Rep. Joe Webster

As a proud co-sponsor on the Digital Advertising Tax from Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, Rep. Aerion Abney and Rep. John Inglis, I was glad to vote yes and see the bill pass the PA House this week by a vote of 139-63.

House Bill 1678 ensures Big Tech corporations are paying their fair share to generate income for Pennsylvania. These funds will be used to provide property tax relief for older Pennsylvanians. This bill implements a digital advertising tax on Big Tech companies that profit off targeted digital ads. These corporations maximize profits by collecting data to sell us ads: the banners on news sites, artificially boosted search engine results, and full screen pop-ups. Not only do these ads make our experience on the internet more difficult, they’re also not subject to taxation. HB 1678 would change that.

The bills now goes to the PA Senate for consideration. You can track its progress by clicking here: https://www.palegis.us/legislation/bills/2025/hb1678

We had a great turnout last Saturday for the Shred Event my office hosted with Rep. Matt Bradford and Senator Amanda Cappelletti! We were able to safely dispose of all paper materials with the help of trucks from Shred-It, and we can’t wait to host this again for the community next year!

Special thanks to Shred-It, Norristown Area High School for allowing us to use the parking lot, the West Norriton Fire Police for directing traffic, West Norriton Township for the traffic cones we used to direct traffic, my staff which included Amy, Sue, Mary, Crystal, Michael and our volunteer Sean, as well as the staff from Rep. Bradford and Sen. Cappelletti!

Gun violence is an epidemic that has spread its reach all across the nation. Locally, we have felt this impact, and I'm heartbroken for the children and community members who are experiencing tragedy this week. To honor the memory of all those affected by gun violence, we’re recognizing National Gun Violence Awareness Weekend (June 5-7) and National Gun Violence Awareness Month throughout June.

I will continue to support and advocate on behalf of our community, and I reaffirm my commitment to backing commonsense legislation that would keep our communities safe. I currently co-sponsor a series of bills from my colleagues that seek to ban ghost guns and undetectable fi****ms, destroy confiscated or recovered fi****ms and provide for extreme risk protection orders to temporarily disarm an individual in crisis. In the meantime, contact my office if you or a loved one are in need of resources or support to process the aftermath of gun violence, or to share your concerns about the gun violence epidemic.

Too many lives have been lost, and we deserve to live without the fear of gun violence in our neighborhoods. This reality is possible, and we can achieve it while still respecting responsible gun ownership.