News from Second & State

Weekly Wrap

This week, only the House of Representatives was in Harrisburg to conduct legislative business.

On Monday, the House Consumer Affairs Committee held its second public hearing on H.B. 11 (Mehaffie, R-Dauphin), which would update the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act by establishing nuclear energy as a Tier III alternative energy source.

The House Children and Youth Committee reported out two bills. The first, H.B. 835 (Petrarca, D-Westmoreland), would allow caseworkers to have access to a child’s medical, drug and alcohol treatment, mental health treatment and school records. Second, H.B. 1051 (Stephens, R-Montgomery), would increase penalties for a mandated reporter that willfully fails to report suspected child abuse. H.B. 1051 passed finally on the House floor and will go to the Senate for their consideration, along with H.B. 262 (Metzgar, R-Somerset), which would exempt a transfer of property from a parent, to or for the use of a child 21 years of age or younger, from the inheritance tax.

Tuesday, the House State Government Committee reported out two bills dealing with the Auditor General’s powers: H.B. 985 (Ryan, R-Lebanon), which would permit the Auditor General’s office to conduct forensic and fraud audits and require appropriately qualified auditors to conduct such audits; and H.B. 1053 (Ryan, R-Lebanon), which would require performance audits of state agencies and require the agencies to implement a “lean process improvement system” that improves proceeds speed and quality, reduces waste and lowers cost through the use of data-driven project or service analysis.

Additionally, H.B. 1179 (Fritz, R-Susquehanna), which would repeal legislation that regulates the playing of music and payment for performances on Sundays; and H.B. 1180 (Fritz, R-Susquehanna), which would repeal legislation that regulates motion picture exhibitions on Sundays, were reported from the committee. H.B. 1181 (Fritz, R-Susquehanna), which would require notification of a breach of personal information from the entity where the breach occurred to the affected customer, was reported with request to re-refer to the House Commerce Committee.

The House Human Services Committee unanimously reported three pieces of legislation to the full floor for consideration:

• H.B. 596 (Heffley, R-Carbon), which would provide for a detoxification and addiction treatment bed registry on the Department of Drug and Alcohol Program’s website;
• H.B. 1024 (Rader, R-Monroe), which would specify that a person does not need to test positive for drugs in order to begin addiction treatment; and
• H.R. 216 (Polinchock, R-Bucks), which would establish a task force on overdose recovery and direct the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a study on warm hand-off to treatment for individuals with a substance use disorder.

The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee reported out a package of bills dealing with regulatory reform:

• H.B. 430 (Benninghoff, R-Centre), which would give the General Assembly the authority to initiate the repeal of any regulation by concurrent resolution;
• H.B. 509 (Rothman, R-Cumberland), which would require all agencies that issue permits to take steps to increase transparency throughout the process;
• H.B. 762 (O’Neal, R-Washington), which would require state agencies to designate an employee as the agency’s regulatory compliance officer;
• H.B. 806 (Keefer, R-York), which would require the General Assembly to vote on a concurrent resolution to approve an economically significant regulation, in order for that regulation to go into effect; and
• H.B. 1055 (Klunk, R-York), which would establish the Independent Office of the Repealer to review statutes and regulations for possible revision or repeal.

The committee also reported out H.B. 414 (Zimmerman, R-Lancaster), which would require the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to complete its permitting approval or disapproval within 45 days for the Erosion and Sediment Control program; and H.B. 476 (Mako, R-Northampton), which would require DEP to forward notices of violations of the Solid Waste Management Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act to the municipality where the violation occurred.

On the House floor, H.B. 1045 (Turzai, R-Allegheny) received almost unanimous support. The bill would require the Commonwealth Financing Authority board to conduct business six times per year on specific dates.

To finish up the week, on Wednesday, the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held an informational meeting on the state of the recycling industry in Pennsylvania.

Also, the House Local Government Committee unanimously voted on five bills relating to municipal debt reform:

• H.B. 320 (Ryan, R-Lebanon), which would restrict government entities from entering into interest rate management agreements, commonwealth known as “swaps” or “derivatives;”
• H.B. 882 (Gleim, R-Cumberland), which would impose tighter controls on municipal borrowing and increase the role of the Department of Community and Economic Development in monitoring borrowing;
• H.B. 883 (Lewis, R-Dauphin), which would prohibit the proceeds from loans to be used for unrelated purposes and authorize the State Ethics Commission to investigate conflict of interest violations of an authority regarding contract awards;
• H.B. 884 (Mihalek, R-Allegheny), which would govern the use of interest-rate management agreements by the City of Philadelphia and Philadelphia County; and
• H.B. 885 (Gaydos, R-Allegheny), which would remove the ability for municipalities to accept alternative securities when signing contrast for projects.

Lastly, on the House floor, H.B. 808 (Mehaffie, R-Dauphin), which would allow the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to change or set fees beginning July 1, 2019, passed finally and will make its way to the Senate.

The Week Ahead

Both chambers have their next scheduled session days from Monday, April 29 to Wednesday, May 1.

A list of scheduled committee meetings can be found here:

• House
• Senate

In Other News

• Gladys Brown Dutrieuille was reappointed as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
• Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate hit a record low.
• Pennsylvania casinos generated a record-setting month in gaming revenue.
• The Pennsylvania Attorney General announced grand jury recommendations for the state’s Medicaid program.
• The Department of Banking and Securities wrote a letter to Congress asking leaders to consider legislation that creates a medical marijuana banking fix.