February 11, 2022
Weekly Wrap
This week was highlighted by Governor Tom Wolf’s eighth and final budget address. His FY 2022-23 proposed budget has $43.7 billion in General Fund expenditures, which is a spending increase of $6.2 billion (16.6%) over last year’s budget. More information on the proposal, categorized by the Governor’s budget themes, can be found here:
As part of his spending package, the Governor proposed spending the Commonwealth’s remaining $2.187 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds in the following manner:
- $500 million for the PA Opportunity Program to provide individual grants to assist with costs such as childcare and after-school expenses, household expenses, and education and training supports;
- $250 million for long-term living programs;
- $225 million for the Statewide Small Business Assistance Program;
- $203.8 million for property tax rent rebates;
- $180 million for watershed and wetland restoration;
- $150 million for the State System of Higher Education;
- $135 million for state and local parks and forest facility restoration;
- $135 million for agriculture conservation;
- $111.9 million for the Nellie Bly Tuition Program;
- $40 million for behavioral health; and
- $35 million for health care worker student loan forgiveness.
As for the “regular” session week, on Monday, the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held an informational meeting on the availability of federal funds for well plugging programs. Also, the Senate Law and Justice Committee held a public hearing on adult-use marijuana.
The House Health Committee reported out two bills: H.B. 1693 (Bonner, R-Mercer), which would require assisted living residences to provide a standard notice to individuals at the time of their admission regarding the option of having legal representation to assist with the application for Medicaid benefits; and H.B. 1741 (Keefer, R-York), which would allow for the prescribing and dispensing of off-label drugs approved by the FDA to treat COVID-19.
Then, the Senate Transportation Committee reported four bills out of committee:
- S.B. 892 (Laughlin, R-Erie), which would permit the establishment of an e-scooter pilot program;
- S.B. 1031 (Phillips-Hill, R-York), which would amend the DUI Law to address recent court decisions and to improve the ignition interlock process;
- S.B. 1051 (Flynn, D-Lackawanna), which would lower the threshold needed to trigger a registration suspension from six unpaid Turnpike tolls to four, or from $500 in total unpaid dues to $250, and raise the statute of limitations from three to five years; and
- S.B. 1053 (Flynn, D-Lackawanna), which would direct the Turnpike Commission to accept PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle as valid payment forms for tolls.
The House finally passed H.B. 19 (Mehaffie, R-Dauphin), which would establish licensure of behavior analysts under the State Board of Medicine. They also adopted H.R. 163 (Mackenzie, R-Lehigh), which directs the Joint State Government Commission to study training mandates on public school entities.
The Senate sent two bills of note to the House for consideration: S.B. 327 (Ward, R-Blair), which would require deaths suspected of a disease constituting a health disaster or pandemic, such as COVID-19, be referred to the county coroner for investigation; and S.B. 807 (Ward, R-Blair), which would modernize the process for registration of notary signatures and eliminate the registration fee.
Tuesday, the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee reported out H.B. 2315 (Causer, R-McKean), which would extend by three years the sunset date for funding costs associated with horse racing medication testing.
On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee reported out H.B. 1161 (Mizgorski, R-Allegheny), which would allow electric distribution companies to establish a local solar program. The committee also amended, then passed over, H.B. 637 (Struzzi, R-Indiana). The bill would allocate $250 million in American Rescue Fund dollars in the following manner:
- $125 million for research, development, construction or site development of carbon dioxide and methane reduction technologies for electric generation and manufacturing, including, but not limited to, micro-grid nuclear power plants, carbon capture utilization and sequestration, development of hydrogen fuel projects, securing federal funds for regional hydrogen hub and battery storage;
- $62.5 million for sewer and water infrastructure and storm water mitigation projects, including riparian planting for carbon reduction, stream buffering and streambank restoration; and
- $62.5 million for assisting workers and communities impacted by electric generation or manufacturing plant closures, including, but not limited to, apprenticeship and training projects, extensions of unemployment compensation benefits and investments in projects to redevelop closed plant sites.
The House State Government Committee reported out four bills:
- H.B. 1281 (Delozier, R-Cumberland), which would prohibit public works contracts that specify a particular brand name or otherwise limit consideration of other brand names;
- H.B. 1712 (Struzzi, R-Indiana), which would establish a Historically Under-utilized Business Zones program for procurement contracts;
- H.B. 2183 (Wentling, R-Mercer), which would remove the requirement that businesses employ 100 or fewer employees to be considered a small business and align the definition of “small business” with federal regulations; and
- S.B. 116 (Scavello, R-Monroe), which would update the History Code regarding the administration of the State Archives and archival records.
Furthermore, the Senate Finance Committee reported out H.B. 2058 (Mako, R-Northampton), which would align the deadline to file a final earned income tax or net profits tax return with the deadline to file a final personal income tax return. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee reported out S.B. 1057 (Brooks, R-Mercer), which would provide pharmacies with a temporary waiver to be reimbursed for medical billing related to COVID-19 antigen tests.
The House finally passed the following two bills that will now be considered by the Senate: H.B. 1328 (Greiner, R-Lancaster), which would amend the CPA law regarding peer review requirements, code of ethics, and education courses; and H.B. 1440 (Millard, R-Columbia), which would establish licensure of medical imaging professionals, radiation therapists, and radiologist assistants.
Lastly, two bills passed finally in both chambers and were signed into law by the Governor: H.B. 1082 (DelRosso, R-Allegheny), which would require the Department of Health to establish and maintain an early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder toolkit; and S.B. 739 (Stefano, R-Fayette), which would establish the Emergency Medical Services COVID-19 Recovery Grant Program using $25 million in federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan. H.B. 764 (Miller, R-Lancaster), which would permit provisional employment pending the completion of all required background checks, is on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature.
Thursday, the House Education Committee held a public hearing to discuss H.B. 726 (Ortitay, R-Allegheny), which would establish a pilot program to provide instruction to students on the political, economic and social contributions of individuals with disabilities. The House Labor and Industry Committee held a public hearing to receive an update from the Department of Labor and Industry on unemployment compensation. The committee also held an informational meeting on legislative changes regarding the State Workers’ Insurance Fund’s statutory investment authority.
The Week Ahead
The House Appropriations Committee will kick off budget hearings next week. The schedule can be found below:
Tuesday
- 10:00 a.m. Department of Revenue
- 1:00 p.m. Independent Fiscal Office
- 3:00 p.m. Department of Aging
Wednesday
- 10:00 a.m. Department of Corrections
- 1:00 p.m. Department of General Services and the Office of Administration
Thursday
- 10:00 a.m. Department of Community and Economic Development
Additionally, the House State Government Committee will meet on Tuesday to hold a public hearing on election reform. On Thursday, the House Tourism and Recreational Development Committee will hold an informational meeting with the Office of Marketing, Tourism, and Film to receive an annual update.
A full list of committee meetings can be found here:
In Other News
- Governor Wolf announced that Pennsylvania was awarded $244.9 million from the federal government to clean up abandoned mines.
- The Governor announced grant awards totaling over $29 million for 2115 recipients under the Fire Company and Emergency Medical Service Grant Program.
- The Department of Education submitted its final-form charter school regulations to the General Assembly and the Independent Regulatory Review Commission.
- Secretary of Education Dr. Noe Ortega announced up to $10 million in PAsmart grants are available to prepare students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and computer science.