April 9, 2021

Weekly Wrap

Just the House of Representatives was in session this week. However, the Senate Appropriations Committee was in Harrisburg as well for the continuation of budget hearings.

Monday was a relatively quiet day at the Capitol as two bills of note passed on the House floor and will now be considered in the Senate: H.B. 264 (Heffley, R-Carbon), which would amend the Real Estate Tax Sale Law by requiring potential bidders to pre-register before an upset or judicial sale; and H.B. 827 (Gillespie, R-York), which would establish a microenterprise loan program to assist start-up entrepreneurs and low-income individuals.

The House also passed two bills on Tuesday to highlight: H.B. 521 (Stephens, R-Montgomery), which would require a substance monitoring program evaluation for certain repeat DUI offenders; and H.B. 605 (Ecker, R-Adams), which would provide for compulsory arbitration of COVID-19 actions and COVID-19-related liability.

Furthermore, the House Aging and Older Adult Services Committee held an informational meeting to discuss the programs and services offered to older adults and how Area Agencies on Aging work to deliver services locally. Also, the House Professional Licensure Committee held an informational meeting on H.B. 19 (Mehaffie, R-Dauphin), which would create a professional licensure for behavior analysts.

In addition, the House Human Services Committee reported out four bills:

  • H.B. 220 (Rader, R-Monroe), which would provide that treatment and rehabilitation facilities may not deny addiction treatment to an individual solely due to a negative result on a drug test;
  • H.B. 741 (Heffley, R-Carbon), which would require a drug and alcohol recovery house to notify an emergency contact if a resident self-discharges from or leaves and fails to return;
  • H.B. 944 (Nelson, R-Westmoreland), which would require inpatient treatment facilities to notify an emergency contact if a patient leaves against medical advice; and
  • H.B. 1012 (O’Neal, R-Washington), which would provide additional Medicaid funding to qualified nonpublic medical assistance and county nursing facilities for eligible ventilators or tracheostomies.

Wednesday, the House Health Committee reported out H.B. 681 (Ecker, R-Adams), which would prohibit the use of non-compete agreements in health care practitioners’ employment contracts.

The full House passed the following bills which will head to the Senate for consideration:

  • H.B. 39 (Grove, R-York), which would require the Secretary of the Budget to establish a schedule and review state agency expenditures for improper payments and payment recovery;
  • H.B. 120 (Ryan, R-Lebanon), which would establish the Keystone Solvency Study Commission to analyze economic conditions such as unfunded obligations of school districts, municipalities, and public pension plans;
  • H.B. 766 (Greiner, R-Lancaster), which provides for an extension of time to submit corporate net income tax annual reports and payments and give the state temporary authorization to extend filing and payment deadlines set for state and local income taxes to May 17, 2021; and
  • H.B. 854 (Ecker, R-Adams), which would require executive agencies and contractors to preserve all records for at least 10 years after the respective disaster order is terminated.

Two public hearings were held on Thursday, as the House Health Committee held a public hearing on abortion and the House State Government Committee held a public hearing on how other states conduct elections.

Now let’s take a look at the Senate budget hearings that took place this week and some main topics discussed in each.

Tuesday

State-Related Universities

  • Remote learning
  • Racism and discrimination
  • Tuition costs

Department of Military & Veterans Affairs

  • Veterans’ homes
  • COVID-19 mitigation

Treasury Department

  • SERS and PSERS
  • Debt obligations
  • Transparency portal

Wednesday

Liquor Control Board

  • Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on sales
  • Online sales
  • Licensing

Attorney General

  • Election integrity
  • Opioid-related lawsuits
  • Ghost guns

Auditor General

  • Impact of budget cuts
  • Staffing needs
  • Grant funding accountability

Thursday

Department of Labor and Industry

  • Unemployment compensation
  • Workforce development
  • Minimum wage

Department of Agriculture

  • Horse racing industry
  • Dog Law
  • State and federal farm bill

A full list of committee meetings can be found here:

House

Senate

The Week Ahead

There’s no session next week, but a few committee meetings to note.

Monday, the Senate Education Committee will hold a public hearing on needed K-12 education reforms in Central PA.

On Tuesday, the Senate Community, Economic, and Recreational Development Committee will hold a public hearing on technology infrastructure reliability. The committee will hold a similar hearing on energy infrastructure reliability on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, the House Labor and Industry Committee will hold a public hearing on the status of the unemployment compensation system.

Lastly, on Thursday, the House State Government Committee will hold a public hearing to hear from stakeholders and legislators on the election process.

In Other News

  • The Departments of Health and Education announced modifications to their instructional model recommendations for Pre-K to 12 schools.
  • The Department of Transportation Office of Public-Private Partnerships (P3) announced that it is accepting unsolicited proposals for transportation projects from the private sector through April 30.
  • The Department of Labor and Industry announced that they will transition to a new unemployment compensation system in June.