Called the “conscience of the legislature” and voted the “Biggest Credit to the Senate” during his time in office, Allen Kukovich served for nearly three decades in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate where he was respected for his idealism and pragmatism as he strived to make government a force for good that improved peoples lives. 

 

He was the prime sponsor of Pennsylvania's Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which became the model for the national program that now provides health care to millions of children. His  Children’s Trust Fund law provided increased funding to programs that prevent child abuse, and his Medicare Overcharge Measure provided safeguards to protect seniors from fraud.  He passed the Family Caregivers Act to help families supporting loved ones with Alzheimer’s, the Attendant Care Program to give independence to people living with disabilities, and the Homeowners Emergency Assistance Program to prevent mortgage foreclosures for laid-off steelworkers—all programs that received national acclaim.

A known reformer, he helped create the state Ethics Act, ended the lawyer-legislator conflict of interest, and led a decades-long quest to enact campaign finance reform in Pennsylvania. His efforts to abolish the death penalty led to a remarkable bi-partisan partnership in the state Senate which resulted in two historic hearings and paved the way for the eventual capital punishment moratorium in Pennsylvania.  He also authored and passed the first hate crimes amendment in Pennsylvania and led the fight to provide dedicated state funding to food banks, domestic violence shelters, and programs for the unhoused—helping people who needed a champion in the halls of power.

 

Kukovich was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1977 until 1996, when he won a seat in the Pennsylvania Senate where he served until 2004. In both chambers, he represented Westmoreland County, where he was born and raised.  He was a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2002, and was Chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party from 2002 through 2003.

Kukovich helped found the Pennsylvania chapter of Common Cause and was an executive board member of the national organization, Americans for Democratic Action.

Born 1947, in Manor, Pennsylvania, Kukovich graduated from Kent State University and Duquesne University School of Law.  Prior to his service in the Legislature, he practiced law in Greensburg, Pennsylvania and served in the Pennsylvania National Guard from 1970 to 1976.