00:06 - We're joined by Joanna McClinton Pennsylvania speaker of the house tell us a little

00:10 - bit about what your job as speaker of the house entails

00:13 - so i am so excited to serve as speaker of the house

00:16 - speaker of the house is the oldest elected office

00:20 - in Pennsylvania it predates governor it predates the state senate

00:24 - it was created in our constitution in sixteen eighty two

00:28 - there have been one hundred and forty one

00:31 - speakers and i am the first woman to be speaker

00:35 - what that means is when we are here in Harrisburg

00:38 - and we have to vote

00:40 - on bills that will become lost here in Pennsylvania

00:43 - everybody's got something to say

00:45 - and that happens during debates

00:47 - and when debate happens someone has to keep the order

00:50 - someone has to decide who will speak

00:53 - when the next person will speak to ensure that everyone's voices are heard

00:57 - and as speaker

00:58 - i am the person in charge of what is happening on the floor of the house.

01:03 - What's a typical day like for you

01:04 - so the days here in Harrisburg vary

01:07 - of course we have a set time to go upstairs and start voting

01:11 - on mondays

01:12 - that's twelve pm

01:13 - on Tuesday and Wednesday that's eleven am

01:16 - but before that i'm here have meetings with constituents and neighbors and for

01:21 - people from all over Pennsylvania take time to come near Harrisburg

01:24 - to tell us as lawmakers

01:26 - what's important and what needs to change

01:29 - so i'm in this office meeting with people

01:32 - then I'll go to a press event where we're talking about

01:35 - how we can get more support for issues that we all applaud

01:39 - then i go upstairs and we have session and we vote

01:42 - then we'd go into the caucus room

01:44 - where we talk about all the bills.

01:46 - What first interested in you and serving in public service

01:50 - well it is something that has been a calling for me my mom is my example

01:55 - she's not in politics

01:56 - but she always has shown me what it means to give back to the community and when she

02:02 - showed me growing up how she volunteers so heavily at church

02:05 - when i went to law school

02:07 - i was a volunteer lawyer

02:09 - for my career

02:10 - i got paid but i was in the private sector

02:13 - i became a public defender

02:14 - and worked in public interest for almost ten years

02:18 - and then i got a job working for my state

02:19 - senator, my first time here in the capital

02:22 - i'd be up here in Harrisburg when the senate

02:25 - was voting in session

02:26 - a year and a half into that career

02:29 - my state representative resigned

02:31 - and my senator encouraged me

02:33 - to consider running

02:34 - i had no interest

02:36 - but long story short i developed

02:38 - interest

02:38 - in a short time and i decided to put myself out there and ask my neighbors

02:43 - if they'd give me the opportunity to represent them here in Harrisburg

02:47 - as you reference you're the first African American woman serving in this role do you

02:51 - feel a responsibility to to send a message to other

02:53 - young ladies that are interested in public service

02:55 - or some sort of leadership position

02:57 - absolutely when you are the first you definitely have responsibilities

03:02 - not only to be an example

03:03 - but most importantly to hold the door open

03:06 - i am thrilled that under my leadership

03:08 - women's leadership in Harrisburg has grown significantly

03:12 - we have three women

03:13 - in our leadership team which is the largest number we've ever had

03:17 - we have seven women who lead committees

03:20 - and they decide which bills are going to be voted

03:22 - on on the floor so they are chairs of these committees

03:25 - and we have a very amazing group of women from all

03:28 - across Pennsylvania in many different positions

03:31 - they're leading delegations they're leading different caucuses

03:35 - and most importantly

03:37 - i know one day women will go farther than me

03:39 - have a woman governor in this capital building

03:42 - and certainly my visibility encourages women to run even higher

03:46 - can you talk a little bit about the importance

03:48 - of negotiations and compromise whether we're

03:50 - talking about the caucasus within the house or

03:52 - with the senate or even the executive office

03:54 - absolutely so somebody has a good idea about what law should change

03:58 - but there are people who have to decide will my

04:01 - neighbors agree with that so it takes a lot of compromise

04:05 - and the way we do with here in the house you might

04:08 - change a bill by doing what's called amending it

04:11 - in addition to that

04:12 - once we send it to the state senate

04:14 - they may make more changes by amending it.

04:18 - So we have to decide what the final product

04:20 - will look like to get to the governor's desk

04:23 - but everybody

04:24 - a majority at least has to vote and say this is what we want the law to be

04:29 - in order to that in order for that to happen there's tons

04:31 - of compromise that happens all the way from committee

04:34 - to the floor of the house to the committee in the senate to the floor of the senate

04:38 - until it gets to the governor's desk

04:40 - what kind of issues to state government deal with

04:42 - that most impact Pennsylvania is young people

04:45 - so schools

04:46 - you're in school probably watching this

04:49 - we are responsible for paying so that you can go to a public school

04:53 - and for making waves for some of your parents

04:56 - to decide to send you to other types of schools

04:58 - traditional faith based schools for instance

05:01 - a lot of what is is

05:02 - happening in the school setting is right here in the state capital

05:06 - why is it important for Pennsylvania young people to be engaged in what their state

05:10 - government does even before they're old enough to vote

05:12 - because we hope that you will have these positions one day

05:16 - and it don't let it be like me where it occurs to you and your thirties

05:20 - oh what's happening in Harrisburg you can know about it now

05:23 - you can be informed about it now so by the time

05:26 - you're in high school you know who your state

05:28 - representative is and who use the senator is

05:30 - and by the time you're old enough to vote

05:32 - you know whether or not they've been doing a good job.

05:35 - And how to decide if they should stay for four years or two years

05:39 - or if we should go another route and when i visit middle schools

05:42 - i always ask when will you be eighteen cause

05:44 - that's when you might be on the ballot against me.

05:48 - Speaker Joanna McClinton thank you for joining us. thank you.