In 2018, one of the deadliest attacks on the Jewish community in the history of this country occurred in my district when worshipers in the three synagogues in the Tree of Life building were attacked during shabbat services.  The perpetrator of this act, who had a history of posting antisemitic comments, murdered eleven people that morning. 
 
That terrible day added Pittsburgh to the long list of American cities that have been rocked by identity-based hate crimes. People have been attacked at their local grocery store, at a gay night club and even in their own homes because of who they are, how they look, where they’re from or how they identify. Other hate crimes have taken the form of assault or vandalism, designed to terrify not just individual victims, but their whole communities.
 
Between 2020 and 2021 alone, the Pennsylvania State Police Uniform Crime Reporting System showed a 203.39 percent increase in hate crime incidents, with a total of 358 reported incidents affecting individuals of different races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, disabilities, and genders.   Our current statutes need to be made more comprehensive to address these acts, and to provide law enforcement with the tools needed to combat this conduct.  
 
Soon, I plan to introduce a package of legislation intended to modernize our laws to address hate crimes and ethnic intimidation.
 
These bills would help bring Pennsylvania’s hate crimes statutes in line with federal data collection and with the 35 others states that have more protective law than ours, and it would do so while honoring First Amendment protections for bigoted speech, unpopular speech, and hate speech.
 
Please join me in co-sponsoring this long-overdue legislation.  Hate crimes are more than crimes against individuals, they’re crimes against our communities and are meant to strike fear in our most vulnerable citizens. These bills will send a message to those citizens: we stand with you.  They will also send a message, loud and clear, to those individuals who would make our most vulnerable groups live in fear: hate has no place here.