Centre County lawmakers defend votes related to PA prison closures. ‘Political stunts’
Two Republican state lawmakers introduced amendments last week designed to block the proposed closures of Rockview state prison and Quehanna Boot Camp, a move some praised while criticizing Centre County Democrats for their votes.
The amendments brought forward by state Reps. Dallas Kephart, R-Clearfield, and Stephanie Borowicz, R-Clinton, would have kept the facilities that employ hundreds open for at least another decade.
But they were tacked onto a bill meant to expand medication treatments for opioid use disorder in county jails and Democratic Speaker Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, ruled them out of order. Pennsylvania’s constitution mandates that bills contain only one subject. No votes were taken on the amendments.
Kephart appealed, but Democrats sided with McClinton’s ruling in a 102-101 party-line vote. In Centre County, state Rep. Paul Takac, D-College Township and Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, voted in favor and Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, voted against.
In statements after the vote, Takac and Conklin were sharply critical of the way in which the amendments were brought forward. They said it amounted to political grandstanding and gave false hope to people worried about their livelihoods.
“That is the worst type of politics there is,” Conklin said Friday on WRSC-FM. “That is literally taking advantage of somebody who is hurting and saying ‘Look how bad they are and look how good I am because I did this’ when you know full well that what you did was unconstitutional.”
Takac said in a written statement that what Kephart and Borowicz attempted to do would have been overturned immediately by the judicial branch had they advanced that far.
“I am not interested in showboating or giving people false hopes,” Takac said. “Instead, I am 100% focused on delivering what I have always promised: fighting for the best possible outcome given the hard reality that the Dept of Corrections seems to be hell-bent on closing Rockview and Quehanna.”
In a video posted to Facebook a day before the amendments were introduced, even Borowicz acknowledged it was unlikely they would pass. She described it as a “long shot” and said McClinton could rule them out of order.
“Worth a shot,” Borowicz said. “We’re going to give it all we got but we need you guys behind us supporting this.”
It seems unlikely the bill would have been made into law even if it passed the legislature and was constitutional. It would have then gone to Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose administration proposed closing Rockview and Quehanna in the first place.
Conklin said it “would not have changed a thing at the end of the day” and was unhelpful in the bipartisan push to keep the facilities open.
“When you come to people’s jobs and people’s lives, that’s where you stop the politics,” Conklin said. “You stop shenanigans and you do what’s right and you don’t do political stunts.”
Two other amendments to the bill — one proposed by a Republican and another proposed by a Democrat — passed unanimously. The full bill passed Wednesday with bipartisan support, a 192-11 vote.
The Department of Corrections has not yet announced if it will move forward with its proposal. A decision is expected by the end of the month.
This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 3:42 PM.