House Democrats take step toward expelling State Rep. Kevin Boyle

HARRISBURG — A top House Democratic leader took a first step Thursday toward expelling State Rep. Kevin Boyle from the state House, as the lawmaker faces criminal charges and his family says he’s suffering from a serious mental health condition.

House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery), in response to Boyle’s situation, introduced a resolution Thursday to create a new process for expulsion based on a member’s incapacity to fulfill duties.

The action comes less than a week before the primary election and is an extraordinary step because removing Boyle, a Democrat, would temporarily endanger his party’s narrow majority in the House.

Philadelphia police issued a warrant for Boyle’s arrest Tuesday for allegedly violating a protection from abuse order. As of Thursday evening, Boyle had not turned himself in. Despite the potential House action and the legal case against him, Boyle will remain on Tuesday’s primary ballot. His Democratic primary challenger, Sean Dougherty, has the backing of party leaders.

Bradford’s resolution would change House operating rules to create a new expulsion process by forming a five-member subcommittee of top legislative leaders from both parties to investigate whether a member is unable to fulfill duties as a state representative.

The subcommittee would decide whether the member suffers a temporary or permanent impairment — whether physical or mental — that makes the person “unable to discharge the duties of office,” according to the resolution. The committee would also consider substance abuse or other cognitive impairments.

If Boyle were expelled, House Democrats would not have the 102 votes they needed to pass bills along party lines. They could hold a special election 60 days after his expulsion to fill the seat. With such a narrow majority, Democrats have previously chosen not to meet during the two-month period of a vacancy, stopping up any legislative work for months. But this action comes as the June 30 state budget deadline is looming, and it was not immediately clear how House leaders would handle such a vacancy.

Boyle’s brother, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Pa.), said Wednesday that family, friends and colleagues “have done everything possible to get him to enter into treatment, but we have been frustrated by a system that gives little power to the loved ones of an adult with a serious mental health condition.”

Bradford, who is one of Kevin Boyle’s close friends, shared similar concerns for his mental health.

“It breaks my heart to see him this way,” Bradford told The Inquirer last week.

The timeline of the potential expulsion was not clear Thursday. The House is not scheduled to return to session until April 29, and the resolution would need to be adopted before an expulsion proceeding could move forward.

The new confidential process Bradford proposed also includes outcomes other than expulsion, including suspension with or without pay. The subject of any incapacity investigation would be allowed to participate in the closed-door process, along with a lawyer.

The state House last expelled a member, Rep. Leonard Sweeney, of Allegheny County, in 1975 after he was convicted of mail fraud, and only 15 members have been expelled from the House since 1683, WGAL reported.

House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler (R., Lancaster), who argued on the House floor Wednesday that Kevin Boyle’s voting rights should be immediately revoked, said Thursday that Bradford’s resolution overcomplicates the situation. Democrats should still move to revoke Kevin Boyle’s voting privileges, he said, because his whereabouts are currently unknown.

“Pennsylvania House Democrats continue to use this tragedy to further the tyranny of their majority and that is shameful,” Cutler added.

Democrats opted to keep Boyle’s voting privileges intact Wednesday.

That means until his potential expulsion, Boyle — who lost his Capitol security access in February following an outburst at a Montgomery County bar — will likely still be recorded as voting on issues before the chamber even though he is not present.

Democratic leaders are empowered to vote on his behalf because of a designation form he filed at the start of the legislative session. That process, known as proxy voting, has been expanded since the COVID-19 pandemic and allows party leaders to vote for other members. House Democrats have been using that mechanism to vote on Boyle’s behalf during the last few months even though he did not show up to work.

Democrats “already determined he’s not fit for duty,” Cutler said at a news conference Wednesday because they’ve endorsed his primary opponent and have expressed concern for his mental health. “They understand the severity of the issue and I think they’re taking advantage of him simply to maintain a 102 majority, and that’s wrong.”