Weekly Wrap

It was a mostly quiet week in state government, with just a few things to highlight:

  • The Commonwealth Financing Authority announced the approval of 141 new projects, totaling nearly $79.3 million, through the Multimodal Transportation Fund.
  • The Independent Fiscal Office released their five-year economic and budget outlook. According to the report, the state could face a potential budget imbalance of $409 million in the current fiscal year, with the imbalance growing to $1.33 billion in FY 2022-23, before declining to $1.06 billion in FY 2024-25.
  • The Governor announced a three-part plan to fix the state’s charter school law.

The Week Ahead

Next week, the House of Representatives and Senate will be in Harrisburg for a rare four-day session week.

On Monday, the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee will hold an informational meeting on the Older Adult Protective Services Act (OAPSA). Then, on Wednesday, the Committee will consider H.B. 1930 (Hennessey, R-Chester), which would amend background check and employment provisions of the OAPSA. On the Senate side, the Aging and Youth Committee will consider S.B. 368 (Boscola, D-Northampton), which would require the reporting of any infant born with an addiction to opioids or other illegal substances, and H.B. 1051 (Stephens, R-Montgomery), which would clarify when higher penalties for failure to report child abuse apply.

The Senate State Government Committee will consider the nomination of Kathy Boockvar as Secretary of the Commonwealth. Boockvar was appointed Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth on January 5, 2019. The Committee will then consider H.B. 1896 (Hennessey, R-Chester) ), which would transfer land in East Vincent Township, Chester County to the Pennsylvania American Water Company for a new water treatment plant.

Also, the House Education Committee will consider S.B. 751 (Aument, R-Lancaster), which would reform the teacher evaluation system, and H.B. 1800 (Turzai, R-Allegheny), which would provide tuition scholarships for students in the Harrisburg School District.

Tuesday, the House Human Services Committee will hold a public hearing on S.B. 675 (Brooks, R-Mercer), which would develop a certification program for buprenorphine office-based prescribers. Then the House Health Committee will consider H.B. 945 (Barrar, R-Delaware), which would prevent managed care organizations (MCOs) from using a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) for Medicaid if the PBM is part of a company that also owns retail pharmacies.

The House Finance Committee has a full plate, as they will consider the following bills:

  • H.B. 105 (Cox, R-Berks), which would allow for like-kind exchanges in Pennsylvania, thereby mirroring the Internal Revenue Code;
  • H.B. 285 (Metcalfe, R-Butler), which would permit the deferral of taxation on a lump sum distribution from the Employee Stock Ownership Plan of a company;
  • H.B. 333 (Nelson, R-Westmoreland), which would allow small businesses to deduct the full purchase price (up to $1 million) of qualifying equipment under the “179 deduction”;
  • H.B. 1603 (Grove, R-York), which would allow small businesses to use the Net Operating Loss (NOL) deduction; and
  • H.B. 1796 (White, R-Philadelphia), which would extend the ability of businesses operating in the City of Philadelphia to carry-forward NOLs.

The Senate Communications and Technology Committee will consider S.B. 810 (Phillips-Hill, R-York), which would consolidate administration and management of the state’s informational technology under the Office of Information Technology. Finally, the Senate Republican Policy Committee will hold a workshop discussion on Federal Opportunity Zones.

There’s three committee meetings to highlight on Wednesday:

  • The Senate Health and Human Services Committee and Senate Transportation Committee will hold a joint informational meeting on the Medical Assistance Transportation Program (MATP);
  • The House Human Services Committee will consider S.B. 473 (Scavello, R-Monroe), which would increase the minimum legal sales age for tobacco products from 18 to 21 years of age, and H.R. 515 (Murt, R-Montgomery), which would directing the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a study changes in access to county-managed community health services; and
  • The House Children and Youth Committee will consider H.B. 79 (Isaacson, D-Philadelphia), which would require all children to be tested for lead at ages one and two.

On an uncommon Thursday session day, the House Urban Affairs Committee will consider:

  • H.B. 1569 (Issacson, D-Philadelphia), which would require the City of Philadelphia to reduce its tax rate, if necessary, so that the total amount of taxes levied for that year does not exceed the total amount it levied on all properties in the year preceding the reassessment;
  • H.B. 1737 (Davis, D-Allegheny), which would grant the same protections to land banks that are presently given to redevelopment authorities when they are dealing with brownfields; and
  • H.B. 1860 (Longietti, D-Mercer), which would allow a borough to establish a redevelopment authority.

While not a legislative committee, the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) will hold a meeting to consider two important regulations:

See here for a full list of committee meetings:

In Other News

  • Pennsylvania student debt of $68 billion targeted by two freshman lawmakers.
  • Medical marijuana sales in Pennsylvania top $500 million in two years.
  • Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate rises to 4.2 percent.
  • The Pennsylvania House of Representatives will look at reforms for cash gifts to politicians, public employees.