Making Moves With the Pennsylvania Local News Package

State legislative campaigns are usually long. The gears of government often move slowly, and lawmakers are resistant to big changes. Once a bill is introduced, it can take years for it to pass one chamber of a state legislature, let alone both.

With that in mind, the timeline of the Pennsylvania Local News Package is remarkable. These two bills, which would facilitate public investment in local news and informed communities across the state, passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Oct. 21 — just 15 months after they were first announced, and almost nine months after they passed the House Committee on Communications and Technology.

My Free Press Action colleague Vanessa Maria Graber and I were in the Capitol in Harrisburg to help steward the bills to a floor vote on the final full day of the legislative session. We celebrated as the House voted to advance both bills.

Why have these bills moved so quickly? 

The package started out on strong footing: Both bills build on successful examples of civic-media policy in other states.

HB 2047 would establish a fellowship program for early- and mid-career journalists, placing them in community newsrooms where they can develop professionally and foster trust with the people they cover. This bill comes on the heels of fellowship programs in California, New Mexico and Washington. HB 2048 would create the Pennsylvania Civic Information Consortium, an independent body tasked with making grants to support local news and information. The bill is modeled after the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, which has distributed more than $14 million to local-news and community-information projects since 2021, including ones targeted at rural communities, immigrant communities and communities of color.

The bills have also had a strong champion in their primary sponsor, Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Rabb. Rep. Rabb’s great-great-grandfather founded the Baltimore Afro-American, one of the oldest family-owned Black newspapers in the country, and his family still owns the paper. And he has been active in the movement for media justice for decades: He has advocated for a free and open internet, diversity in media and press freedom.

That commitment has extended to these bills, and other issues around local news: Just a couple of weeks before the vote, Rep. Rabb was the keynote speaker at Free Press’ “Free, Fair, and Factual” event at Temple University’s Center for Community-Engaged Media. During this discussion, he and the other panelists discussed the role local news and information play in maintaining the integrity of our elections.

These were strong factors in our favor. But ultimately, this floor vote is a testament to the strength of the coalition behind the Pennsylvania Local News Package: media practitioners, researchers, civic advocates and the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, all united in their desire to see more reliable news and information for Pennsylvanians everywhere from Philadelphia to Philipsburg, Belafonte to Bethlehem.

Free Press Action has been advocating for this legislation since it was introduced: We’ve met with lawmakers, hosted events and traveled across Pennsylvania to learn more about community-information needs. In the process, Vanessa and I, along with our Free Press Action colleagues Mike Rispoli and Sarah Stone, have seen how a lack of information is impacting communities. Rural residents might need active updates on road crossings and environmental pollution in their air and water, while immigrant and Latino communities in major cities need local news in their native languages. 

Building momentum to bring these bills over the finish line

After the vote, Vanessa Maria and I joined Rep. Rabb and Press Forward PA Wilds Director Joy Vincent-Killian in the Capitol’s rotunda, where we all delivered remarks on the importance of the bills, and the need to better inform communities in Pennsylvania. Media conglomerates like Gannett have consolidated dozens of local papers across the state, slashing relevant coverage and placing editorial decisions at the whim of corporate owners. Investing in a media ecosystem that is both independent and prioritizes communities first has the potential to dilute the power of those companies. In the process, these bills could also reach underserved communities and expand civic engagement statewide.

 “No one, no matter their political persuasion, wants to live in a world where their only news options are outlets run by massive out-of-state conglomerates,” I said in my remarks. “These bills build on successful policies in other states to support working journalists, strengthen community cohesion and lay the foundation for a more informed and engaged Commonwealth.”

Though the Local News Package did not come up for a vote in the Pennsylvania Senate this session, the successful vote in the House clearly established these bills as a priority in 2027. In addition to encouraging the House to pass them again, we will be pushing for the new leadership in the Senate to pass their own version — and for Gov. Josh Shapiro to sign this legislation into law. We’ve fought to establish our vision for Pennsylvania, and we’re excited to come back to Harrisburg to bring it into reality.

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