April 1, 2022

Weekly Wrap

Since the deadline for nomination petitions to be submitted by candidates for the 2022 Primary Election was Monday, it was an atypical session schedule for the House of Representatives and Senate.

Monday was a nonvoting session day for the House. The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held a public hearing on uses of oil and gas byproducts. The Committee then held a voting meeting to report out the following bills:

  • H.B. 2450 (Fritz, R-Susquehanna), which would reapportion the voting rights within the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) based on the amount of territory that is within each state;
  • H.B. 2451 (Fritz, R-Susquehanna), which would end the DRBC’s fracking ban;
  • H.B. 2458 (White, R-Philadelphia), which would establish a task force on exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Philadelphia;
  • H.B. 2461 (Owlett, R-Tioga), which would require the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to establish a program to lease the subsurface rights under state lands for oil and gas development; and
  • S.B. 119 (Pittman, R-Indiana), which would prohibit the state from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) unless authorized by the General Assembly.

The Joint State Government Commission held an informational and organization meeting of the Opioid Abuse Child Impact Task Force. Additionally, the House Republican Policy Committee held a public hearing on cybersecurity.

On Tuesday, just the House was in session. However, there were two public hearings of note held in the upper chamber. First, the Senate Community, Economic, and Recreational Development Committee and Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held a joint public hearing on the economic impacts of RGGI. Secondly, the Senate State Government Committee held a public hearing on S.B. 878 (Argall, R-Schuylkill), which would make omnibus changes to the Election Code based on recommendations by the Senate Special Committee on Election Integrity.

The House Insurance Committee reported out H.B. 2419 (Pickett, R-Bradford), which would address telehealth psychiatric and advanced practice professionals’ supervision requirements in outpatient psychiatric clinics. Also, the House Health Committee reported out H.B. 2401 (Wheeland, R-Lycoming). The bill would make permanent: (1) the ability of non-physician practitioners to order and oversee orders for home health care services; and (2) allow for the continued use of remote supervisory visits by registered nurses in limited circumstances.

The House Transportation Committee reported out H.B. 2139 (Warner, R-Fayette), which would provide notification of “v-tolls” to E-ZPass customers. Then, the House State Government Committee reported three bills of note out of their Committee:

  • H.B. 2066 (Grove, R-York), which would require the judicial branch operations in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to consolidate operations in Harrisburg;
  • H.B. 2447 (Benninghoff, R-Centre), which would divest the Commonwealth’s holdings in the State Treasury and pension funds from investments connected to the Russian government; and
  • H.B. 2449 (Gillespie, R-York), which would require legislative expenses to be published online.

Wednesday was a “normal” session day, as both chambers were in session.

The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee reported out S.B. 1167 (DiSanto, R-Dauphin), which would extend the provision of financial and insurance services under the federal SAFE Banking Act to state legal cannabis businesses by granting safe harbor from adverse regulatory and legal action. The House Education Committee reported out, along a party-line vote, a concurrent resolution disapproving of the Department of Education’s regulation on charter and cyber charter schools.

Lastly for committees, the Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee reported out the following bills:

  • H.B. 581 (Solomon, D-Philadelphia), which would give local taxing authorities the option to abate property taxes in order to encourage the development of affordable housing; 
  • S.B. 297 (Argall, R-Schuylkill), which would eliminate spot appeals of property assessments; and
  • S.B. 811 (Fontana, D-Allegheny), which would give the City of Pittsburgh the ability to acquire property at sheriff’s sale by bidding an amount equal to the total amount of all municipal claims and liens regardless of bids by other parties.

On the House floor, H.B. 637 (Struzzi, R-Indiana) passed finally and will now be considered by the Senate. The bill would prohibit the state from joining RGGI unless authorized by the General Assembly. It would also 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.
    • $12.5 million of this allocation for methane abatement projects from plugging abandoned natural gas wells.
  • $62.5 million for sewer and water infrastructure and storm water mitigation projects, including riparian planting for carbon reduction, stream buffering and streambank restoration.
  • $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 the closed

Finally, the Governor signed S.B. 1019 (Brooks, R-Mercer), which would extend certain suspensions of regulations and statutes that were issued by agencies under the COVID-19 disaster declaration through June 30, 2022. A status update on suspended regulations can be found here.

The Week Ahead

Just the Senate will be in session next week, as the House is not in session until April 11.

On Monday, the Senate Transportation Committee will hold a public hearing on H.B. 140 (Maloney, R-Berks), which would provide that, if there is an on-street pedestrian plaza or bicycle lane next to a curb, vehicles shall park parallel within 12 inches of the outside line of the bicycle lane.

Tuesday, the House State Government Committee’s Subcommittee on Public Pensions, Benefits and Risk Management will hold a public hearing to receive testimony from SERS, PSERS, and Funston Advisory Services, LLC. The Senate State Government Committee will consider: S.B. 982 (Baker, R-Luzerne), which would prohibit outside groups from contributing to election operations; and H.B. 2044 (Nelson, R-Westmoreland), which would ensure the equitable distribution and transparency of private funding grants for elections.

Wednesday, the House State Government Committee will hold a public hearing on election administration considerations for the 2022 primary election. Furthermore, the Senate State Government Committee will consider S.B. 959 (Martin, R-Lancaster), which would amend the state Constitution to ensure that upon the expiration of a disaster emergency declaration, emergency authority granted to a Secretary of a Department or to an agency under the Governor’s jurisdiction shall also expire; and  S.B. 1166 (Argall, R-Schuylkill), which would limit a congressional redistricting plan devised by court action to only be valid in the election cycle in which the court action devised the plan.

On Thursday, the Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee will hold a public hearing on housing issues. Finally, the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee will hold an informational meeting on H.B. 2425 (Flood, R-Northampton), which would require the Department of Health or Department of Human Services to report allegations of older adult abuse to local area agencies on aging and the Department of Aging.

A full list of committee meetings can be found here:

House

Senate

Special Elections

There are four special elections that will be held on Tuesday to fill three vacant seats in the House of Representatives and one vacant seat in the Senate. The districts and candidates can be found below:

  • HD-19 (Allegheny): former Rep. Jake Wheatley (D) now serves as the Chief of Staff for the Mayor of Pittsburgh
    • Aerion Abney (D)
  • HD-24 (Allegheny): former Rep. Ed Gainey (D) was elected Mayor for the City of Pittsburgh
    • Martell Covington (D)
    • Todd Koger (R)
  • HD-116 (Luzerne) former Rep. Tarah Toohil (R) was elected Judge for the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas
    • Amilcar Arroyo (D)
    • Robert Schnee (R)
  • SD-5 (Philadelphia): former Sen. John Sabatina (D) was elected Judge for the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas
    • Shawn Dillion (D)
    • Sam Oropeza (R)

In Other News

  • Governor Wolf announced an extension of the disaster declaration issued following the collapse of Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge in January.
  • The Governor announced a $3.8 million investment, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, to create and retain more than 100 jobs, grow manufacturing, and support small diverse businesses in Bedford and Huntingdon counties.
  • The Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and Department of Community & Economic Development announced the availability of more than $1 million in grant funding for recovery houses to provide safe housing for individuals in recovery from a substance use disorder.