Oct. 29, 2025
HARRISBURG — Rep. Kathy L. Rapp (R-Warren/Crawford/Forest), Republican chair of the House Health Committee, issued this statement following a party-line vote to re-refer
Senate Bill 9, also known as the Save Women’s Sports Act, out of the Health Committee to the Judiciary Committee:
“When the House Education Committee met on July 8 to consider re-referring Senate Bill 9, a question was asked to the majority chair why the Save Women’s Sports Act was being re-referred to the House Health Committee. The majority chair responded that he ‘had a conversation internally. Speaking with the majority chair of Health, we decided this would be a better, more appropriate place to consider this legislation.’
“If that were true, then why are House Democrats now passing the buck once more? Let’s be realistic, Senate Bill 9 is an education bill regarding the ‘designation of athletic teams and sports’ in public institutions of higher education and public school entities. This bill belongs in the Education Committee. But if the Health Committee is the ‘more appropriate place’ to consider Senate Bill 9, what happened since July 8 to cause this committee to now re-refer the bill to the Judiciary Committee?
“We all know the reasons why. The majority party probably has the votes in this committee to vote the bill down today. But politically, this is a losing issue for them. Rather than just vote, the majority party would rather play games and move this bill around as it continues its never-ending quest to find the ‘most appropriate committee’ to consider the bill. I suspect, as many here probably do, that the ‘most appropriate committee’ will never be found. At this rate, this bill will somehow end up in the Game and Fish Committee by session’s end.
“As a legislator of this Commonwealth, I have a duty to protect the women and girls of Pennsylvania. They deserve the chance to compete against other women and girls, not biological males.”
Representative Kathy Rapp
65th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Jake Gillespie
717.772.9834
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