Listen to this articlePennsylvania lists 1.1 million Latinos among its citizens, and the number continues to increase.
To benefit its growing constituency, the PA Legislative Latino Caucus is championing a package of bills and resolutions in the state House of Representatives. These bills, if approved, will significantly aid Pennsylvania’s Latino community.
“There’s a series of bills that we’ve been working on,” said Rep. Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz, D-Berks. “The one that passed and is in the Senate is HB 1067, specifically geared to immigrants here in Pennsylvania. We have folks who have educational backgrounds but when they come here and try to make Pennsylvania home, there’s an impediment, so we’re working on removing that.”
HB 1067, “Educator Certification and Employment for Immigrants in Pennsylvania,” was sponsored by Cepeda-Freytiz and would allow immigrant teachers with certificates and experience to be employed in Pennsylvania public schools providing they own a valid immigrant visa, a work visa, or a valid employment authorization document allowing them to work in the U.S.
“Obviously, we have a teacher shortage everywhere and that seems like a commonsense approach to tackling the shortage,” said Cepeda-Freytiz. “There aren’t a diverse group of folks in the classrooms with diverse children. So, it would be a win-win opportunity for the commonwealth, if the Senate passes this.”
The bill was referred to the state Senate on June 30.
“We’re at their mercy,” Cepeda-Freytiz said of the senate. “We’re getting so much done in the House, but the Senate is on its own timeline. We’ve been mobilizing the community to play a more active role in putting pressure on the Senate to make this happen.”
PA Legislative Latino Caucus chairman Danilo Burgos, D-Phila., is introducing HB 769 to amend state law to grant a driver’s license without a Social Security number. This would enable undocumented immigrants to be given a driver’s license or learner’s permit by using their taxpayer identification number along with additional documents.
HB 769 was referred to the House Transportation committee on March 30.
“This will help particularly in the agriculture sector, where we have so many farmhands driving on our roads, and they are driving without documentation,” said Burgos. “This would help a lot of our community members throughout Pennsylvania who are renting, buying homes, living in our communities, and doing the jobs Pennsylvanians don’t want to do, like working in the farms, working in meat packing companies, working in restaurants, and starting businesses.”
Burgos also sponsored HB 771, “Diverse History Instruction in our Schools.” The act amends the Public-School Code of 1949 and provides for African American and Latino history instruction. Burgos said the bill would require Pennsylvania schools to offer instruction in African American and Latino history to students.
In addition, the Department of Education would be required to develop a model curriculum that schools can use. HB 771 was referred to the House’s Education committee on March 30.
Rep. Jose Giral, D-Phila., sponsored HB 1548, “Establishing the Police and Community Safety Act.” Introducing the bill, Giral said that “By more effectively and efficiently directing the state’s limited resources to the protection of the public, we can improve trust between police officers and the communities they serve.”
HB 1548 was referred to the House Judiciary committee on June 29.
Burgos introduced HB 767, “Establishing a Pennsylvania Socially Diverse Farmers Commission.” Aimed at improving agricultural opportunities for minorities and people of color across Pennsylvania, the bill has been approved by the House Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee and is ready for consideration by the full House.
“All too often we hear about the dwindling number of farmers and where are we going to get new farmers from? It’s going to be from immigrants and other communities in Pennsylvania that historically have not had the opportunity to be a farmer or own land,” Burgos said.
Cepeda-Freytiz said legislation is being prepared to address undocumented children who graduate high school in Pennsylvania and apply for colleges and are being charged out of state tuition.
“We want to change that,” she said. “If you can provide proof that you graduated from a high school in Pennsylvania you should be charged in-state tuition. Because they’re undocumented they’re being charged as if they didn’t graduate from Pennsylvania high schools. The bill would require state colleges to charge what they charge folks here in Pennsylvania.”
In addition to the five bills, the caucus also introduced five House Resolutions. HR 175 would provide Pennsylvania agencies with the ability to use accent marks on names on all state-issued documents, like driver’s licenses, by July 1, 2024.
“We have long names; we have accents to emphasize pronunciation,” Cepeda-Freytiz said. “Often times when we get our IDs, our names aren’t in same order and later we have issues proving our identity and applying for something, so we’re urging to fix that.”
HR 175 was referred to the House Labor and Industry committee on July 11.
House Resolution 52 is a resolution recognizing February 27, 2023, as “Dominican Republic Independence Day” in Pennsylvania. Pursuant to House Rule 71, it was set aside temporarily (Laid on the Table) on June 29.
House resolution 212 designates Sept. 15, 2023-Oct. 15, 2023, as “Hispanic Heritage Month” in Pennsylvania. It was adopted by the house on Oct. 2.
House Resolution 58 recognizes Sept. 15, 2023, as “Roberto Clemente Day” and was adopted on June 27.
House Resolution 62 urges Congress to exempt Puerto Rico and other non-contiguous states and territories from the Jones Act. The resolution states that “residents of these places deserve relief from inflated prices for basic goods and should be afforded flexibility in times of emergency.”
It was referred on April 3 to the House Commerce committee.
Burgos said the primary goal outside of identifying legislation to help Latinos and Pennsylvanians is to amplify Latino contributions throughout Pennsylvania.
“The entrepreneurs, mom and pop stores, the small businesses that pay a lot of taxes in our municipalities, the majority of them are Latino-owned,” said Burgos. “We’re very proud of our Latino Caucus, which is highlighting and amplifying the contributions of Latinos and engaging the community at a level never seen before.”