HARRISBURG, April 13 -- State Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila, is advocating for formal acknowledgement of the extraordinary work of caregivers of Pennsylvania’s veterans through the Hidden Heroes campaign. “Many times, a veteran’s caregiver is a spouse, parent and other loved ones whose lives are transformed, their goals set aside, and they rearrange their lives to help the ones who sacrificed the most for us,” Rabb said. “We need to recognize that these women and men are heroes and sacrifice more than we currently understand.” The Hidden Heroes campaign is an initiative through the Elizabeth Dole Foundation that seeks to raise awareness of the struggles of these special caregivers. It also seeks to establish a national registry where veterans and their caregivers can access resources available to them. Read more
HARRISBURG, May 9 – A resolution ( H.R. 113 ) introduced by state Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., that calls for a study of best practices regarding body-worn cameras by law enforcement was adopted on a bipartisan vote by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Wednesday. The resolution directs the Joint State Government Commission to study how body-worn camera footage is currently used, stored, secured, indexed and accessed. It also requires the commission to prepare a report assessing the cost of filming, storing and reviewing complete body-worn camera footage, provide recommendations on how to ensure that footage is used for the benefit of all and shielded from cyber threats, and establish an advisory committee comprising individuals who have expertise and experience in fields, positions and situations relating to criminal legal matters, cyber security, ethics and law enforcement. “The bipartisan call to provide body-worn cameras to law enforcement agents has been a hallmark priority that promotes increased transparency and accountability for law enforcement and civilians alike. However, with the adoption of this resolution, we can look forward to substantive research on clear, consistent and equitable protocols for how we process footage from these cameras,” Rabb said. “Recommendations produced by the Joint State Government Commission stemming from completion of this study have the potential to inform Read more
HARRISBURG, May 2 – Prompted by disturbing reports of law enforcement using excess force to disperse protestors on college campuses across the country, state Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., is highlighting legislation ( H.B. 1107 ) that would prohibit law enforcement from using crowd control agents, such as chemical weapons and rubber bullets, to quell crowds. This legislation would prohibit the use of chemical weapons by law enforcement, including all types of tear gas, pepper spray, pepper balls, mace and any other crowd control agents composed of chemical compounds intended to cause some form of harm to a person. “As we’ve seen time and again, if you give law enforcement tools to inflict force, they will use them to excess. They did during the George Floyd protests and they are doing so today,” Rabb said. “The only way to prevent this is to prohibit the use entirely. These internationally recognized weapons of war have absolutely no place being used against American citizens peacefully protesting injustice and exercising their constitutionally protected rights.” Until summer 2020 amid the Black Lives Matter protests, the Philadelphia Police Department had not used chemical agents since 1985, Rabb said. Tear gas and pepper spray are both considered ‘riot control agents.’ They are toxic chemicals that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes as Read more
HARRISBURG, May 2 – By a strong bipartisan vote of 138-63, the PA House passed a bill ( H.B. 1172 ) that would allow Pennsylvania-based funeral homes to provide water-based cremation. The bill, introduced by state Reps. Mary Jo Daley, D-Montgomery, and Chris Rabb, D-Phila., would amend current state law to expand the definition of cremation to include the process known as alkaline hydrolysis – better known as aquamation. “Cremation is typically seen as a more environmentally friendly alternative to burial, but that is not necessarily the case,” Rabb said. “In order to cremate a human body by flame, as is the current method, heat in excess of 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit is necessary. Creating that amount of heat takes immense energy and emits as much carbon dioxide as a 1,000-mile trip by car.” Alkaline hydrolysis is a method of cremation that uses an alkaline solution and a pressurized steel chamber to break the body down to its bare minimum. The combination of the alkaline solution, pressure, and heat creates ash similar to flame cremation. “When people think that cremation offers a greener end of life than a full burial does, it’s important to remember that the temperatures required in traditional cremations create large energy bills and excess pollution. This legislation aims to provide Pennsylvanians with interment choices that are not only kinder but also environmentally sustainable Read more
HARRISBURG, April 30 – State Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., today convened a non-voting informational meeting on restorative justice practices held by the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Corrections, chaired by Rep. Emily Kinkead, D-Allegheny. The meeting focused on non-carceral approaches and harm reduction the commonwealth could adopt within the criminal legal system as sentencing alternatives. “Restorative justice is an approach to criminal justice that seeks to understand and repair the harmful consequences of a criminal act, focusing on the restoration of the victim and mending damaged relationships, as opposed to punishing the offender,” Rabb said. “Research on restorative justice has consistently demonstrated higher rates of victim satisfaction, lower rates of recidivism and enhanced offender accountability. By emphasizing rehabilitation and accountability, we can find a better way forward with kindness, compassion, better outcomes and stronger communities.” In collaboration with invested parties among and beyond testifiers who included offenders and victims alike, Rabb said he anticipates a vote on an amended version of his restorative justice legislation — H.B. 1849 — in a forthcoming House Judiciary Committee voting meeting. The meeting can be viewed in its entirety here . Read more
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HARRISBURG, April 25 – State Reps. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., and Napoleon Nelson, D-Montgomery, have introduced legislation ( H.B. 2232 ) that would establish the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act in Pennsylvania. The legislation would make sure all inheritors are informed when one inheritor wants to sell their share of the property. It would also require a neutral appraiser to determine the property's fair market value. Lastly, it would provide other inheritors the first chance to buy the share of the person who wants to sell. “The passing of a loved one is heartbreaking and challenging on its own, and when they don’t have an estate plan in place it can lead to some difficult decisions and uncomfortable situations for the person’s heirs,” Rabb said. “This leads to the person’s heirs taking ownership of the property as tenants-in-common — a form of ownership that frequently leads to heirs losing their land through forced partition sale and to families losing immense inherited wealth to real estate speculators.” This legislation would provide additional due process protections to prevent Pennsylvanians from the forced sale of inherited property, Rabb said. “This bill is a piece of the puzzle in creating more fair and equitable housing throughout Pennsylvania,” Nelson said. The legislation is currently in the Pennsylvania House Housing and Read more
HARRISBURG, April 10 – State Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., introduced legislation ( H.B. 1135 ) that would establish a living wage that includes vulnerable members of the workforce in Pennsylvania. This legislation would increase the minimum wage to a living wage over time with annual cost-of-living adjustments, abolish the sub-minimum wage, protect gratuities from wage theft and expand the universe of beneficiaries to include gig workers, incarcerated workers and neurodivergent workers. “The idea that it is allowable and acceptable to pay classes of working Pennsylvanians, due to their situation or circumstance, less than the minimum wage or a living wage is heinous and unacceptable. Yet, that is what commonwealth law currently allows,” Rabb said. “It’s time we change that and show that we value all work here in Pennsylvania. After all, all work has dignity. And there is no excuse for allowing a poverty wage in our commonwealth.” H.B. 1135 is currently in the PA House Labor and Industry Committee where it awaits a vote. Read more
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HARRISBURG, March 14 – State Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., was appointed by Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton to the Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness on Wednesday. “I want to thank Speaker McClinton for appointing me to the commission and thank Executive Director Maraleen Shields for welcoming me to the commission,” Rabb said. “It’s imperative that we raise awareness of the impact that a person’s race, gender, sexual orientation, disability or status has on the fair delivery of justice within the commonwealth. I look forward to working with Director Shields and my fellow commission members as we address bias in the state courts and all branches of state government; and in the process, increase confidence in the fairness of every branch of Pennsylvania government.” Read more
HARRISBURG, Feb. 7 – State Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., is highlighting special election-related legislation ahead of Tuesday’s Pennsylvania House of Representatives special election in Bucks County. “The process by which we elect people in special elections is as important as regularly scheduled elections. That is why I have reintroduced legislation to modernize the process,” Rabb said. “Tuesday’s special election will decide the fate of who will control the House of Representatives.” Rabb said his legislation, H.B.1831, to modernize the special election process would ensure special elections are timely, cost effective and accessible by requiring that special elections happen sooner when a seat becomes vacant more than 90 days before the next election; requiring automatic mail-in voting for all elections while providing county boards of election the option to establish satellite voting sites ; subsidizing special elections from restitution paid by elected officials who have vacated their seats because of a felony conviction; and allowing candidates to electronically obtain nomination petition signatures. According to data from the Pennsylvania Department of State, the state spent almost $1 million on just five special elections in 2023. “This large expense is unnecessary and does nothing to promote civic literacy or nonpartisan engagement in Read more
On Monday, Feb. 5, state Rep. Chris Rabb held a reception in his office for Mr. Noel Matos Montalvo, who in December was released from York County Prison after his 2003 conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Mr. Montalvo was convicted and incarcerated for over 25 years for a double homicide he did not commit. Numerous DNA tests and forensic reanalysis over the past two decades have all excluded Montalvo as a participant in the 1998 double homicide. “It was an honor to meet Mr. Montalvo in person today and to let him know that there are public servants in our commonwealth who stand with him on the right side of history, fighting to repeal our state’s cruel, ineffectual, costly and biased death sentence,” Rabb said. For four terms, Rabb has introduced legislation to repeal the death penalty. In October 2023, H.B. 999 was reported out of the House Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support and now awaits a House vote. “One person wrongly incarcerated is one too many,” Rabb said. “And now, we have one more person – an exoneree from death row – who is closest to the pain who can help lead the fight to abolish capital punishment in Pennsylvania.” Rabb has also introduced robust legislation in successive terms – currently H.B. 987 – to generously compensate and provide wrap-around services to Pennsylvanians whose liberty was stolen due to wrongful convictions. Read more
HARRISBURG, Feb. 5 – State Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., on this day, the first Monday of February, is highlighting his legislation, H.B. 296 , which would establish the first Monday of February as “Emancipation Day” in the commonwealth. “In theory, the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments — otherwise known as the Reconstruction Amendments — should have led to the expansion of civil rights for Black Americans, but in practice we know that not to be the case. Black Americans have had to fight every step of the way and are still fighting to this day for true emancipation,” Rabb said. “As the axiom goes: ‘nobody’s free until everybody’s free.’” Rabb said the bill would acknowledge the ongoing struggle for Black liberation in a society that still poses threats and allows barriers to persist against the advancement of Black people and allied communities of struggle. Rabb reintroduced the bill on Feb. 2, 2023, and it was approved with overwhelming bipartisan support by the House State Government Committee on Nov. 14, 2023. It awaits a vote on the House floor. Read more
HARRISBURG, Feb. 5 – State Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., hosted Noel Montalvo at the state Capitol Monday for a discussion of wrongful incarceration and the death penalty. Montalvo was exonerated on Dec. 18, 2023, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his 2003 conviction and death sentence for a double homicide, following decades of forensic reanalysis and DNA testing showing that Montalvo was not involved in the crime. “Our criminal legal system is simply too fallible and biased -- and the benefits too small -- to continue this practice,” Rabb said of the death penalty. “Mr. Montalvo’s case is a prime example of the structural flaws of a system influenced by the legacy of lynching. He suffered immense trauma and spent years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. And worse yet, he easily could have died for it. We should consider ourselves fortunate that Mr. Montalvo was exonerated. Even one innocent life taken at the hands of the state is one too many.” Rabb reintroduced H.B. 999 , which would repeal Pennsylvania’s death penalty, on Feb. 16, 2023. The bill was successfully voted out of the House Judiciary Committee on Oct. 31, 2023, with bipartisan support, and awaits a vote on the House floor. Pennsylvania has exonerated 12 people since 1976. Over that same timeframe, the commonwealth has executed three people, all of whom forwent their right Read more
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 1 – State Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., said it’s imperative the House pass legislation ( H.R. 113 ) that would study and bring accountability to the use of body-worn cameras by law enforcement, following the Tuesday release of surveillance footage of the shooting death of Alexander Spencer. “The people of the commonwealth deserve accountability from law enforcement, and body-worn cameras are vital to the protection of both civilians and officers,” Rabb said. “Pennsylvania deserves to know how body cameras are being used by our law enforcement agencies across the state, which departments are utilizing body-worn cameras, and how we can continue to support the individuals that have sworn to protect and serve us.” The resolution would direct the Joint State Government Commission to study how body-worn camera footage is currently used and stored in this Commonwealth and require the commission to prepare a report assessing the cost of filming, storing and reviewing complete body-worn camera footage, provide recommendations on how to ensure that footage is used for the justice of all and shielded from cyber threats, and establish an advisory committee comprising individuals who have expertise and experience fields, positions and situations relating to criminal justice, cyber security, ethics and law enforcement. House Resolution 113 was approved by the House Judiciary Read more
PA state Rep. Chris Rabb speaks to his Republican colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee about the need for local control over gun laws in the Commonwealth. Rabb says rural and urban communities are not the same and should be allowed to control firearms in a way that best serves their population. Read more
PA state Rep. Chris Rabb challenges Republican lawmakers to ditch their rhetoric and talk to the people most affected by gun violence. Read more
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 16 – State Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., announced today that Mt. Airy Playground received $42,500 in state grant funding from the Commonwealth Financing Authority through the Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program. “I am thrilled to see the state make investments in our community with our tax dollars in a tangible way,” Rabb said. “Playgrounds are a great place for children to learn, interact with each other and develop social skills, and are a great place for families to bond and communities to grow. I look forward to seeing the completed project.” Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program projects involve development, rehabilitation and improvements to public parks, recreation areas, greenways, trails and river conservation. Grants can be awarded for up to $250,000 for any project. A 15% match of the total project cost is required. Read more
HARRISBURG, Nov. 22 – State Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Phila., is drafting legislation that would recognize the National Day of Mourning in the commonwealth. Rabb said the National Day of Mourning is a counter-commemoration to Thanksgiving, which has been celebrated since 1970, and is a recognition of the dark and shameful past imbedded in colonial history. The holiday honors Indigenous ancestors and Native resilience in Pennsylvania and across the nation. “Since its inception, the Thanksgiving holiday has been a celebration of Pilgrims and other European settlers taking possession of Indigenous lands in North America. Hundreds of years after the ‘first Thanksgiving,’ Indigenous peoples across the nation continue to fight for their rights and spend the Thanksgiving holiday mourning the loss of Indigenous life and culture, in protest against racism and oppression, and in celebration of the resiliency of Native people,” Rabb said. “For too long Pennsylvania has been home to ideas of White cultural superiority, exemplified in the 1763 Conestoga massacre, the 1782 Gnadenhutten massacre, and the inception of federally run Native boarding schools at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, which sought to exterminate Native culture and force Whiteness and Americanization on Indigenous children until it finally closed in 1918.” This resolution would honor the perspective of Native peoples and draw attention to Read more
PA state Rep. Chris Rabb explains the importance of his resolution to study the efficacy of helping farmers to install solar panels on their farmland. Agrivoltaics is the coexistence of solar and traditional farms occupying the same space and Rabb says it could bring the economic boost farmers need to survive today’s challenging economy. Read more
Though PA played a pivotal role in the abolition of slavery, state Rep. Chris Rabb explains that the path to freedom in the commonwealth was a long and often unfair journey. Rabb’s legislation would establish a new holiday called Emancipation Day, a day to acknowledge the ongoing struggle for Black liberation in a society that continues to impose barriers to their advancement. Read more
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