The House and Senate will reconvene on Monday, September 22, 2014.  Here’s what happened in Harrisburg this week:

Session Returns

This week the House and Senate returned to Harrisburg for their first session week since summer recess. Only a few voting days loom between now and the November 4 election, which leaves a great deal of speculation regarding how much will get done and whether any of the big ticket items, such as pension reform or liquor privatization will even be addressed.  Traditionally, we haven’t seen too many heavy legislative lifts this close to Election Day.   In the meantime, here’s what happened this week.

Debt Reduction and Capital Projects

Two bills made their way out of the House Finance Committee this week in an effort by House Republicans to reduce the Commonwealth’s debt obligation. H.B. 2419 (Turzai, R-Allegheny) amends the Capital Facilities Debt Enabling Act to limit the amount of funding to be released for certain capital projects. The bill was considered for a second time in the House and was rereferred to the House Appropriations committee where it currently awaits a vote.

The second bill, H.B. 2420 (Benninghoff, R-Centre) amends the Capital Facilities Debt Enabling Act by placing a limitation on redevelopment assistance capital project (RACP) obligations. The RACP debt ceiling would be reduced by an addition $50 million over the next several years until the sum of the outstanding obligations for the projects equals $2.95 billion. Just like the companion bill, H.B. 2420 received second consideration and was referred to the House Appropriations Committee. House Appropriations has three meetings scheduled for next week, so we will continue to keep an eye out for any additional movement on these two bills.

In a related matter, the bill to authorize and itemize certain capital budget projects is expected to be voted on by the House next week.  H.B. 2478 (Adolf, R-Delaware) was reported out of the House Appropriations Committee this week. Referred to as the Capital Budget Project Itemization Act of 2014-2015, the bill provides for this fiscal year’s capital budget and itemizes certain capital projects.

All of the funds for all of the approved projects are not immediately available once the Capital Budget Project Itemization Act is approved by the legislature. The Governor’s Budget Office has a project approval and funding release process in order to manage the issuance of general obligation debt. It is ultimately up to the executive branch, including the governor and state agencies, to determine which projects will be acted upon when.

Property Tax Reform

In the Senate, S.B. 76 (Argall, R-Schuylkill) has drawn the attention of many in Harrisburg and throughout the state. The Property Tax Independence Act would eliminate all school property taxes and replace those taxes with a combination of funding from the Personal Income Tax and the Sales and Use Tax. In order to continue bringing in revenue, the act would broaden the base of goods and services subject to the state sales tax, would increase from 6% to 7%.

Pennsylvania schools would be fully funded at their current levels under S.B. 76. The bill would also eliminate the taxing ability of local school boards, except for a possible local earned income tax or local personal income tax to fund major projects undertaken by a school district. The bill came out of the Senate Finance Committee, this week and is on the Senate Calendar for next week.

Coal Regulations

On Tuesday, the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held a public hearing on H.B. 2354 (Snyder, D-Greene) and federal coal regulations governed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). H.B. 2354, the Pennsylvania Greenhouse Gas Regulation Implementation Act, requires the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to receive approval from the General Assembly for a state plan to regulate carbon dioxide emissions for existing stationary sources. The approval would have to be submitted prior to the submission of the state plan to the EPA for approval. The bill passed in the House by a vote of 144 to 59 and then was received in the Senate and referred to the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

The public hearing addressed the issue of climate change and the need to explore positive and negative outcomes of the EPA’s proposed “Clean Power Plan.” The Democratic committee chair, Representative Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) expressed concern regarding increasing job loss and change in the coal industry. A second hearing may be held in the upcoming weeks to further explore this issue.

 A New Name For DPW

On Wednesday, the House concurred on Senate amendments and signed H.B. 993 (Murt, R-Montgomery), which changes the name of Department of Welfare to the Department of Human Services. Rep. Murt (R-Montgomery) said he believes that the name change “will remove the stigma often associated with public assistance and welfare and will more accurately represent the wide range of services provided by the department.” H.B. 993 is expected to be signed by the Senate and presented to the governor for signature.

Good Samaritan Law

This week the House unanimously passed S.B. 1164 (Pileggi, R-Delaware), which provides immunity from prosecution to certain individuals who report a drug overdose or is experiencing a drug overdose. The bill also allows first responders to administer naloxone, a drug used to counter the effects of opioid overdose, including heroin.  The bill also provides immunity to a law enforcement or campus security officer, acting in good faith and with reasonable care, when administering naloxone to another person whom the person believes to be suffering an opioid-related drug overdose. The bill passed the House by  a vote of 194 to 0 but will need a concurrence vote in the Senate before it can be signed into law.

In Case You Missed It:

Pension reform, liquor privatization will be tough challenges in the pre-election session: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/09/pension_reform_liquor_privatiz.html#incart_river

PA House pushes new tools to fight overdose epidemic toward governor’s desk: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/09/pennsylvania_house_pushes_new.html#incart_river

House panel examines how Obama’s climate plan will affect Pennsylvania: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2014/09/16/house-panel-examines-how-obamas-climate-plan-will-affect-pennsylvania/

PA fiscal officer says budget is in dire shape: http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6805702-74/budget-fiscal-mccord#axzz3DWhwxWTk

Film tax credits create jobs in Pennsylvania: http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2014/09/16/Film-tax-credits-create-jobs-in-Pennsylvania/stories/201409160028

 

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