HARRISBURG, Pa. — A top House Democratic leader took a first step Thursday toward expelling State Rep. Kevin Boyle from the state House, as the lawmaker faces criminal charges and his family says he’s suffering from a serious mental health condition.

Democratic House Majority Leader Matt Bradford, in response to Boyle’s situation, introduced a resolution Thursday to create a new process for expulsion based on a member’s incapacity to fulfill duties.

The action comes less than a week before the primary election and is an extraordinary step because removing Boyle, a Democrat, would temporarily endanger his party’s narrow majority in the House.

Philadelphia police issued a warrant for Boyle’s arrest Tuesday for allegedly violating a protection from abuse order. As of Thursday evening, Boyle had not turned himself in. Despite the potential House action and the legal case against him, Boyle will remain on Tuesday’s primary ballot. His Democratic primary challenger, Sean Dougherty, has the backing of party leaders.

Bradford’s resolution would change House operating rules to create a new expulsion process by forming a five-member subcommittee of top legislative leaders from both parties to investigate whether a member is unable to fulfill duties as a state representative.

The subcommittee would decide whether the member suffers a temporary or permanent impairment — whether physical or mental — that makes the person “unable to discharge the duties of office,” according to the resolution. The committee would also consider substance abuse or other cognitive impairments.

If Boyle were expelled, House Democrats would not have the 102 votes they needed to pass bills along party lines. They could hold a special election 60 days after his expulsion to fill the seat. With such a narrow majority, Democrats have previously chosen not to meet during the two-month period of a vacancy, stopping up any legislative work for months. But this action comes as the June 30 state budget deadline is looming, and it was not immediately clear how House leaders would handle such a vacancy.

Boyle’s brother, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., said Wednesday that family, friends and colleagues “have done everything possible to get him to enter into treatment, but we have been frustrated by a system that gives little power to the loved ones of an adult with a serious mental health condition.”

Bradford, who is one of Kevin Boyle’s close friends, shared similar concerns for his mental health.

“It breaks my heart to see him this way,” Bradford told The Philadelphia Inquirer last week.

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