March 29, 2019

Weekly Wrap

Contrary to the popular saying, March went out like a lion this week, with three busy session days for both chambers of the General Assembly. Most of the activity was in the committees in both chambers, with plenty of assorted issues being reviewed or up for a vote.

On Monday, the House Gaming Oversight Committee held a public hearing on H.B. 826 (Marshall, R-Beaver), which would authorize 50/50 raffles at major league and collegiate sporting events. The committee reported the bill out the following day.

  • H.B. 97 (Rapp, R-Warren), which would prohibit the sale of vaping products to minors and prohibits the use of vaping products on school grounds, was passed unanimously by the full House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the House Health Committee reported out:
  • H.B. 33 (Dunbar, R-Westmoreland), which would eliminate the general assistance cash benefit program;
  • H.B. 427 (Benninghoff, R-Centre), which would prohibit health plans from excluding or limiting drugs for patients receiving treatments for Stage IV metastatic cancers if the drugs are FDA approved and consistent with best practices; and
  • H.B. 629 (Rapp, R-Warren), which would require health insurers to cover treatment plans for Lyme disease or related tick-borne illnesses as prescribed by a health care practitioner.

Also, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported out S.B. 372 (Scavello, R-Monroe), which would update and modernize History Code provisions relating to archives and records retention.

Tuesday was a little busier. The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee reported out three bills:

  • H.B. 827 (Fritz, R-Susquehanna), which would entitle landowners impacted by the gas drilling moratorium in the Delaware River Basin to compensation in the same manner as used to determine value in an eminent domain action;
  • H.B. 828 (Fritz, R-Susquehanna), which would create a multi-well pad permit, allow for well deviation, and allows the Department of Environmental Protection to establish a multi-year well permit; and
  • H.B. 829 (Fritz, R-Susquehanna), which would exclude on-lot septic systems from regulation and permitting oversight by the Delaware River Basin Commission.

The House Human Services Committee held an informational hearing on adolescent substance abuse and the barriers associated with treatment and recovery, and the Senate State Government Committee held a hearing regarding voting machine decertification and replacement. The House Judiciary Committee held a public hearing sexual extortion.

Finally, the Senate Local Government Committee reported out H.B. 264 (Mako, R-Northampton), which would create a system of financial best practices for municipal authorities when handling collected money. The Senate finally passed S.B. 127 (Regan, R-Cumberland), which would reauthorize Pennsylvania’s 911 law, which is set to expire on June 30, 2019.

While Wednesday can be a pretty sleepy session day some weeks, that was not the case this week, with many standing committees holding voting meetings and public or informational hearings.

The House Appropriations Committee reported out H.B. 30 (Petrarca, D-Westmoreland), which would increase the optional donation to The Governor Robert P. Casey Memorial Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Trust Fund from $3 to $6.

The House Aging and Older Adult Service Committee sent four bills to the full floor for consideration:

  • H.B. 375 (Goodman, D-Schuylkill), which would exclude the value of federal veterans’ disability payments and the value of all state service-connected payments from income eligibility calculations for the PACE and PACENET programs;
  • H.B. 684 (Sonney, R-Erie), which would exclude the cashing of savings bonds for seniors 65 and older as being counted towards income when applying for lottery funded programs;
  • H.B. 754 (Thomas, R-Bucks), which would extend the current PACE/PACENET Social Security cost-of-living moratorium until December 3, 2021; and
  • H.B. 775 (Diamond, R-Lebanon), which would require the Department of Aging to cross reference its list of beneficiaries with death records maintained by the Department of Health on a monthly basis.

Three House committees held public hearings as well:

  • The House Professional Licensure Committee held an informational meeting on the Pennsylvania Licensing System (PALS);
  • The House Children and Youth Committee held a public hearing on the issue of substance-exposed infants; and
  • The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held a public hearing on climate change.

Moving to the Senate, the full chamber sent S.B. 115 (Killion, R-Delaware) to the House for consideration. The bill would provide for CPR instruction for students in grades nine through 12. The Senate Finance Committee reported out S.B. 471 (Hutchinson, R-Venango), which would establish a sales and use tax exemption for certain equipment purchased by data centers and their tenants.

The Senate Judiciary Committee reported out two bills of note: S.B. 337 (Schwank, R-Berks), which would criminalize extortion of sexual acts, after having held a held a public hearing on the bill the day prior; and S.B. 396 (Baker, R-Luzerne), which would prohibit the sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems to minors. A bill got stuck in Senate Judiciary Committee this week too: S.B. 473 (Scavello, R-Monroe), which would increase Pennsylvania’s minimum legal sales age for tobacco products from 18 years of age, to 21 years of age, failed to be reported out of committee after a tie vote of 6-6.

The Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee reported the following bills from committee:

  • S.B. 30 (Killion, R-Delaware), which would establish a Pennsylvania Housing Tax Credit;
  • S.B. 174 (Browne, R-Lehigh), which would provide for the tax sale of abandoned properties and requires tax sale purchasers of blighted properties to enter into redevelopment agreements with the local municipality or redevelopment authority; and
  • S.B. 309 (Mensch, R-Montgomery), which would create first-time homebuyers savings accounts in Pennsylvania.

The Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee reported out:

  • S.B. 25 (Bartolotta, R-Washington), which would modernize the Professional Nursing Law for advanced practice registered nurses;
  • S.B. 112 (Yaw, R-Lycoming), which would limit the prescription for a controlled substance containing an opioid to seven-days unless there is a medical emergency that puts the patients’ health or safety at risk; and
  • S.B. 217 (Farnese, D-Philadelphia), which would require assessors currently employed by the City of Philadelphia to become certified within three years.

The Week Ahead

There is no session scheduled next week for either chamber. However, there are a few House Democratic Policy Committee public hearings and on Monday the House and Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee will hold a joint informational meeting on the recruitment and retention of first responders. See here for a full list and updates.

In addition, there is a special election on Tuesday in parts of Allegheny and Washington County to fill the vacant SD-37 seat. Former Sen. Guy Reschanthaler (R) was elected to Congress, and his state Senate seat is up for grabs. D. Raja (R) will face Pam Iovino (D).

In Other News

  • Pennsylvania enacts tougher public pension forfeiture law.
  • Report: Pennsylvania gets ‘F’ for not addressing lead in school drinking water.
  • Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell (D-Philadelphia) was sworn in and will be the first Muslim woman to be elected to the state House.
  • Governor Wolf renewed the Proclamation of Disaster Emergency relating to the opioid crisis for an additional ninety days.