Steven Samuelson (born September 21, 1960) is a Democratic member of the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

. He was elected to his 13th term in November 2022 and is currently the Democratic chair of the Aging and Older Adult Services Committee.

Early life

Samuelson is a

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

native. He attended Liberty High School as part of its class of 1978 and received a B.A. in Government from Lehigh University as part of their class of 1986. Samuelson served as legislative aide and clerk for the Lehigh County Commissioners board from 1989 to 1998. He also served as legislative aid to representatives Paul McHale and Karen Ritter.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Samuelson was elected to the

Pennsylvania House district 135 Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Mar ...

in 1998, taking office at the opening of the next legislative session in 1999.> During his 23 years in office he has sponsored 578 bills. Some of his more notable bills include House Bill 1260 which he co-authored that increased the income limits for the PACENET program by $6,000 to increase access to prescription medicine for

senior citizens Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human biological life cycle, life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage ...

. It is estimated that due to this expansion 20,000 more Pennsylvanians have access to the PACENET program. Additionally he authored House Bill 2560 which utilized a portion of left over

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

relief money to increase rent rebate payments for an estimated 477,000 Pennsylvanians, mostly above the age of 65. Additionally Samuelson has been pivotal in securing funding for renovation projects in Bethlehem including a $500,000 grant to the National Museum of Industrial History, $30,000,000 to renovate the ruins of the

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...

plant in the South Side, and $9,100,000 to renovate the Goodman Building.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuelson, Steve Living people Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives 21st-century American politicians 1960 births