April 8, 2022
Weekly Wrap
The Senate was the only chamber in session this week.
On Monday, the Senate came up one vote short of overriding the Governor’s veto of Senate Concurrent Regulatory Review Resolution 1 (Yaw, R-Lycoming), which would disapprove of the Environmental Quality Board’s Regulation #7-559 (IRRC #3274) regarding a CO2 Budget Trading Program (RGGI). However, lawsuits have already been filed to stop the regulation from becoming effective. So for now, Pennsylvania joining RGGI is on hold.
The upper chamber finally passed S.B. 1030 (Yaw, R-Lycoming), which would eliminate the California Air Resources Board (CARB) 2022 Engine Requirements for diesel emissions and warranty periods. The bill will now go to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported out two bills of note: S.B. 358 (Schwank, D-Berks), which would add “severe material morbidity” to the list of reportable events within the Department of Health; and S.B. 962 (Langerholc, R-Cambria), which would establish a grant program to perform construction or renovation of a facility, to extend and improve utility and broadband service connections, and to purchase equipment, furniture, and security systems to create coworking centers in rural municipalities and counties.
H.B. 245 (Kaufer, R-Luzerne), which would provide licensure for graduates of international medical schools, passed finally and will go back to the House for a concurrence vote before reaching the Governor’s desk.
The House State Government Committee held a public hearing to receive testimony from SERS, PSERS, and Funston Advisory Services, LLC. The Committee held another public hearing on Wednesday, this time on election administration considerations for the 2022 primary election.
Also on Wednesday, the Senate State Government Committee reported out two bills that would amend the state Constitution: S.B. 959 (Martin, R-Lancaster), which would 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.
In addition, S.B. 797 (Robinson, R-Allegheny) passed finally and will now be considered by the House. The bill would amend the Neighborhood Improvement District Act to expand eligible municipalities and projects within a district.
On Thursday, the Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee held a public hearing on housing issues. Lastly, the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee held 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.
Special Elections
There were three special elections held on Tuesday to fill three vacant seats in the House of Representatives. The makeup of the House is now 113 Republicans and 90 Democrats.
- HD-19 (Allegheny): Aerion Abney (D) was the only candidate on the ballot to replace former Rep. Jake Wheatley (D), who now serves as the Chief of Staff for the Mayor of Pittsburgh;
- HD-24 (Allegheny): Martell Covington (D) defeated Todd Koger (R) to replace former Rep. Ed Gainey (D), who was elected Mayor for the City of Pittsburgh; and
- HD-116 (Luzerne): Robert Schnee (R) defeated Amilcar Arroyo (D) to replace former Rep. Tarah Toohil (R), who was elected Judge for the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.
The Week Ahead
Both chambers are in Harrisburg next week for three session days.
Monday, the House Children and Youth Committee will hold an informational meeting on the Children’s Trust Fund.
On Tuesday, the House Health Committee will hold a public hearing on opioids, while the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee will hold an informational meeting on workforce challenges in long term care facilities.
The House Finance Committee will consider the following bills of note:
- H.B. 2277 (Topper, R-Bedford), which would repeal the requirement for Pennsylvania businesses to remit prepayments for their sales tax collections;
- H.B. 2396 (Greiner, R-Lancaster), which would extend the Rural Jobs and Investment Tax Credit to provide growth capital exclusively for small businesses;
- S.B. 347 (DiSanto, R-Dauphin), which would conform the state’s personal income tax to federal law with regard to “like-kind” exchanges; and
- S.B. 349 (Hutchinson, R-Venango), which would conform the section 179 expense deduction allowable under the state’s personal income tax to federal law.
The House Urban Affairs Committee has a full agenda and will consider:
- H.B. 960 (Freeman, D-Northampton), which would expand the powers of land banks to enter partnerships with organizations in the private and exempt land bank transactions from both state and local realty transfer taxes;
- H.B. 1791 (Twardzik, R-Schuylkill), which would allow communities to create and maintain a vacant property registration and assessment program;
- H.B. 1827 (Merski, D-Erie), which would establish a program for the purposes of providing grants to municipalities to establish code enforcement programs and to hire code enforcement personnel;
- H.B. 2210 (Pennycuick, R-Montgomery), which would add land banks to the list of entities that can be a conservator under the Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act;
- H.B. 2329 (Sturla, D-Lancaster), which would create a statewide blight data collection system using property code violations; and
- S.B. 439 (Argall, R-Schuylkill), which would allow counties to enact a fee for each deed and mortgage recorded for a demolition program.
Wednesday, the House Children and Youth Committee will hold an informational meeting on the court appointed special advocate program. Furthermore, the House Commerce Committee will consider H.B. 2286 (Pennycuick, R-Montgomery), which would amend the Municipalities Planning Code to allow for temporary low-impact home business relocation.
A full list of committee meetings can be found here:
In Other News
- PennDOT announced the release of the Focus on Innovations report, which showcases innovations recently developed and implemented across the organization.
- Governor Wolf announced $2.3 million in grants have been awarded through the Manufacturing PA initiative to 36 student research projects that will help advance innovation in several sectors of manufacturing.