Candidate Spotlight Series: Joe D’Orsie

Welcome back to Broad + Liberty’s Candidate Spotlight Series! We reached out to candidates all across the Commonwealth up for election to public office — Democrats and Republicans, incumbents and challengers. Those who responded will have their answers shared on our website.

Joe D’Orsie is running for reelection to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in district 47, covering parts of York County. He is a registered Republican.

What is the most important issue impacting Pennsylvania?

Education. Pennsylvania spends $22,000 per pupil on average in our public school system. Sadly, this prolific appropriation hasn’t improved student outcomes. Public school enrollment continues to dip, schools continue to add more administrative staff, and uncreative advocates and bureaucrats claim that still more money will fix the problem. School choice is the answer. We must allow parents to choose their kids’ school and we must rescue children who are stuck in underachieving schools with no means to get out.

What is the most important issue impacting your district?

School taxes/property taxes. In my district and in York County more generally, school taxes are an acute burden on homeowners. It’s the #1 issue that I hear from constituents, and rightly so. In many cases, seniors are struggling to stay in their homes because of steep school tax bills. This is an area where we must make a change. The idea of taxing a resident annually simply for owning property (of which they paid a tax in purchasing it) is unjust.

What do you consider your greatest professional accomplishment?

Being published in major newspapers. As a first term representative in the minority party in the statehouse, I’ve yet to get a bill signed into law, but I have landed in major newspapers with my writing. I’ve had opinion pieces land in RealClearPolitics, Epoch Times, Daily Caller, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Penn Live, & more. 

If you could pass one piece of legislation, what would it be and why?

HB 1904 – The Student Freedom Account Act. I introduced this universal school choice bill in December. It would allow all PA families to send their child to their school of choice with their state tax dollars following them. 52 percent of parents, when surveyed, say that if money weren’t an issue they’d choose a different school than their public school. We have to empower parents and students to make decisions about their educational future. I believe that the shortfalls of our education system can only be corrected by options for parents. We have to start thinking outside the box on K-12 education and this proposal does that.

What aspects of state government are you the least satisfied with?

This is tough because I’m not satisfied with a lot of it! I would say the partisanship that we see in Harrisburg is hard to stomach. Also, the inefficiency of our departments, which I see on a daily basis, is sometimes infuriating. Also, the power and authority that the state departments have assumed is troubling. The executive branch in government (state and national) has accrued too much power. The General Assembly should have more involvement than it does on the goings on of Pennsylvania’s departments, which sometimes act unilaterally and defiantly. 

What was the best piece of Pennsylvania legislation passed in the last four years?

The pair of constitutional amendments that Pennsylvanians voted to enact in May 2021, limiting any Governor’s overreaching emergency powers. This was a very necessary step to rein in an executive branch that exercised too much control during the Covid era and ensure that similar overreach isn’t repeated.

What is your favorite thing to do in Pennsylvania?

Visiting businesses. I love getting out and celebrating innovation, hard work, and risk in the business sphere. Visiting businesses, manufacturing shops, restaurants, etc. in my district is atop my list. It’s fun to meet and encourage the people who took risks to start a business and provide not just a product or service to their neighbors, but jobs and opportunities to those in our community.

The candidate spotlight series series is open to any state office candidate on the ballot in November. Please contact barosica@broadandliberty.com for more information.

Broad + Liberty is a nonprofit media endeavor dedicated to sharing voices and stories that are shut out of other media outlets. @BroadAndLiberty

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