| Executive branch | |
| Head of state andgovernment | |
| Title | Governor |
| Currently | Josh Shapiro |
| Appointer | Election |
| Cabinet | |
| Name | Cabinet |
| Leader | Governor |
| Deputy leader | Lieutenant Governor |
| Headquarters | State Capitol |
| Judicial branch | |
| Name | Judiciary of Pennsylvania |
| Courts | Courts of Pennsylvania |
| Supreme Court of Pennsylvania | |
| Chief judge | Debra Todd |
| Seat | Pittsburgh,Philadelphia,Harrisburg |
TheGovernment of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the governmental structure of theCommonwealth ofPennsylvania as established by thePennsylvania Constitution. It is composed of three branches:executive,legislative andjudicial. The state capital of Pennsylvania isHarrisburg.
The elected officers are:
In Pennsylvania the term for all elected members of the executive branch is four years, with a maximum of two terms. All members of the executive branch are not on the ballot in the same year: elections for governor and lieutenant governor are held in even years when there is not a presidential election, while the other three statewide offices are elected in presidential election years.
The Governor's Cabinet comprises the directors of various Commonwealth agencies:[1]
ThePennsylvania Bulletin is the weeklygazette containing proposed, enacted and emergency rules and other notices and important documents, which are codified in thePennsylvania Code.[2][3]
ThePennsylvania General Assembly is thebicameral state legislature composed of 253 members: theHouse of Representatives with 203 members,[4] and theSenate with 50 members.[5] Thespeaker of the House of Representatives or their designatedspeaker pro tempore holds sessions of the House. The president of the Senate is the lieutenant governor, who has no vote except in the event of tie in the Senate, where the vote is 25-25. The legislature meets in thePennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg. Itssession laws are published in the officialLaws of Pennsylvania,[6] which are codified in thePennsylvania Consolidated Statutes.[7][8] Members of the Senate and the House cannot hold a position in any civic office, and both the houses may expel a member with two-thirds vote. Any member who is expelled for corruption may never run again for reelection in either portion of the legislature.[9]
Pennsylvania is divided into 60 judicial districts,[10] most of which (exceptPhiladelphia) have magisterial district judges (formerly called district justices and justices of the peace), who preside mainly over minor criminal offenses and small civil claims. Magisterial District Judges also preside over preliminary hearings in all misdemeanor and felony criminal cases.[10] Most criminal and civil cases originate in the courts of common pleas, which also serve asappellate courts to the district judges and for local agency decisions.[10] TheSuperior Court hears all appeals from the courts of common pleas not expressly designated to theCommonwealth Court orSupreme Court of Pennsylvania. It also hasoriginal jurisdiction to reviewwarrants forwiretap surveillance.[10] The Commonwealth Court is limited to appeals from final orders of certain state agencies and certain designated cases from the courts of common pleas.[10] TheSupreme Court of Pennsylvania is the final appellate court. All judges in Pennsylvania are elected; thechief justice is determined by seniority.[10]
In total, 439 judges preside over thecourt of common pleas, 9 judges preside over theCommonwealth Court, 15 judges preside over theSuperior Court, and 7 justices preside over the Supreme Court. Elected judges run in 10 year terms, at which point they are required to run in a non-partisanretention election if they wish to continue to serve.[11]
Local government in Pennsylvania consists of five types of local governments:county,township,borough,city, andschool district.[12] All of Pennsylvania is included in one of the state's67 counties and each county is then divided into one of the state's2,562 municipalities. There are noindependent cities orunincorporated territory within Pennsylvania. Local municipalities are either governed bystatutes enacted by the Pennsylvania legislature and administered through thePennsylvania Code, by ahome rule charter or optional form of government adopted by the municipality with consent of the legislature.[13] Municipalities may enact and enforcelocal ordinances.[14]
Pennsylvania enacted the Local Government Commission in 1935, by an Act of Assembly. The commission is one of the oldest in the country, composed of five members of the State Senate and House of Representatives who are appointed by thepresident pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House. The commission provides assistance to Members of the General Assembly on researching local issues.[15]
Unlike other states, Pennsylvania does not use county sheriff's offices to patrol areas without local police. Some municipalities elect to create or co-create local police departments, particularly to get better response times, have specific patrols of areas, and/or to enforce local ordinances. Others choose to only have part-time departments, withPennsylvania State Police (PSP) filling the remainder of duties, or to use the PSP as the sole law enforcement agency. Any municipality may choose not to have a police department, and there is no extra cost for fully relying on the PSP. As of 2016[update] 1,287 municipalities in the state used the PSP as their only local law enforcement, making up about 50% of the state's municipalities.[16] The full PSP municipalities that have a population of 10,000 or below combined have about 17% of the total number of people in Pennsylvania; these municipalities make up about 50% of the total municipalities in the state. About 80% of Pennsylvania residents live in areas with part-time or full-time police coverage, and those areas combined are 49% of the municipalities in the state.[17] In 2019, about 66% of the municipalities in the state had PSP as the sole law enforcement or had a part-time police force combined with PSP.[18] Any municipality using PSP may collect about 50% of the funds from any relevant traffic stops which result in ticketed drivers.[16]
