… is about the hit-and-run-penalty increase getting stalled in Harrisburg. Because of prison overcrowding. And Senate Republicans’ budgetary concerns. Allegedly.
In June, the Senate transportation committee voted 11-1 to raise the minimum sentence for leaving the scene of an accident where a victim suffers serious injury from 90 days to a year, and from one to three years for fatal hit-and-runs. The bolstered penalties would put Pennsylvania on par with surrounding states. State and Philadelphia police have already publicly supported the increases.
Despite that, Scott Sikorski, legislative director for appropriations chair Sen. Jake Corman, where the bill awaits a vote, said prison overcrowding and budgetary strains make the bill “difficult to support.”
Read the rest of the story here.
Read all about the 937 hit-and-runs I’ve counted across the country from January thru September here.