Weekly Wrap

Not surprisingly, most of this week’s news continued to focus on COVID-19. On Friday afternoon—at the end of a week that included an announcement to coordinate response efforts with other regional Governors and a show down with the General Assembly over re-opening the Commonwealth’s economy—Governor Wolf announced a “Plan for Pennsylvania” that will “provide citizens and businesses relief, allow for a safe and expedient reopening, and lay a road to recovery from the challenges and hardships created by the 2019 novel coronavirus”.

The Governor and Administration will begin to plan for a reopening process by working with economic and public health experts to determine the metrics used for safe reopening by taking a regional, sector-based approach. Reopening principles include: (1) data; (2) guidelines, recommendations, and accountability; (3) access to protective materials; (4) testing; and (5) monitoring, surveillance, and response.  Further details of the plan could be available as soon as next week.

Earlier this week, on Wednesday, the Secretary of the Department of Health issued an order providing protections for critical workers who are employed at businesses that are authorized to maintain in-person operations during the COVID-19 disaster emergency. The order establishes protocols to help employees maintain a social distance during work and instructs businesses on what to do if an employee is exposed to COVID-19.

Moving to the legislature, the House of Representatives was in session on Tuesday and the Senate held a session day on Wednesday.  The chambers finally passed and sent the Governor two COVID19 related bills for his approval: S.B. 841 and S.B. 613. While the Governor has not yet indicated what he plans to do regarding S.B. 841, he already stated that he will veto S.B. 613.

S.B. 613 (Mensch, R-Montgomery) provides as follows:

  • An employee or contractor of a state agency whose duties and responsibilities require access to federal tax information shall submit a criminal history background check.
  • The Governor shall develop and implement a plan to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 for businesses using recommended guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). A business that complies with the requirements of the mitigation plan may operate.

S.B. 841 (Martin, R-Lancaster)provides as follows:

  • The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) is reauthorized and modernized.
  • The PHC4 shall prepare a report to provide a PA-perspective on the effect of the COVID-19 disaster emergency on hospitals and health care facilities by aggregating data related to COVID-19 expenses and lost revenue reported by hospitals and health care facilities in order to qualify for federal and state assistance.
  • A taxing district may provide real property tax relief by (1) collecting the tax at a discount rate no later than August 31, 2020 and/or (2) waive any fee or penalty associated with late payment if paid in full by December 31, 2020.
  • A business’s requirement to make a contribution under the EITC/OSTC program shall be extended until the end of the business’s applicable tax year. Businesses fulfilling year two of a two-year commitment that are impacted by COVID-19 shall be permitted to receive a tax credit of up to 90% of the amount contributed in year two.
  • Each school entity may renegotiate a contract for contract service providers to ensure personnel and fixed costs, including administrative and equipment, are maintained during the school closure.
  • Authorizes remote notarization. These provisions shall expire 60 days after the termination or expiration of the COVID-19 disaster emergency.
  • Authorizes an agency, department, authority, commission, board, council, governing body, or other entity of a political subdivision to conduct hearings, meetings, proceedings or other business through the use of an authorized telecommunications device until the expiration or termination of the COVID-19 disaster emergency.

In other legislative action, on Monday the House Appropriations Committee reported out H.B. 2387 (Saylor, R-York), which Chairman Saylor stated “will eventually contain the 2020-21 budget”.

Two bills received unanimous support on the House floor and will head to the Senate for consideration: H.B. 896 (Caltagirone, D-Berks), which would expand the Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP) tax credit to include businesses involved in homeless housing assistance in a land bank jurisdiction. Also, H.B. 1189 (Knowles, R-Schuylkill), which would:

  • Expand enforcement officer disability benefits to individuals affected by COVID-19;
  • Require a health care practitioner or health care facility to report a patient with a positive diagnosis for COVID-19 to the Department of Health (DOH) within three days;
  • Requires a dispenser or pharmacy that administers a COVID-19 test and receives the test results to submit a report to DOH within three days;
  • Establishes a volunteer emergency responders employer tax credit; and
  • Extends the expiration of vehicle registrations, disability parking placards, and driver’s licenses for 60 days after the declaration of disaster emergency is terminated.

On Tuesday, the Senate concurred in House amendments to S.B. 327 (Argall, R-Schuylkill), which was then rereferred to the House Rules Committee. A summary of the bill is below:

  • Allows counties to develop and implement a countywide plan to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 for businesses.
  • The Governor shall notify the legislature when a specific statute or regulation is suspended, modified or waived under the authority of the declaration of disaster emergency.
  • Requires the Treasury Department to identify and review all outstanding debt obligations of the Commonwealth and identify options for the refinancing of outstanding debt obligations to reduce costs.
  • Creates the COVID-19 Cost and Recovery Task Force, which would:
    • Monitor and track the response by the Commonwealth to COVID-19;
    • Identify immediate and urgent issues relating COVID-19 that require executive, legislative or judicial action;
    • Develop a recovery plan that includes a documented, structured approach that describes how the Commonwealth and its subdivisions can expeditiously resume mission-critical functions; and
    • Make a final report no later than six months after the declaration of disaster emergency related to COVID-19 is terminated.
  • The Department of General Services shall conduct an annual survey of state facility usage.

Furthermore, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported out the following bills:

  • S.B. 1106 (Regan, R-Cumberland) which would extend Heart & Lung Act benefits for law enforcement and firefighters if they contract COVID-19 or are ordered to quarantine and are unable to work;
  • S.B. 1108 (Browne, R-Lehigh), which would provide supplemental federal appropriations to the Department of Aging and the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs for financial burdens caused by COVID-19;
  • H.B. 752 (Turzai, R-Allegheny), which would remove per acre restriction on Game Fund money used to purchase land for game lands in Allegheny County; and
  • H.B. 1869 (Owlett, R-Tioga), which would allow an EMS agency to file for a waiver or exception from the staffing requirements for extraordinary reasons.  

The Week Ahead

The House will be in session on Monday and Tuesday. So far there are only two committee meeting scheduled. On Monday, the House State Government Committee will consider H.B. 2412 (Polinchock, R-Bucks), which would provide a waiver to the Governor’s business closure order to all real estate related activities that can adhere to social distancing and other mitigation efforts.

On Tuesday, the House Commerce Committee will consider: H.B. 2370 (Keller, R-Lehigh), which would authorize electronic notarization of documents where the signer appears before the notary by means of real-time audio-video communication; and H.B. 2386 (Mehaffie, R-Dauphin), which would establish a COVID-19 Disaster Emergency Business Interruption Grant Program to provide funding for the continuing operation of businesses. The Committee will also consider H.B. 1957 (Keller, R-Perry), which would:

  • Periodically adjust the required annual assessments paid by financial institutions to impose a fixed $20 million cap on balances accumulated in the Banking Fund in excess of current operational requirements of the Department of Banking and Securities;
  • Convert the Banking Fund into a trust fund; and
  • Authorize the imposition of special assessments on an expedited basis if insufficient amounts are held in the Institution Resolution Account to rehabilitate or liquidate a distressed non-depository trust company.

In Other News

  • Governor Wolf announced the creation of a multi-state council to restore the economy and get people back to work.
  • Governor Wolf and Lt. Governor John Fetterman announced the creation of a COVID-19 Response Task Force for Health Disparity that will help communicate issues with how the pandemic is affecting the state’s minority and vulnerable populations.
  • The Governor announced that businesses that collect state sales tax will not have to make Accelerated Sales Tax (AST) prepayments over the next three months. The Administration also announced additional relief for taxpayers.
  • The Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) announced the forbearance of loans administered by DCED.
  • The state launched a COVID-19 job hiring portal.
  • Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was up 1.3 percent over the month to 6.0 percent in March.