Ex-Mayor Jim Kenney quietly killed a 15-cent fee on paper bags and three other Council bills before leaving office
Kenney used the "pocket veto" to kill four bills that Council approved at the last meeting of its four-year term.
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It appears that one of Mayor Jim Kenney’s last official acts was inaction.
Kenney, whose last day as mayor was Sunday, effectively killed four bills that City Council approved last month through what’s known as a “pocket veto,” according to Council’s legislative tracking website. That’s when the mayor declines to sign legislation into law at a time when Council doesn’t have an opportunity to enact it without his or her signature.
The most high-profile bill, authored by Councilmember Mark Squilla, would have created a 15-cent fee for single-use paper bags at retail stores. Another, by Councilmember Jimmy Harrity, would have added new protections for subcontracted building services workers, such as janitors and security guards.
Kenney also pocket-vetoed a bill by Councilmember Isaiah Thomas that aimed to help student-athletes get legal advice on how to navigate name, image, and likeness, or “NIL,” deals, and another by Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. that added regulations for virtual slot machines.
Kenney also appears to have taken no action on a fifth bill — a Jones measure to install a traffic signal — but it has not yet been categorized as pocket-vetoed in Council’s system.
Kenney very rarely vetoed legislation directly during his eight-year administration. But at the end of his first term, in 2019, he pocket-vetoed six bills.
He has not offered a public explanation for why he killed the four bills last month, and attempts to reach him Thursday night were unsuccessful.
Despite his opposition, it’s possible all four will become law during Council’s new four-year term. The bill authors were all reelected, and all four measures passed with overwhelming majorities.
The new term officially began Tuesday with a ceremonial meeting in which the next group of 17 members were sworn in to office, Kenyatta Johnson was elected Council president, and new Mayor Cherelle L. Parker was publicly inaugurated as Kenney’s successor.
The pocket veto is only possible thanks to a quirk in legislative rules that applies following the final meeting of each four-year Council term. For the last Council cohort, that was Dec. 14, and lawmakers passed a bevy of legislation before adjourning for the year.
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After Council approves a bill, it heads to the desk of the mayor, who has three options: sign it into law, veto it, or do neither. Usually if the mayor neither signs nor vetoes the bill within 10 days, it becomes law without his or her signature.
But in order to enact the bill without the mayor’s approval, Council has to read it into to the record after the 10-day window passes. And because Dec. 14 was the final meeting of the last Council’s term, lawmakers didn’t have a chance to enroll them during their next meeting.
Kenney does not appear to have announced his decision to kill the proposals. Thomas said he learned that Kenney killed his NIL bill when The Inquirer asked him for comment Thursday evening.
“It’s extremely disappointing but not surprising,” Thomas said. “To pocket-veto it is tone-deaf. ... They’re not thinking about what’s in the best interest of the children.”
Harrity said that while a Kenney aide had given his staff a heads up about the pocket veto, he was nonetheless surprised the mayor opposed his bill.
“I was under the impression he was going to sign it, and then he did not,” Harrity said. “It’ll be reintroduced. We’ll just start the process all over again.”
Council will hold its next meeting Jan. 25.