A Resolution designating September 18, 2025, and September 18, 2026, as "State Grange Day" in Pennsylvania and celebrating the Pennsylvania State Grange on its 152nd and 153rd anniversaries.
Summary
House Resolution 5 is a ceremonial resolution that designates September 18, 2025, and September 18, 2026, as “State Grange Day” in Pennsylvania. It also celebrates the 152nd and 153rd anniversaries of the Pennsylvania State Grange and recognizes the organization’s long history in the Commonwealth.
The resolution recounts the Grange’s origins after the Civil War, its early growth in Pennsylvania, and its continuing role as a rural and agricultural advocacy and community service organization. It highlights the first Pennsylvania Grange in Lycoming County, the formation of the Pennsylvania State Grange in Reading in 1873, and examples of Grange-led projects such as the Grange Memorial Hall dormitory, postwar milk donations, and international aid efforts. The measure does not create a new regulatory program or funding mechanism; it is primarily commemorative and honorary in nature.
Impact
HR 5 does not amend the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes or impose new legal duties on residents, agencies, or the Pennsylvania State Grange. Its practical effect is to establish two commemorative observances on September 18 in 2025 and 2026 and to formally recognize the Grange’s contributions to rural life, agriculture, education, and community service in Pennsylvania.
Sentiment
The overall sentiment around the resolution appears strongly positive and noncontroversial. It advanced unanimously out of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee by a 26-0 vote and then passed the House floor overwhelmingly, 200-3. The vote pattern suggests broad bipartisan support for honoring the Pennsylvania State Grange and its historical role in the Commonwealth.
Contention
There is little evidence of substantive policy contention because the resolution is honorary rather than regulatory. Any disagreement appears limited to the small number of dissenting floor votes, but the available materials do not identify specific objections or opposing arguments. The measure’s focus on celebrating a longstanding agricultural and civic institution likely contributed to its broad support.
Providing for the Pennsylvania Amber Alert System, the Missing Endangered Person Advisory System and the Green Alert System and for duties of the Pennsylvania State Police; assessing costs; providing for immunity and penalties; and making a repeal.
Directing the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a study and establish an advisory committee to determine the impact on Pennsylvania taxpayers of Pennsylvania State Police full or partial police services for municipalities that do not maintain full police coverage.
Authorizing the Department of General Services, with the approval of the Governor, to grant and convey to Susquehanna Regional Transportation Authority certain lands situate in the City of Harrisburg, Dauphin County; authorizing the transfer of an easement interest in lands for a portion of the Project 70 lands owned by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, known as Lake Winola Access, in Overfield Township, Wyoming County, to the Department of Transportation; authorizing the Department of General Services, with the approval of the Governor and the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, to convey to Tioga County a tract of land, and to accept a tract of land from Tioga County, both tracts being located in Charleston Township, Tioga County; and authorizing the Department of General Services, on behalf of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, with the approval of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Governor, to grant and convey to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, solely for the use of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, a parcel in Lehigh Township, Carbon County, in exchange for a tract partly in Nesquehoning Borough and partly in Lehigh Township, Carbon County, to be conveyed to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, acting by and through the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and added to Lehigh Gorge State Park.