Pennsylvania State Representative District 34
Description of office: The General Assembly is the legislative branch of government in Pennsylvania. It is composed of two houses: the Senate is the upper house, and the House of Representatives is the lower house. A majority vote in both houses is necessary to pass a law. The PA House of Representatives consists of 203 members representing one district each, with an equal number of constituents. Representatives must be at least 21 years old, have been a citizen and a resident of the state four years and a resident of their respective districts one year before their election, and shall reside in their respective districts during their terms of service. The House develops budget packages, makes taxation decisions, allocates spending, and passes laws (including redistricting in collaboration with the Senate). The House also has the exclusive authority to impeach public officials. Representatives also serve on various policy committees that may propose legislation. Term: 2 years Salary: $106,422 Vote for ONE.
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Abigail Salisbury
(Dem)
What do you see as the most pressing issues facing Pennsylvanians, and how would you address them?
What changes would you support making to Pennsylvania’s voting laws to expand access, ensure security, and support local election officials and processes?
What legislation would you support to comply with the Commonwealth Court's ruling that Pennsylvania’s school funding system is unconstitutional and must be reformed?
What changes, if any, would you support making to Pennsylvania’s abortion laws?
County
Allegheny
Occupation
State Representative, Nonprofit Attorney
Education
B.A. Case Western Reserve University, J.D. Pitt Law, MPPM Pitt GSPIA
Qualifications
Incumbent of 1 year, nonprofit attorney, small business owner for 9 years, taught classes on First Amendment Law, international human rights law experience, 5 years on Swissvale Borough Council, former nonprofit executive director.
(1) Unconstitutional system of funding public education. On the Appropriations committee, I focus on shifting from a system based on local property taxes, which exacerbates structural inequities. We must instead pool resources at the state level and invest heavily in basic education funding.
(2) Infrastructure. Massive state investment in roads, water, and sewage systems is necessary.
(3) The burden on 2,560 municipalities to provide public services. I hold intermunicipal meetings for my 13 communities' elected officials, I am working on providing free grant-writing services to low-income municipalities to give them access to state grants. I work on intermunicipal cooperation efforts to help leverage small boroughs' resources.
This year, the primary falls on the Jewish holiday of Passover. As a Jew, I worked hard to try to change the date of the primary so that it would not disenfranchise anyone based on their religion, but ultimately I failed. We must work harder to ensure that scheduling issues known far in advance do not harm voting rights. We must also make it as easy as possible to vote, so that small mistakes on mail-in ballots do not disqualify votes and so that people can leave work to vote in person if they choose.
We attempted to work on this last year and failed, so right now the legislation I am focused on will be the budget bill. We just finished up education budget hearings yesterday on Appropriations and I am encouraged to see the increased state investment in school districts with lower incomes and property values, but it is not enough. Once we get through the budget period for this year, it is time to tackle the larger structural issue anew on a caucus level, and new legislation will be developed to do so. I look forward to working with our Education Chair and our leadership to accomplish that goal.
I support maintaining the right to choose, but that right is meaningless if people do not have the ability to pay for their reproductive healthcare choices. Abortion is healthcare. We must therefore ensure that people have affordable or free access to healthcare in PA.
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