LAMPa works on a variety of issues in any given legislative session. You can find our current legislative priorities here. Click on an issue area below for resources to deepen your understanding and advocacy.
Hunger Programs
ASK: Include $24.88 million for SFPP and $9.5 million for PASS in the 2025-2026 budget
The rising cost of food is a significant hardship not only for families, but services like congregational ministries that want to ensure everyone who needs a meal can get one. The State Food Purchase Program (SFPP) allows the state to buy food in bulk prices so more people can be fed. The PA Agricultural Surplus System (PASS) provides an efficient mechanism for Pennsylvania’s agricultural industry to donate safe, wholesome food products while being reimbursed for the costs involved in producing these foods. This reduces food waste and helps both farmers and hungry neighbors. These amounts reflect a $8 million increase over previous years, which is a step toward meeting the increase in needs seen at food banks and ministries across Pennsylvania.
In previous budgets, SFPP and PASS were incorporated into the same line item. This year, they are separated out to provide greater transparency and clarity.
More information:
- Stories from PA Hunger Ministries
- PASS – Strategic Goals and Initiatives
- ELCA Social Statement on Economic Life – A Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All
ASK: Call U.S. Senators and Representatives to oppose SNAP cuts at the federal level.
Pennsylvania cannot make up the proposed cuts to SNAP at the federal level. More than 1 million Pennsylvania households participate in SNAP every month. Such drastic cuts not only harm those who are hungry and struggling to make ends meet, they also harm farmers who provide local food for hunger programs.
These cuts would slash SNAP by more than 20% and could cut some low-income children off from receiving vital school meals. The proposed cuts would either reduce benefits for all participants, expand work or bureaucratic requirements, remove approximately nine million people from the program entirely, or force states to shoulder benefit costs. Local food pantries and meal programs—many operated by Lutheran congregations—cannot fill the enormous gap that would be created by these cuts.
More information:
Ask: Support HB1095/SB549 – Limited Access to Eviction Information
Thousands of Pennsylvanians carry eviction filing records who have never been evicted.
In Pennsylvania, eviction filings are publicly accessible and remain on a tenant’s record regardless of the outcome of that filing, including when a tenant is found not at fault by the court. Because eviction filings can automatically remove potential tenants from a pool of applicants, tenants with a record are forced to seek housing of last resort that is managed by less reputable landlords, in disrepair, unhealthy, less affordable, and increases the risk of future eviction and housing instability.
With average wages lagging far behind housing costs, eviction filings are now returning to pre-pandemic levels even as unemployment decreases. More families are being barred from accessing housing that is in increasingly short supply with no remedy to alleviate a long past eviction filing record.
- From 2001 – 2019, the median renter income in PA rose 5% while rents increased 16%.
- Over 1 million Pennsylvanians are working in positions that do not pay enough for rent when working 40 hours a week.
- Pennsylvania has the lowest unemployment rate in 47 years.
Pennsylvania continues to improve upon the highly successful Clean Slate law to seal minor criminal records and open both employment and housing opportunities for those with long past offenses. In keeping with the precedent for granting second chances, it is only fair that the Commonwealth provide a civil legal remedy that will help vulnerable Pennsylvania’s access the basic need for housing.
- In Pennsylvania, misdemeanors are sealed after 7 years and felonies after 10 years.
- Bankruptcy filings and missed payments are removed from credit reports after 7 years.
- State law provides no remedy to limit access to eviction filings.
HB1095/SB549 provide an Order of Limited Access for eviction filings. All landlord-tenant eviction cases will remain sealed from the time of filing until a court renders a decision. Cases found in favor of the plaintiff (landlord) will be accessible within 30 days. Decisions in favor of the defendant (tenant), or withdrawn, dismissed, or settled will remain under an Order of Limited Access. All cases will be sealed within seven years.
Eviction records can be the start of the cycle of poverty, not just for adults but also for their children. More than 114,000 Pennsylvanians had evictions filed against them between the summers of 2022 and 2023. This policy change would immediately provide limited access to over 35,000 eviction filings from the previous year and likely every year going forward.
HB1095/SB549 is a simple, effective change that will benefit thousands of Pennsylvania residents and make a real difference to those who are seeking safe, affordable housing. HB 1095 just passed the House Housing and Community Development Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support. It could go to the floor for a full vote soon!
More Information
ASK: Community Energy Expands Access to Renewable Resources
Deadly flooding, worsening drought, record-breaking heat and increasing wildfires all point to the devastating consequences of climate change in the U.S. and around the world. The Intergovernmental Panel on 2023 Report Climate Change was described as “an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership.” Human-induced climate change is already creating weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe.
Many of these changes are unprecedented, and some of the shifts are in motion now, while some – such as continued sea level rise – are already ‘irreversible’ for centuries to millennia ahead, the report warns.
As Christians, we are called to love our neighbor and care for our common home. We do that in our personal lives and in our life together by living simply and being good stewards of creation. We also do this by encouraging policies that support the common good.
House Bill 504 enables community renewable energy projects in Pennsylvania that would allow us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions while helping to create a more resilient energy system. Many congregations and other nonprofits who cannot take advantage of tax breaks, or whose property is not well suited to onsite solar installation, have been frustrated in their attempts to be better stewards. Community energy allows businesses, farms and nonprofits such as churches and other community organizations to directly participate in and receive benefits from an offsite solar project connected to their local electric distribution company’s grid.
The Pennsylvania House Consumer Protection, Technology & Utilities Committee advanced House Bill 504, a community energy bill with overwhelming bipartisan support! It passed the house on May 7, 2025!
More Information:
LWF Report: Exploring Non-Economic Impacts of Climate Change through Faith-Based Perspectives
From The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) – Know Your Rights: Five Things Parents Detained by ICE Should Know
From ELCA Ammparo – The Latest: Know Your Rights Information
From Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition (PIC) – Report: Immigrants Grow Communities
From International Rescue Committee – 2025 State Policy Guide
From Philadelphia Legal Assistance – Child Custody for Parents & Caregivers: Info Guide for Immigrant Families
From Pennsylvania Immigrant Coalition (PIC) – Welcoming Schools Campaign
From Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) – Red Cards/ Tarjetas Rojas
From the National Immigration Project – Community Explainer: Section 1324
From the Education Law Center – Rights of Immigrant Students in PA Schools – Recording – Slide Deck
ASK: Support HB 79 – Medical Debt Prevention
More than half of Pennsylvanians have struggled to pay for health care, with more than a million reporting medical debt already in collections, according to a 2021 study. For many, a trip to the emergency room or even a planned surgery can mean overwhelming bills that can lead to a spiral of economic instability, family stress and unhealthy outcomes.
House Bill 79 would intervene in that cycle, aiming to prevent medical debt before a patient ever receives a bill, using programs that already exist. The legislation would reduce red tape, increase transparency and awareness and create a streamlined process for accessing health coverage and free or discounted care. For Pennsylvanians already struggling with medical debt, the program would reduce predatory practices by collection agencies.
Versions of this bill have passed the House with bipartisan support in past sessions. It recently passed the House Health Committee with unanimous support. It could go to the House floor for a full vote soon, and then to the Senate for consideration.
More Information
From PA Partnerships for Children – Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment for PA Kids
