Newsroom
State Senator Nikil Saval’s Electoral District: In Food and Photos
he first thing State Sen. Nikil Saval (D–01) learned from watching his recently immigrated Indian parents run a pizza parlor in Santa Monica was that the restaurant industry is hard. The second thing he learned was that solidarity among working–class people of...
Was Occupy Wall Street More Anarchist or Socialist?
It feels most apt to mark the 10th anniversary of Occupy Wall Street by reviving a debate that is resistant to resolution, open to endless disagreement, and primed for messy expressions of political ideology. How very Occupy! If you had asked me at the time whether...
Senator Saval Legislative Priorities: Housing Is a Human Right
Senator Saval Demands Use of State Rainy Day Funds to Help Rebuild After Ida
Senator Wants PA Supreme Court To Reimplement Eviction Moratorium
A Pennsylvania lawmaker is calling on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to halt evictions. Following the United States Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the eviction moratorium, Democrat Senator Nikil Saval of Philadelphia says the state’s highest court should...
State Senators Saval and Schwank to Introduce State Mask Legislation
Harrisburg, PA – August 30, 2021 – Today, State Senators Nikil Saval and Judy Schwank announced they will soon introduce legislation to support Governor Tom Wolf’s call for mask mandates in the state. Senator Schwank’s forthcoming bill would require general indoor...
Two Pa. Democrats propose legislation to impose mask mandates in K-12 schools, childcare facilities
Though it’s unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled Legislature, a package of bills requiring universal indoor masking for Pennsylvania’s K-12 schools and childcare programs is in the works. Days after House and Senate leadership denied a request from Gov. Tom Wolf...
SCOTUS eviction ruling increases pressure to dole out rental aid money
Last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling rejecting the Biden administration’s last-ditch effort to extend a federal ban on evictions, which has put hundreds of thousands of American renters at risk of losing their housing, was not a particularly surprising one. But as...
State Democratic lawmakers propose statewide school mask mandate
HARRISBURG, Pa. — As thousands of students across the Susquehanna Valley return to the classroom full-time, some school districts have opted to follow the mask mandate — others have not. The decisive approach to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
Senate Democrats Urge State Supreme Court to Take Action on Evictions for Tenants with Pending ERAP Applications
Senator Saval’s Statement on U.S. Supreme Courts Ruling Thrusting Millions of Renters into Precarity
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Senator Nikil Saval (D–Philadelphia) released a statement Friday on the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to eliminate the only remaining protection for renters:. “Hundreds of thousands of people across our state, and millions of people all across...
Capitol Report
Following is a listing of executive and legislative action for the week of Aug. 23. Both houses of the General Assembly were in summer recess at press time. The Pennsylvania Senate was scheduled to come back Sept. 20 and the state House of Representatives was set to...
Pa. Sen. Saval, Gov. Wolf, call on Pa. Supreme Court to halt evictions
A progressive, first-term state senator has called for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to halt evictions in the commonwealth, after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal moratorium Thursday evening on landlords removing tenants from their homes during the...
Eviction moratorium ends while Philly area renters and landlords await millions in rental assistance
More evictions can resume after the U.S. Supreme Court has ended the federal moratorium that was to last through Oct. 3 for areas with significant spread of the coronavirus, including Philadelphia and its surrounding counties. Millions of people nationwide are now at...
Senator Saval’s Statement on U.S. Supreme Court’s Ruling Thrusting Millions of Renters into Precarity
Philadelphia, PA — August 27, 2021 — Senator Nikil Saval (D–Philadelphia) released a statement today on the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to eliminate the only remaining protection for renters: “Hundreds of thousands of people across our state, and millions of...
Sen. Costa, Democratic lawmakers move to require rental assistance application before eviction proceedings
A group of Democratic lawmakers in Pennsylvania has introduced legislation aimed at preventing evictions and foreclosures while officials work to distribute federal relief funds to those in need. The bill, which was introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate on Monday,...
‘The money is there’: Senate Democrats propose an alternative to immediate evictions, foreclosures
With some people still struggling to pay their bills and recover from the pandemic, a group of Senate Democrats is working on legislation to provide an alternative to evictions and foreclosures. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Nikil Saval, D-Philadelphia, Senate Minority...
Sens. Unveil Measure To Keep Pennsylvanians In Homes
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Two local state lawmakers are among a handful of Pennsylvania legislators putting forth a proposal to help keep residents in their homes longer during this time of uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Senators Saval, Costa, Hughes, Haywood Announce New Legislation to Keep Struggling Pennsylvanians Housed
HARRISBURG, PA — Senator Nikil Saval (D–Philadelphia), Senator Jay Costa (D–Allegheny), Senator Vincent Hughes (D–Philadelphia/Montgomery), and Senator Art Haywood (D–Philadelphia/Montgomery) this week announced their plans for legislation to keep struggling...
PA immigration advocates make last minute push for Congressional support
Members of the House of Representatives returned from the Summer break on Monday, Aug. 23 and voting on the $3.5 trillion budget resolution will be one their main priorities. Senate Democrats approved the resolution on Aug. 11 and it was a vital step in securing a...