Scott Martin is an American politician from Pennsylvania who has been a Republican member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 13th district since January 3, 2017. He was previously a two-term Lancaster county commissioner and chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican County Commissioners Caucus. Martin is married to Amber Martin and they have four children.[1] After a six-month exploratory committee, on December 11, 2021, Martin announced his intention to seek the office of governor of Pennsylvania. He suspended his gubernatorial bid on February 11, 2022, because of complications from a broken leg and other injuries suffered in an accident, resulting in surgery.
Martin authored legislation which was later signed into law as Act 73 of 2017, which allows Pennsylvanians to voluntarily donate $5 to the Pediatric Cancer Research Fund when electronically renewing a driver's license, photo identification card or vehicle registration.[3]
Martin has pushed for legislation that would allow Pennsylvania businesses to apply for tax credits if they make a donation to certain Pennsylvania medical centers for the purposes of pediatric cancer research/treatment. The total amount of tax credits could not exceed $10 million in any one fiscal year and the program would last ten years.[4]
Marijuana
Martin stated in 2019 that he is against the legalization of cannabis in Pennsylvania.[5] In 2021, Martin voted for House Bill 1024, which allowed cannabis corporations to remediate moldy product and use additional pesticides, among other provisions.[6] Martin voted against the home grow amendment for registered medical patients, Amendment No. A-2029, introduced by Senator Shariff Street in association with House Bill 1024.[7]
Charter schools
As Education committee chair, Martin introduced legislation opposed by school boards and teachers’ unions that seeks to make it easier to open charter schools and to accelerate state taxpayer subsidies for private and parochial schools by hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years.[8] The bill also says that Charter schools would no longer be able to advertise themselves as "cost-free" or "free", as they often do in marketing themselves now. Additionally, it is said it would add transparency and accountability measures for charters to follow, as well as allowing all secondary schools to offer dual-enrollment programs with colleges.[9]
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