Pennsylvania Legislative Roundup: Q1 2026

• The Governor gave his 26-27 budget address the first week of February, and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have now completed their budget hearings. With those annual budget activities completed the General Assembly now returns for legislative business the week of March 23rd.
• We believe the legislative agenda in 2026 will be dominated by elections. The gubernatorial election will take place this November, with Governor Shapiro and State Treasurer Stacy Garrity having already announced their candidacies. This is also year two of the 2025-2026 legislative session and all 203 PA House seats and 25 of the 50 PA Senate seats will be contested.
• Given this environment, the Republican controlled Senate and the Democratic controlled House can be expected to move a number of bills in 2026 that have no chance of passing the other chamber but are intended to send political messages to the electorate.
  

PAMED is continuing to monitor and advocate on key issues including:

Midwives – Senate Bill 507 (Brown), a bill that would update provisions in the Medical Practice Act of 1985 regarding the practice of midwifery to include licensing certified midwives. The bill passed the Senate in October, moved quickly in the House, and is expected to receive final approval in the first quarter of 2026.

Maternal Health - House Bill 1088 (Steele) and House Bill 1234 (Mayes), legislation requiring both private and government-provided health insurance to cover blood pressure monitors for pregnant or postpartum patients passed the House and are awaiting consideration in the Senate.

Private Equity – There has been significant legislative interest in getting something done on regulating the involvement of private equity in healthcare. Numerous bills have been introduced, and public hearings have been held on this issue, in both the House and Senate. To date only House Bill 1460 (Borowski) has moved, passing the House last summer. That bill was referred to the Senate Institutional Sustainability and Innovation Committee and the committee continues to work on the issue but does not appear ready to move legislation at this time.

Scope of Practice – PAMED remains vigilant on all scope of practice legislation and continues to advocate for physician-led team-based care. Senate Bill 25 (Bartolotta) and House Bill 739 (Guenst) on independent practice for nurse practitioners, House Bill 1000 (Frankel) on prescriptive authority for psychologists, and Senate Bill 197 (Brown) physical therapist direct access are just some of the scope of practice bills we are actively engaged on.

Artificial Intelligence use in Healthcare – Various committees in both the House and Senate have already held, or will be holding in the near future, hearings on various aspects of the use of AI in healthcare. To date no bills have been moved but PAMED continues to monitor all developments on this issue.