April 27, 2022

Weekly Wrap

The House of Representatives were in session for three days this week. The chamber got back to capacity, as the three vacancies were officially filled when the members elected in the April 5 special elections were sworn in. The new members are:

  • HD-19: Rep. Aerion Abney (D-Allegheny);
  • HD-24: Rep. Martell Covington (D-Allegheny); and
  • HD-116: Rep. Robert Schnee (R-Luzerne).

On Monday, the House Professional Licensure Committee held an informational meeting to discuss H.B. 1956 (Culver, R-Northumberland), which would create a license for certified anesthesiologist assistants.

The House Education Committee reported out three bills dealing with students’ mental health:

  • H.B. 2022 (Kaufer, R-Luzerne), which would allow a public school to utilize a behavioral health representative to provide social and mental health support assistance to students;
  • H.B. 2023 (Kaufer, R-Luzerne), which would require the Department of Education to develop a model curriculum to assist school entities in providing behavioral health education; and
  • H.B. 2024 (Kaufer, R-Luzerne), which would commission a study to determine the extent to which schools are currently providing mental health instruction in their curriculum.

Tuesday, the House Finance Committee held an informational meeting on H.B. 2438 (Mercuri, R-Allegheny), which would streamline, centralize, and modernize the process for releasing taxpayers who have satisfied their tax liens. Additionally, the House Appropriations Committee and House Education Committee held a joint public hearing to receive a report from the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). The respective Senate Committees held a similar hearing on Wednesday.

The House Human Services Committee reported out H.B. 1644 (Struzzi, R-Indiana) which would establish the Medicaid Care Transition Program at the Department of Human Services (DHS), which would establish policies and procedures requiring responsible entities to establish care transition units to work directly with hospitals to identify appropriate post-acute placements for individuals awaiting transfer. The Committee also reported out H.B. 2530 (Silvis, R-Westmoreland), which would end the practice of prudent pay in the Office of Developmental Programs at DHS.

Four bills were reported from the House Health Committee:

  • H.B. 398 (Owlett, R-Tioga), which would require the non-custodial parent of children for whom Medical Assistance is sought to enroll their children in their own health insurance plan;
  • H.B. 2441 (Klunk, R-York), which would amend the Vital Statistics Law so that legislative committees are able to receive information for research purposes;  
  • S.B. 317 (Browne, R-Lehigh), which would allow a health care practitioner to issue a prescription for, or to personally furnish, antibiotics to treat sexually transmitted infections, without having examined the individual; and
  • S.B. 818 (Ward, R-Blair), which would allow ambulatory surgical facilities to perform certain surgical procedures.

The House Transportation Committee reported out: H.B. 2526 (Hennessey, R-Bucks), which would allocate $500 million of American Rescue Plan funds to assist in the repair of locally owned bridges; and H.B. 2550 (Mehaffie, R-Dauphin), which would establish a grant program for eligible local governments to install adaptive signal control technology and other traffic signal systems that utilize sensors to monitor traffic flow, vehicle delays and queues. Furthermore, the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee reported out H.B. 2104 (Rapp, R-Warren), which would provide for the decommissioning, recycling, and reclamation of solar panels and wind turbines.

On the floor, the House passed the following bills that will now be considered by the Senate:

  • H.B. 385 (Dunbar, R-Westmoreland), which would exclude from taxable income the amount of loan forgiveness granted for paycheck protection loans under the federal CARES Act;
  • H.B. 1960 (Kail, R-Beaver), which would reduce the corporate net income tax rate and provide a trigger mechanism to increase the net operating loss deduction cap;
  • H.B. 2238 (White, R-Philadelphia), which would limit the Philadelphia District Attorney to two terms in office; and
  • H.B. 2277 (Topper, R-Bedford), which would repeal the requirement for businesses to remit prepayments for their sales tax collections.

Wednesday, the House Urban Affairs Committee held a public hearing to discuss H.B. 1896 (Polinchock, R-Bucks), which would allow plaintiffs in a foreclosure proceeding to opt for a Private Selling Officer to conduct the sale of the asset.

The House State Government Committee reported out three bills of note:

  • H.B. 1671 (Miller, R-Lancaster), which would require more robust and transparency management of fee reporting standards for the State Employees Retirement System (SERS) and Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS);
  • H.B. 2010 (Ryan, R-Lebanon), which would require fiduciary law training for any trustee, board member or other appointed or elected official at a state, county or local pension system; and
  • H.B. 2485 (Grove, R-York), which would prohibit the Treasury Department from dispersing funds for any contract which is not submitted to the public contracts e-library database.

The House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee reported out: H.B. 2157 (Farry, R-Bucks), which would provide for the regulation of fireworks; and H.B. 2520 (Causer, R-McKean), which would extend the expiration of existing temporary regulations for the horse racing industry by three years and give the State Horse Racing Commission the authority to issue temporary regulations to comply with federal law.

Lastly for committees, the House Commerce Committee reported out: H.B. 2265 (James, R-Venango), which would strengthen the oversight of certified economic development organizations; and H.B. 2396 (Greiner, R-Lancaster), which would provide an extension to the Rural Jobs and Investment Tax Credit.

Then, the House sent the Senate the following bills of note for their consideration:

  • H.B. 978 (Miller, R-Lancaster), which would except personal and agency financial account informational from the Right-to-Know Law;
  • H.B. 2097 (Hamm, R-Dauphin), which would address staffing exceptions for basic life support ambulances;
  • H.B. 2159 (Ortitay, R-Allegheny), which would establish a new emergency procurement process;
  • H.B. 2169 (Owlett, R-Tioga), which would provide scholarships to students at low-achieving schools to attend school elsewhere; and
  • H.B. 2275 (White, R-Philadelphia), which would give the Attorney General jurisdiction to prosecute firearm-related crimes in the City of Philadelphia.

The House also adopted House Concurrent Regulatory Review Resolution that would disapprove of Reg. #6-349: Charter Schools and Cyber Charter Schools. The concurrent resolution will now go to the Senate for consideration.

The Week Ahead

There’s no session days scheduled for nearly a month, as both chambers aren’t back in Harrisburg until the week of May 23.

A full list of committee meetings can be found here:

House

Senate

In Other News

  • Department of Education Secretary Dr. Noe Ortega will resign his position on April 29, and the Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff Eric Hagarty will serve as Acting Secretary.
  • Governor Wolf announced $10 million to support 12 projects at 10 airports through the Aviation Transportation Assistance Program.
  • ​Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman reminded Pennsylvanians they can apply for, complete and return mail ballots in-person in one visit to their county board of elections office until May 10, 2022.